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Our recent webinar, "Mastering Complex Payroll: From State Taxes to Shift Differentials," was an educational session led by Jerika Holton, Payroll Product Marketing Manager at Greenshades. Attendees learned practical tips and strategies for managing payroll complexities, ensuring businesses remain compliant and efficient.
Download our comprehensive ebook, packed with all the valuable tips and tricks from this webinar. From multi-state taxation to employee expense tracking, this guide is your essential resource for tackling your biggest payroll hurdles.
Watch the full replay of the webinar here:
Multi-State Taxation
We started with multi-state taxation, a common challenge for businesses with employees working in multiple jurisdictions. Accurate tax calculation and reporting are crucial.
Attendees learned to:
- Encourage employees to regularly update their W-4 forms for accurate taxation.
- Keep employee home addresses updated, affecting taxes like "lived-in" taxes.
- Regularly update SUTA rates and assign employees to the correct base work location.
Greenshades simplifies multi-state taxation by using provided work locations to determine taxation, accommodating multiple work locations within the same workweek.
Job Costing and Project-Based Payroll
Next, we covered job costing, essential for allocating labor costs to specific projects, tracking hours, expenses, and ensuring accurate billing and budgeting.
Key takeaways included:
- Setting up custom fields in payroll settings to meet unique needs before processing payroll.
- Mapping custom fields to the GL for seamless reporting.
- Utilizing cost accounting data in ERP or supporting business solutions for billing, reporting, and future budgeting.
Greenshades allows for custom field setup, accurate tracking during payroll processing, and detailed breakdowns after payroll processing.
Managing Diverse Compensation Types & Variable Pay Structures
Handling different types of compensation, such as hourly wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, and overtime, requires a flexible payroll system.
We discussed:
- Communicating payroll structures clearly during onboarding and collecting e-signatures for confirmation.
- Setting up payroll codes for different earnings types and automating recurring bonuses or earnings.
- Utilizing employee self-service portals for employees to view and understand their earnings breakdowns.
Shift Differentials
We then explored shift differentials, where different rates are paid for work shifts that may be overnight, on the weekends, or that lands on a holiday.
Key points included:
- Using shift differentials can be a great tool to motivate employees to work unpopular shifts.
- Setting up payroll codes to reflect shift-differential earnings.
- Considering overtime requirements to ensure accurate wage payments.
Greenshades supports accurate shift differential setup in payroll settings and timesheets.
Maintaining Compliance and Calculating Garnishments
Compliance with legal requirements for wage garnishments like child support and tax levies is critical.
Attendees learned to:
- Review location-specific compliance laws around garnishments.
- Ensure garnishments are added correctly for special pay runs.
- Set up garnishment orders properly to avoid legal issues.
Greenshades' detailed setup ensures automatic application of unlimited garnishments during payroll processing for compliance.
Tying Voluntary Benefits to Payroll Deductions
Administering voluntary deductions such as retirement contributions and health insurance requires careful management.
We covered:
- Ensuring types (fixed amount or percentage) and frequency of deductions are set up correctly.
- Using the correct box code 12 for W-2s.
- Scheduling deductions based on organizational needs.
Greenshades simplifies setting up deduction codes and scheduling them accurately for employees.
Supporting Multiple Pay Frequencies
Supporting different pay frequencies within the same organization ensures timely and accurate payments.
Tips included:
- Establishing a standard FLSA work week for compliance with items such as overtime.
- Setting up pay schedules to support all frequencies.
- Communicating pay schedules and changes consistently with employees.
Greenshades provides flexible pay schedule setups, allowing support for various pay frequencies and off-cycle pay runs.
Retroactive Pay Adjustments
Calculating and processing retroactive pay for pay rate changes, bonuses, or corrections to previous payroll periods is essential for maintaining accuracy.
Key tips:
- Keeping detailed records of pay rate changes.
- Using payroll software that supports retroactive pay calculations.
- Communicating retroactive adjustments to employees promptly.
Greenshades supports adjustments to previous pay runs and provides detailed adjustment suggestions.
Integrating Benefits & Incentive Programs Into Payroll
Administering complex benefits programs, including health insurance, retirement plans, and performance-based incentives, can be streamlined with integrated payroll software.
Key points:
- Communicating benefits and incentives during onboarding and open enrollment periods.
- Using payroll software that integrates with benefits payroll codes.
- Reviewing and updating benefits offerings regularly.
Greenshades integrates with benefit platforms to ensure compliance and manage time-off accruals with automatic adjustments.
Streamlining Employee Expenses With Payroll
Integrating payroll with expense management systems ensures accurate and timely reimbursement of employee expenses.
We discussed:
- Implementing clear expense policies.
- Using integrated payroll and expense management systems.
- Regularly auditing expense reports for compliance.
Wrap Up and Key Takeaways
To wrap up, we emphasized that managing payroll with compliance and automation doesn't mean sacrificing accuracy. Greenshades offers tools for automating complex calculations, configuring systems to suit organizational needs, and scaling payroll solutions as businesses grow.
Key takeaways:
- Automate complex calculations and ensure compliance.
- Configure payroll solutions to suit organizational needs.
- Grow and scale payroll operations as the business evolves.
Want to keep track of these helpful tips on how to handle complex payroll processing? Download our E-book to learn how to tackle your complex payroll needs. Contact us today to learn how Greenshades can help automate complex payroll processing.
