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Tips & Techniques

In reviewing the Annual Reporting Error Listing (TX xxx900 Report), we are noticing a few common errors.  In order to minimize these errors in the future; here are a few tips that should help you when correcting FICA status when refunding taxes and paying out deceased employees.

Correcting FICA status

1. FICA status should be first corrected in Job Data using the effective date of hire or FICA status Change.
2. Process a reversal adjustment for the check(s) that were incorrect.  If more than four (4) periods are affected, contact HCM Support.
3. Do not over ride tax information on the pay line.  Doing this only adjusts the tax and does not correct the taxable wage.
4. A refund check will be available the next day for the refunded tax.

Deceased Employees/DEC processing

Processing a check for a deceased employee is done in two steps.  First, a check should be processed paying the beneficiary, the estate or surviving spouse. Second, process a manual check using the DEC earnings code for the amount of Federal and State Taxable wages that should be reported on a 1099MISC rather than a W-2. 

Refer to the following documents below for further instructions on processing checks for deceased employees:

• PAY 1002 - Payments for Deceased Employee

• Manual Check to Adjust Wages for a Deceased Employee

Rehires

When an employee transfers in, is rehired or has an add employment record entered, the gaining agency must review the following areas to insure that the employee record is correct:

• Additional Pay - Review the additional pay earnings codes and verify that they are authorized for your agency and are of the correct amount.
• Direct Deposit - If your agency does not offer direct deposit, review the direct deposit panel and inactivate the top row if one exists with data.
• Employee Tax Data - Carefully review all panels in this group. The system automatically copies the data from an existing agency to the new agency.  For example: If the employee was Exempt from State Unemployment in the losing agency and is covered in the gaining agency, you will need to "Un-check" the box on State Tax Data 2. Also, pay special attention to the percentage boxes on Federal Tax Data 1 and State Tax Data 1 and remove any percentages that are not appropriate for the employee. In addition, if the employee has not filed a W-5 with your agency, you may need to change the radio button to Not Applicable on Federal Tax Data 2.
• General Deduction Data - review the general deduction codes and verify that they are authorized for your agency. Also, verify that any general deduction overrides are appropriate for your agency.
  

Refer to the following Payroll Business Processes for additional details:

• PAY 0106 - Transfer Employees-Receiving Agency
• PAY 0109 - Maintain employee tax information
• PAY 0110 - Maintain employee general deduction information
• PAY 0112 - Maintain recurring additional pay information
• PAY 0113 - Overriding general deductions
• PAY 0114 - Maintain direct deposit information
• PAY 0118 - Rehire Employees/Retirees

Partial Pay Employees

The PDF document of Partial Payment, contains directions about how to ensure that employees who are placed into a "Partial Pay" status will have a check calculated.  Without manual intervention by agency staff, partial pay employees' checks WILL NOT be successfully calculated.

Savings Bonds

As we have gained experience using the Savings Bond Process in PeopleSoft, we realize the delivered process will require more agency operator review and validation of an employee's record.

One bond issue of great importance is when changes are made to the Bond Specifications panel.

When making changes on the "US Savings Bond Spec" panel (which is located under "Go, Compensate Employees, Maintain Payroll Data US, Use"), you must always make sure that the employee is not in the middle of a bond cycle; that is, that they have funds deducted towards the purchase of a bond, but they haven't accumulated enough to purchase the bond. Always check the "US Savings Bond Activity Log" panel (which is located under "Go, Compensate Employees, Maintain Payroll Data US, Inquire") to see where the employee is in the bond cycle.  Be sure to check the log completely for numerous owners (they are in bond owner order, then paycheck date order).

An example would be that the employee has elected to have $40.00 deducted each pay period for bonds.  The employee has elected to purchase bonds for owner id #1 and owner id #2. The employee has also elected to split bond deduction amounts evenly between the two owners. This means that each owner will receive a $20.00 credit towards the purchase of a bond every pay period. If the employee originally selected a $100.00 Series EE bond, the purchase amount is $50.00. A bond will be bought for each owner when $50.00 is accumulated in each owner's balance.  If the employee wants to change the bond amount to $200.00 after two pay periods, your agency must make some decisions.  Each of the two owners would have $40.00 in their log, displayed under the "Remaining Balance" field. 

Some options for handling this situation are listed below:

1. You could do two Reversal/ Adjustments to give back the $80.00 to the employee (this eliminates the labor distribution issue below). THEN you could change the information in the US Savings Bond Spec panel to reflect the new $200.00 amount for future pay periods.
2. You could wait until the accumulated balance (remaining balance) for each owner is at 0.00 (In this scenario you would have to wait 3 more pay periods to get to 0.00 in the balance, a total of 4 bonds would be purchased; 2 after one pay period and 2 more after the third pay period). After these pay periods process, then you could change the information in the US Savings Bond Spec panel to reflect the new $200.00 amount for future pay periods.
3. You could change the amount to deduct just enough to purchase a bond for each owner and leave no "remaining balance". In this case you would want to change the deduction amount to $20.00 which would give each owner $10.00 and thus purchase a bond for each owner. After this pay period, you would change the deduction amount back to the original $40.00 and you would change the information in the US Savings Bond Spec panel to reflect the new $200.00 amount for future pay periods.
4. You could stop the bond deduction and refund the $80.00 directly on the payline for the next "on cycle" check (this doesn't create a labor distribution problem since the check will have gross wages). After this pay period, you would change the deduction amount back to the original $40.00 and you would change the information in the US Savings Bond Spec panel to reflect the new $200.00 amount for future pay periods.
5. You could refund to the Employee the $80.00. (If you do an on demand or manual check that is a straight refund, you may encounter labor distribution issues to consider since this would be a zero earnings check). THEN you could change the information in the US Savings Bond Spec panel to reflect the new $200.00 amount for future pay periods.
   

As you can see, the system has flexible solutions.  The point is that any time you change anything in the bond spec panel, you will need to review the impact on the bond log panel.

If you simply change the US Savings Bond Spec panel without considering the impact on the log panel then you may very well "freeze" funds in the system.  Those funds DO NOT automatically roll over to the purchase of the new $200.00 bond amount.  We are working on a query to identify the employees with idle/frozen bond funds in PeopleSoft and will notify affected agencies within the next couple of weeks.

Another bond issue of great importance is when employees transfer.  We are currently revising the business process and will notify you as soon as it is ready.  As a preparatory measure, before you transfer an employee out, verify that the employee does not have a remaining balance. If there is a remaining balance, then you may want to consider the preceding options before doing the transfer.

If your agency discovers a bond balance for an employee after a transfer out has already been done, then you will have an excess trust fund balance.  You will need to manually transfer these funds to the gaining agency via A/P check made payable to the gaining agency, since the bond will continue to automatically deduct at the gaining agency.  When enough money is collected to purchase the bond, the gaining agency pays the Federal Reserve for the full purchase price.  The trust account balance for the gaining agency is less than what it should be.  The A/P check will adjust the trust accounts for both the gaining and losing agencies.  We are currently working on identifying these employees and will notify affected agencies within the next couple of weeks.

Please contact the SAO Financials Systems at (404) 657-3956 for assistance resolving Savings Bond issues.

ERS Pension Consolidation Panels

In order to help the payroll offices with the reconciliation of ERS pension information, access has been given to the Pension's Consolidation panels for Earnings and Contributions.  Those employees which have access to the PayLine in the Payroll office and those which can update the Pensionable Earnings Panel can view the new panels. 

To access them:

Go, Compensate Employees, Administer Pension Plans, Use, Consolidations, Update/Display.

Please download examples of the panels:

• Contribution
• Earnings
  

If you have any questions concerning these panels, please contact ERS.  Access to these panels is effective immediately.

Tax Information

• Please review this information regarding employees filing a W-4 with an exempt from federal withholding tax status and employees filing a W-5 claiming the Advanced Earned Income Credit (EIC).
• TAXxxx103 Report (W-4 Exempt) lists employees who claim "Exempt" status from federal withholding tax and is sorted by Company, Mail Drop, and employee name.
• A new W-4 must be filed if the employees listed on the TAXxxx103 report wishing to continue claiming the exempt status from federal withholding tax. When entering the new W-4, access the Federal Tax Data 1 panel (Go, Compensate Employees, Maintain Payroll Data U.S., Use) click on the scroll bar, insert a new effective dated row and set the radio button from "Notification Sent" to "None" and SAVE. An error will occur if an attempt is made to set the radio button "New W-4 Received". This particular PeopleSoft functionality is not being used at this time.
• TAXxxx113 Reports (W-5 EIC) lists employees who claim "Advanced Earned Income Credit" (EIC) and is sorted by Company, Mail Drop, and employee name.
• A new W-5 must be filed if the employees listed on the TAXxxx113 report wish to continue claiming the Advanced Earned Income Credit. When entering a new W-5, access the Federal Tax Data 2 panel (Go, Compensate Employees, Maintain Payroll Data U.S., Use), click on the scroll bar, insert a new effective dated row and set the radio button from "Notification Sent" to "None" and SAVE.  If an attempt is made to set the radio button "New W-5 Received" an error will occur. This particular PeopleSoft functionality is not being used at this time.

If there are any questions concerning W-4 or W-5 entry, please call the SAO HRMS Helpdesk.

Reissued W-2's

Reissued W-2s are printed on Tuesday and Friday nights of each week during the period from February 1st through mid April.  From April 15th through January 31st, reissued W-2's are only printed on Friday nights.  Agencies can request reissued W-2's as far back as tax year 1999.  To make a request, use the Reissue W-2 Request Form.  Each tax year must be submitted on a separate form.  Send requests to the HRMS Agency Support Team by fax at 404 463-5089 or by e-mail at hcm@sao.ga.gov by 3:30 PM to be included in the next batch run.  Reissued W-2's will be available the next business day after the print job is processed.  When a print night will fall on a state or federal holiday, the job will be submitted on the last business day prior to the normal print day.