News from Smith Office Solutions

Home Clouds About Us Blog Services Payroll By Need By industry Intuit Products Interview

Smith Office Solutions, Inc.

December 2011

In this issue

Important Dates

Feature: Online Payroll

Minimum Wages for 2012

Wage Base for Social Security

Reporting fo Employer-Provided Health Plan

QuickBooks Tip of the Month

Trivia

Greetings!

Well, it is time to worry about the end of the year. Let's see, there are presents to buy, parties to attend, and hustle and bustle. There is always too much to do. If you have been reading our newsletters, you have your 1099 vendors in good shape. Now it is time to verify your employees' addresses. You wouldn't believe how often employees move & don't tell you, or you forget to change their payroll records.

Check out Smith Office Solutions latest effort in assisting your business to succeed; our article on an alternative payroll option. This option can be used by companies that don't use any job costing. We know that you need to keep costs down, so we are offering a new cost effective alternative. This new option starts in January 2012, but in order to use it on the first week of January we will need to get ready now. There is a lot more setup for us when you change in the middle of the year.

We have a great tip for you this month to help manage your bank and credit card accounts in QuickBooks. Also, to show that we "bean-counters" are not completely stuck in spreadsheets, we have included a little bit of fun trivia.

Check out our website by clicking on the links at the begining of this letter. We have some exciting changes planned and you won't want to miss them!

Important Dates:

12/15 Payroll Tax Deposit due for Monthly Depositors

12/25 Christmas Day

12/31 New Year's Eve

April 2012 QuickBooks 2009 Payroll Services are no longer supported by Intuit and you will be required to move to 2012.

Feature Article: Online Payroll

This is not currently available for a company that needs job costing.

There are some companies that pay hourly or salary but have no jobs attached. You can try this if you are looking for saving time.

Your employees can enter their time on a timesheet or use a stopwatch. It isn't necessary to use the timesheet but it does determine the overtime based on your state's laws. This cost per employee is minimal per month.
Then the payroll can be done.
After it is done, it can be imported directly into QuickBooks.
There will be several ways the payroll can be done. You may want to have someone in your office do the payroll or have us do all of it.
If your payroll is simple enough, you may be able to do the payroll tax deposits and reports. We will still review them for you.
There will be reminders for tasks that need to be done on the website when you log in.
Federal & state tax deposits will be made electronically for most state, Oregon is included in this list.

If you are already using the regular payroll, we will transfer you to online payroll for a small setup fee. This system is setup to work in the Cloud or on the desktop.

SOS NW, is constantly looking for ways to help you in this economy.

This can be used for PeachTree also. If you know someone that needs payroll and uses this software, this is a good solution for them as well.

There is a Powerpoint or pdf. to walk you thru it. Click here to check it out.

Get ready for minimum wages to increase January 1, 2012 if you have employees in the following states.

New State Minimum Wages in January 2012

Several states have updated their minimum wage requirements for 2012. These increases will be effective January 1, 2012.

Arizona: The state minimum wage increased to $7.65 per hour from $7.35.

Colorado: The state wage increased to $7.64 per hour from $7.36. The minimum wage for tipped employees also increased from $4.34 to $4.62 (in addition to tips).

Florida: The minimum wage increased from $7.31 per hour to $7.67. The minimum wage for tipped employees also increased from $4.29 to $4.65 (in addition to tips).

Montana: The state wage is going to $7.65 per hour-an increase from $7.35.

Ohio: The minimum wage increased to $7.70 per hour for non-tipped employees and to $3.85 per hour for tipped employees (in addition to tips). However, for employees whose employers gross $283,000 or less per year (and for minors ages 14 and 15 years old), the minimum wage is $7.25, which is equal to the federal rate.

Oregon: The minimum wage increased from $8.50 an hour to $8.80.

Vermont: The state minimum wage increased from $8.15 an hour to $8.65 an hour. The minimum wage for tipped employees also increased from $3.95 to $4.10 (in addition to tips).

Washington: The state minimum wage increased 37 cents to $9.04 per hour.

As Intuit's Payroll Newsletters we will share more information.

Wage Base for Social Security Taxes and Employee Social Security Tax Rate to Increase

The taxable wage base for Social Security Old Age Survivor's and Disability Insurance (OASDI) will increase from $106,800 to $110,100. The maximum tax payable by each employee will be $6,826.20, or 6.2% of the wage base. The employer matches the amount with an equal contribution.

The 4.2% rate now in effect for employees is scheduled to expire December 31, 2011, and will revert to the 6.2% rate for 2012, unless the federal government acts to extend or change the rate.

As Intuit's Payroll Newsletters we will share more information.

Reporting for Employer-Provided Health Plan Coverage

Large Employers Required to Report Employer-Provided Health Plan Coverage

In April 2011, the IRS published Notice 2011-28, providing interim guidance on informational reporting to employees of the cost of their employer-sponsored group health plan coverage. The guidance provides relief for small employers in calendar year 2012. If you are an employer who files fewer than 250 Forms W-2 for the 2011 calendar year, you will not be subject to the health coverage reporting requirement on Forms W-2 for the 2012 calendar year.

Employers who file 250 or more Forms W-2 for the 2011 calendar year will be subject to the reporting requirements for Forms W-2 for the 2012 calendar year.

Intuit QuickBooks Payroll will be adding a new tax tracking type to allow you to track the cost of group health insurance coverage per employee and report that cost on each employee's 2012 Form W-2.

As Intuit's Payroll Newsletters we will share more information. On this topic we believe that it will hit smaller businesses 2013.

QuickBooks Tip of the Month

Reviewing the address of your employees.

Click on the Reports Menu
Go to Lists
Go to Employee Contact List
On the Display on Modify Reports unclick all but Employee & Address
On the Filters on Modify Reports click Active Status & click All (after all you may have let go of someone that you forgot about or want to forget about.

Next month we will tell you what to do with the W-2s you get back because you didn't review our tip.

Trivia

What are Hugh Grant's middle names?
See ya next month!

Answers given next month

Sign up for our Mailing List