Year-Round Compass

Watch for training announcements on these courses coming soon on the Ceridian Education Center:

• Auditing Your Payroll for QE and YE Success (available year-round)
• Processing Year-End Tasks for Payroll
• Processing Year-End Tasks for Payroll – Refresher

Reconcile, reconcile, reconcile

• The Wage and Tax Report includes audit messages whenever questionable wage or tax conditions occur. The errors may result in incorrect payroll tax reports, late filings, or penalties. It is critical that all messages on this report are researched and resolved.
  • Path: Payroll > Reports > US Wage and Tax Report (select ‘Include only Employees with Validation Errors')
    

Closely review your W-2 Management Report

• Forms W-2 are a key year-end deliverable. Review, audit, and balance your W-2 Management Reports each payroll. Understanding and reconciling Form W-2 data prior to year-end will reduce your workload in January.
• The W-2 Management Report is found in Dayforce under Year End > USA Year End
• Download the 2019 “Form W-2 poster” found in the QE Packet
• Update your off-boarding process so that it includes completing termed employees’ Forms W-2
  

Confirm tax form indicators and display

• The U.S. Earning and Deduction Matrix Validation Report allows you to reconcile the taxability and the display on Forms W-2 and 1099.
• To manually generate the report: Select Year End > USA Year End > Reports > Select US Earning & Deduction Matrix Report. The report will be delivered in the Message Center.
• Changing the Tax Form Mapping:
• Earnings: Payroll Setup > Earning Definition > Select the Earning > Tax & Compliance > United States > Tax Form Mapping
• Deductions: Payroll Setup > Deduction Definition > Select the Deduction Code > Deduction Code tab > USA > Tax Form Mapping
  

Review your 2020 pay calendar and add holidays

• Although Dayforce automatically generates pay periods on a rolling basis, the application will not create your company’s specific 2020 holidays used in the WFM timesheets.
• Get started by downloading these great documents in the QE Packet:
• “Payroll holidays”
• “2020 Annual schedule at a glance”
• “Payroll configuration” – search for “Define Pay Holidays”
  

Use the Year End tab ALL year

• Review and verify Forms W-2 to make Year-End 2019 your best. You can also verify, print, and reprint all tax forms (W-2, W-2c, 1099R, and 1099M). If you have not enabled this tab, navigate here:
• System Admin > Roles > Features > Year End
  

Ask employees to review their check stubs

• Add a check stub message or include the request in your company newsletter.
• Do they have the correct state and local withholding?
• Is their name, address, and SSN correct?
  

Be prepared for open enrollment (OE)

• OE is a busy season - especially when it falls during the calendar year-end. To help you work more efficiently and effectively, use these OE tools and training:
• Our training program includes the OE/Benefit training and testing.
• Search the Knowledge Base for “open enrollment.”
  

Stay current with compliance changes

• The Product News section of the Ceridian Support Portal includes updates about new and upcoming compliance changes, plus browser support, feature releases, and product information. Review the articles regularly to identify the changes that impact your business and may require you to make changes in Dayforce.

The adage, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ may have been written for payroll users. Preparing today will make December and January much more relaxed. You might even be able to take some time off to enjoy the holiday season.

• missing from your tax jurisdictional profile
• invalid
• inactive

CTS compares your payroll tax data to your tax jurisdictional profile each pay cycle. Unmatched tax data is placed in a suspense account and will only be deposited after you give verification and other required info (for example: agency assigned account number, deposit frequency, or Power of Attorney).

A lapse in confirmation or resolution generates agency notices, amendments, and penalty exposure for your company. Reduce your exposure by taking immediate action.

Mark your calendar for ACA

Do you have a contract for our ACA services? Be prepared for the upcoming ACA deadlines starting this month.

• October 15 – The Auto-Fill task is the first critical step (and the easiest) in creating your ACA tax forms. The Auto-Fill task creates the forms, loads available employee data and then displays errors for your review and correction. This allows you to see how much work is needed to file your 2019 ACA tax forms. It is critical that you run the Auto-Fill task no later than mid-October to meet the January 10 filing deadline*. Simply navigate to: PPACA > Year-End Process > Load Year 2019 then click the Auto-Fill button on the Overview screen.
• November 8 – Professional Service deadline for requesting these ACA projects:
  • PPACA module setup - Monitors part-time employees that may cross the 30 average hours threshold (making them eligible for medical benefits). This process allows these individuals to be monitored for IRS compliance monthly.
  • ACA year-end setup - Used for creating employees’ Forms 1095-C and the employer’s Forms 1094-C to be electronically filed with the IRS. This automated process will help with 2019 Forms 1095-C / 1094-C production and cut down on manual entry.
• January 10 - Deadline for ACA submissions
  You must lock your PPACA year-end filing and mark it as ‘ready to send’ no later than the end of the day on January 10. Miss this deadline and Ceridian will be unable to file on your behalf. This will result in a failure to file with the IRS.

*There is no expectation that IRS deadlines will be extended this year.

Dependent SSNs

Sometimes the employee does not know their dependent’s SSN when this information is being collected. If possible, do not key a temporary value into this field while waiting to collect the valid number – leave it blank.

If you forget to fix this later, it will cause a rejected record - or even a filing reject due to a mismatch with the IRS/SSA databases. That means expect extra work in January. You will need to file the employee manually. You will still need either the dependent’s SSN or DOB. Collect it up front as part of your on-boarding process – request to see the dependent’s Social Security Card, if possible, to confirm the last name and SSN match what is in Dayforce.

For more information, as well as for what to do if you have already keyed a temporary SSN, see the new KB article, “ACA Dependent Social Security Numbers (SSN)” on the Ceridian Support Portal.

Be sure to download the new QE Packet and review “Form 1095-C services”. Keep watching your inbox for more ACA updates.

Year-end projects deadlines approaching

Do you have a project that you’d like Ceridian to complete between now and January 31? The clock is ticking. It is critical to get these projects submitted and approved as early as possible – just download the new QE Packet and click “Project cut-off dates” in the Table of Contents.

Requesting a project now will help ensure the work is completed in a timely manner and delivered for the payroll run you desire. Requests submitted after the published year-end cutoff date are not guaranteed to be completed during the year-end timeframe. Questions or concerns related to your specific project can be included with the project submission. Submit first and figure out the fine points later – just don’t be late.

1099M/R set up

To have a 1099M or 1099R entity set up, go to the Ceridian Support Portal and submit a request. The deadline was September 20 to ensure timely completion, however every effort will be made to accommodate late requests. To speed up the process, supply as much information as possible in the request and then promptly answer questions relating to your project.

New PS shopping experience

When you need your next PS project, you’ll find some big changes when you submit your request on the Ceridian Support Portal. The new self-service portal will give you an immediate cost estimate for your request.

Key Features:

• On-demand cost estimates
• Online change request generation
• Online approval
• Ability to save the questionnaire and complete it later
• Ability to request help

On August 8, 2019, the IRS issued a draft version of its 2020 Form W-4 Employee’s Withholding Certificate (W-4). The draft 2020 W-4 includes significant revisions to support the withholding changes introduced by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The IRS has indicated it does not expect substantial changes between the draft version and the final form due to be published in late fall.

Notable changes to the employee information on the Draft 2020 Form W-4

• Employee filing status options have been revised to:
• Single or Married filing separately
• Married filing jointly
• Head of household
• Employees will no longer claim “allowances” to adjust their withholding. Instead, employees can choose to make withholding adjustments based on their individual circumstances, including: Multiple jobs, working spouse, dependents and other income.
• These adjustments are optional but will increase the accuracy of withholding for employees to which these situations apply.

Employer considerations for the 2020 Form W-4

• For new hires as of January 1, 2020, the new W-4 is mandatory.
• For existing employees hired prior to 2020:
  • You can request an updated form, but you cannot require employees to submit a 2020 W-4 just because of the redesign.
  • For employees who do not submit a 2020 W-4, employers must continue to withhold based on the most recent valid W-4 submitted by the employee.
  • If the employee wants to adjust withholding for a 2020 pay date, they must submit the new 2020 W-4.
• For all employees with no valid W-4 on file (from 2020 or any prior year), income for 2020 pay dates will be calculated as if the employee claimed, “Single with no adjustments.”

Preparing for the new 2020 Form W-4

• You should plan to communicate the availability of the 2020 Form W-4 for awareness. You cannot, however, require employees to submit an updated form just because of the redesign.
• Advise employees with questions about completing the 2020 W-4 to refer to:
  • Use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator for a “paycheck checkup.”
  • Contact their personal tax or financial advisor.

Dayforce

Dayforce plans to support the 2020 Form W-4 as well as the continued use of previous years’ W-4 information for existing employees. Watch for more detailed product information and planned release dates in future communications after the IRS publishes the final 2020 W-4 and withholding detail.

In the meantime, Ceridian is maintaining a Frequently Asked Questions document to provide more detail on the upcoming 2020 Form W-4 and employee withholding changes – including product information when available. For access, go to the Support Portal and choose Knowledgebase > Compliance.

In 2012, PA Act 32 established a system for the collection of Earned Income Tax (EIT) for employees who work in Pennsylvania. Companies must enter specific information for their employees so that Dayforce can accurately accumulate and report EIT. It is critical that PA Act 32 information is entered completely and correctly.

Tips

Action required: Review employee data and correct issues. It is crucial that employees be set up accurately in Dayforce. To help with this review, generate the PSD Code Report in My Pay.

Review your employees and ensure they have a valid PSD codes (residence and worksite) for both EIT and LST (Local Services Tax).

Note that the tax agency uses the employee street address to allocate tax payments to the correct locality. PA Act 32 does not allow a “p.o. box” in the employee Address Line 1 - even if it is combined with a valid street address. Employees with a “p.o. box” in Address Line 1 will drop from the filing.

This chart shows several PA Act 32 issues to watch. These issues may result in the tax agency contacting you for information or issuing an inquiry notice. In some instances, manual filing or amended returns may be needed.