Price: $96.50 (US)
Date Published: 2000
Format: 3 ring binder
Length: 438 pages
The PAYROLL COMPLIANCE HANDBOOK will prove to be a fixture of any payroll professional´s desk. This comprehensive reference book provides concrete, hands-on techniques and suggestions for how to reduce your company´s legal liability for variety of wage and salary-related issues. You get important information from all the major players - like the IRS, the Department of Labor and from federal, state, and tax courts - who set legal guidelines for your payroll department.
The Payroll Compliance Handbook contains twenty chapters that have been grouped into the following six sections:
Appendices Special Features:
Following is a list of what you will find in this book:
What you won´t find in this book:
Summary
In terms of legal compliance, this 438-page document can prove to be the one and only source for all your payroll needs. Payroll Compliance Handbook: The legal way to pay provides a lot of interesting and relevant information. It is difficult to give a detailed overview of this extensive document so I will just share a few of the topics and tips covered in the six sections.
1. FLSA Rules & Regs
It is explained that the FLSA may apply to some employees and not others depending on whether or not they work in interstate commerce. In terms of the definition of an employer, even managers could be held liable for FLSA violations and treated as employers. Groups such as independent contractors, volunteers, trainees, students and children are also given special attention in this section. In addition, a checklist called "Analyzing a job for exempt status" is included. A number of "minimum wage alerts" are scattered throughout the chapter on this topic.
According to the "FLSA Time Traps" chapter, an employer can set their own workweek as long as they are consistent and remember, "you can´t keep changing your workweek to avoid paying overtime." It is always the employer´s responsibility to ensure that employees don´t work longer than 40 hours a week without being paid overtime. This requirement becomes trickier if you have employees working off the premises. There is actually a 32-page chapter devoted to the issue of "overtime requirements".
2. Equal Pay Act Guidance
This section aims to help you comply with the Equal Pay Act by setting pay standards carefully so that there are no biases. The employer is also alerted to watch out for Title VII, which has been expanded to cover gender-based workplace discrimination. There are some admissible pay disparities, which are listed in this section.
3. Benefits & Expenses
This section looks at non-taxable fringe benefits, De Minimis benefits, special rules for workplace meals, and cash benefits to list but a few of the topics. A number of "working condition fringes alerts" are provided throughout the section. The IRS Insider is also featured in this section and provides information of IRS requirements for the various employee benefits. This section has a number of charts and checklists that are likely to prove helpful:
4. Basic Payroll Law
This section is probably of the most interest to a Compensation/Benefits professional. Included are about a hundred pages that deal with topics such as hiring employees, Form W-4, terminating employees, paying COBRA premiums, HIPPA, wages subject to withholding, wages paid after death, employees and wages subject to FICA, how to save money on FICA and FUTA taxes, voluntary quits, depositing and reporting income and FICA taxes, and special depositing/reporting situation. This is only an overview of some of the topics! There are actually a lot of other issues covered here as well. There are also a number of checklists included in this section as well:
5. Payroll Forms/Documents
This section contains information concerning when to file and how to file the various forms such as the W-2, W-3, 941, and Forms 1099. The tasks of reconciling and correcting these forms are also given attention. In addition to other topics, a chapter in this section looks at record-keeping requirements, income tax withholding, possible penalties, failure to withhold taxes or failure to deposit withheld taxes. Some of the checklists provided are:
6. Payroll Problems
Last but not least, this section addresses some of the "payroll problems" that an employer may be confronted with. Issues relating to the Consumer Credit Protection Act, Creditor Garnishments, Child support garnishments, Federal Tax Levies, Test for Worker Status, Independent Contractor, and Temporary employees are a few of the topics covered. Following checklists and tools included are included in this section:
There are six Appendices attached at the end of the Payroll Compliance Handbook manual. You are also provided with an additional package that will make the handbook up-to-date.
Why would an HR professional be interested?
HR departments usually find themselves trying to undo the damages done by any significant mistakes in terms of the payroll - whether it be in terms of the legal backlash or employee relations. It makes sense for both HR and Compensation and Benefits Professionals to be familiar with the legal requirements.
Additionally, it has been recognized that payroll makes up one of the biggest costs for most businesses. Although many scholars would argue that wages are not the key incentive for your employees, its likely that it can be highly demotivating if payroll isn´t prepared correctly. From the perspective of motivating your employees and also avoiding unnecessary legal costs, it makes a lot of sense to prepare payroll properly and ensure compliance with the various laws.
HR.COMmentary
To say that there is a lot of information in this manual would be an understatement. If you were overwhelmed by reading this product review - well, you haven´t seen anything yet! Nonetheless, the information presented here is absolutely valuable. Surprisingly, it is all well-organized and presented in a clear to understand manner. Features such as the IRS Insider, FYI, Pay in action, Alerts, and Legal pay point add substantially to the ease of reading through the handbook because they provide consistency and adding interest.
This substantive handbook should be a feature of any Compensation and Benefits administrator´s desk. The value added by this product really pays for itself. If you were able to avoid even one of the many legal problems possible, you would have gotten your monies worth.
Company Information
Alexander Hamilton Institute, Inc.
70 Hilltop Road, Ramsey, NJ 07446-1119
USA Phone: (800) 879-2441, (201) 825-3377 Fax: (201) 825-8696