02 Nov 2018 Year End Guide for Clients
Return Year End Authorization by November 30, 2018 to be entered into a drawing for a $50.00 gift card!!!
Another year has flown by and we are rapidly nearing year end. It’s been a privilege to serve our Clients throughout 2018, and we thank you for choosing Payroll Partners as your workforce management provider. We look forward to our continued successful partnership in 2019!
Please review this Year End Guide, which contains deadlines for 2018 Year End reporting and important information for 2018 and 2019. If you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact us at 817-226-8111 or info@payrollpartners.com.
2018 YEAR END INFORMATION
1. Dates to Remember and Holiday Closings
Due to the reduced schedule and increased volume during the holidays, please submit all payrolls as early as possible. Also, as a result of holiday time limitations, we may not be able to send a preprocess report to you for review
Please keep in mind that when a holiday falls on a weekend, the “Observed” holiday may be the business day before or after the holiday. Banks will be closed and direct deposits will not be processed/paid on the “Observed” day. If your normal pay day is Friday, you will need to back up your processing day by one business day. For example, if you normally submit your payroll on Wednesday, you will need to submit your payroll on Tuesday that week instead. Tuesday processing will need to be done on Monday instead. Please watch your check dates!
**Any 2018 Payrolls submitted after 12/28/2018 may be subject to an IRS Tax Penalty for Late Payments or Additional Amendment Fees**
3. 2018 Year End Authorization Form
We’ve gone “green”!, so we’re utilizing Survey Monkey online to obtain the Year End Authorization data that is required from all Clients to ensure timely year end processing. Please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S8QKB7Q (Ctrl + link) to complete our brief authorization. This information will only be used for our year end planning and takes about two minutes to complete. You will be entered into our raffle for a $50.00 gift card if your information is completed by November 30th! Please click here (Ctrl + link) to access the form.
4. W-2/1099 Information Review
A W-2/1099 Edit Report will be included with your last payroll processed in November. Please review all names, social security numbers (SSN), and addresses to ensure that your 2018 W-2s and 1099s are processed accurately. Please update/provide any changes prior to processing your final 2018 payroll. As part of the 2018 tax changes, the Social Security Administration will resume sending ‘Mismatch Letter to Employers’ in 2019 for incorrect names and SSNs filed on W-2s. Also note that SSN or name changes may require amendments to previously filed quarterly tax returns. If your contractor provides an EIN, please send us the corresponding legal name setup to prevent any discrepancies.
You will also receive a W-2/1099 Preview Report with your payroll processed around mid-December. This report shows the YTD wages/taxes that will be included on the W-2/1099s. Please review and contact us as soon as possible to discuss any corrections needed.
5. 1099 Annual Reporting Only
If Payroll Partners is processing 1099s for your independent contractors, and their payments are not already entered in the payroll system, we need to receive a list of independent contractors with SSNs/EINs and total amounts paid to each contractor for the year prior to December 21, 2018. **No additional 1099 payrolls will be processed after 12/21/2018 or your last payroll (whichever is earlier)!
Ask your independent contractors to review and confirm their 1099 information before the end of the year. Provide Payroll Partners with any updated independent contractor 1099 information prior to your last payroll processed in 2018.
If you enter 1099 information for your independent contractors in the payroll system, please let us know PRIOR to entering payment information so we can verify the appropriate taxation. Once we do that, make sure all 1099 contractors are paid using the 1099 Earnings Code set up for your company.
6. Year End Employee Bonuses
If you are planning to issue year-end bonuses to employees, please click here to complete the required Bonus Payroll Worksheet request form to schedule this additional run. This can be done in conjunction with a regular payroll on a separate check, or on a separate check run. Please note that a separate check run or payroll that needs to be grossed up will incur an ADDITIONAL FEE. According to the IRS, any compensation, regardless of amount, is taxable. Please complete your form, scan and email your request and payroll information to info@payrollpartners.com at least one week before the bonus run check date for grossed up checks.
7. Affordable Care Act/Obamacare (ACA)
An information return needs to be prepared for each applicable employee, and these returns must be filed with the IRS using a single transmittal form (Form 1095-C & 1094-C). These forms must be distributed to employees by January 31, 2019*. We believe we have communicated with all clients that must comply with the requirements of ACA reporting. If we have not contacted you, and you may be subject to the ACA reporting requirement due to one of the reasons listed below, please contact us immediately. Deadline to have all 1095-C information for processing is December 21, 2018!
- The company is part of a larger control group
- The company has 50 or more full-time employee equivalents
- The existing health insurance provided to employees is Self-Insured
Charges for 1094 and 1095s will be billed in February:
- Base Fee for 1095-Cs: $45.00 + $6.95 per item charge
- Filing Fee for 1094-C: $45.00
*In prior years, the 1095-C deadline to deliver forms to employees was extended to March. At the time of this publishing, the IRS has not granted an extension for the 2018 1095-C forms.
8. W-2/1099 Delivery Dates and Charges
Employee W-2 and 1099 forms are scheduled to be delivered to you no later than mid-January. Due to timing this year, your W-2s and 1099s may be sent separately from your payroll on or after January 15th. We strive to have all W-2s delivered as soon as possible. Your Employee online W-2s will be available no later than Monday, January 28, 2019.
W-2s must be handed out or postmarked by January 31, 2019. ALL filings with IRS, SSA and most State Agencies are also required by January 31st. Please have all information to us before your last payroll of 2018 is processed. We will be sending the file to print W-2s on or before the morning of January 2, 2019. The W-2s may not be back in time for you to receive them with the payrolls of January 11th as in previous years. They will be sent out with your payrolls on or after January 15th. All changes to W-2s or corrections to payrolls, made after your last payroll of 2018 is processed, will be done as amendments and W-2c’s. All reprints of W-2s or corrections to W-2s will be done after February 1, 2019.
Charges for W-2s and 1099s will be billed on the last payroll of January:
- Base Fee for W-2s: $35.00 + per item charge:
- 1 – 50 W-2s: $ 5.75 each
- Over 50: $ 5.50 each
- Base Fee for 1099s: $35.00 + per item charge:
- 1 – 50 1099s: $ 5.75 each
- Over 50: $ 5.50 each
2019 INFORMATION
9. 2019 Federal Tax Limits (as of October 2018)
- OASDI Wage Base $132,900.00
- Maximum OASDI Tax (6.2%) $ 8,239.80
- Medicare Tax Rate 1.45%
- Medicare Surtax Rate for earnings >$200K 0.9%
- Federal Unemployment wage base (0.6%) $ 7,000.00
- 401k and 403B Retirement Plans $ 19,000.00
- 401k and 403B Over 50 Catch up $ 6,000.00
- Simple IRA Deferral $ 13,000.00
- Simple IRA Over 50 Catch up $ 3,000.00
NOTE: Catch Up Contributions for employees age 50 or over need to be set up as a separate deduction code. The annual limit will be automatically applied to both regular and catch up contributions separately.
10. 2019 State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) Tax Rate
You should receive notification of your new SUI tax rate for 2019 during the month of December. We need this rate to calculate your 2019 SUI tax and SUI expense correctly. Please email a copy of the document you receive from your State Unemployment Insurance Agency, with your client number noted, as soon as possible to tax@payrollpartners.com.
11. New or Changed Ordained Employees or 1099 Contractors
Help us keep your taxation reporting correct by letting Payroll Partners know if you set up or change an Ordained Employee or 1099 Contractor. You can send an email to us at tax@payrollpartners.com, or send your payroll in on Service Bureau (S/B) Review, and we will verify the correct taxation prior to running your next payroll.
12. Changing Employee Taxation
If you have an employee switch taxation (i.e. employee to clergy, 1099 to employee, etc…) during the year, you need to terminate his/her old record and create a new record on which to reflect the new taxation. Continuing with the same record will cause delays in the preparation of W-2s for that employee at the end of the year.
13. Exempt W-4 Forms
All employees that claimed “Exempt” from Federal income taxes on the W-4 Form, must complete a new W-4 Form every year. These employees should complete a 2019 W-4 Form no later than February 15, 2019. If employees do not give you a new W-4, you should change their Federal income tax status to “Single” and “zero (0) withholding allowances”. Once the 2019 W-4 Form is available from the IRS, you can access the form on our website: click here.
14. 2019 Payroll Calendars
Our 2019 Payroll Calendars are very popular and have come in! One calendar will be sent to each Client in November. If you would like to receive additional calendars, please list the number desired in the Year End Authorization – click here (Ctrl + link) to access the form.
15. Year End Client Checklist
During year end processing, payroll can get quite busy. We want to provide you with a handy checklist to help you streamline some important items. Please feel free to use this checklist as your reference. This checklist is only provided for your reference and is not required to be returned to Payroll Partners. Click here to access the Checklist.
16. Important Dates Calendar
In order to assist you even further, we are also providing you with a printable calendar of important dates from November, 2018 through February, 2019. This calendar helps identify holidays and dates when banks and Payroll Partners are closed. Click here to access this calendar.