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29 Common Payroll Mistakes And A One-Stop Solution
Don't mess with me Pork Chop! It's payroll day!
Sound familiar? Is this you every week, 2 weeks or twice per month? It doesn’t have to be. We can help!
We like to say we’re not a software company. We’re a design company. We don’t just provide our C&S HCM (Human Capital Management) system, we custom tailor it to each of our clients’ needs!
When we speak to prospects and clients about Payroll and HCM we take it further. We ask lots of questions. Here’s an old adage that explains why:
"Ask questions,
There are more questions than answers.
Opportunity is based on questions.
Facts can be outsourced."
I can’t tell you the number of times a prospect has said to me, “No one has ever asked me that before.”
Here’s the reasoning behind this technique. Many times a prospect will inquire about our payroll service because they have issues with their current provider.
We want to make certain they have a good experience with us and are aware of any potential “Red Flags” that could cause issues and penalties. In the past 10 months, here are a few of the issues we’ve uncovered:
29 common payroll mistakes
Payroll & 401(K)
- Missed contributions
- Missed eligibility
- Match miscalculations
- Loan(s) not repaid or in default
- Loans granted that were not allowed by plan
- Catch-up contributions were missed
Payroll & Benefits
- New hire eligibility was missed – employees were not offered enrollment
- Health plan was incorrectly terminated on the wrong employee
- No payroll deductions were started
- Enrollment was not sent to the carriers
- Renewal premium changes never made it into the payroll system
- Age-rated health plan not set up correctly
- Post-tax deductions were set up as pre-tax
- Evidence of Insurability was not received for Life Insurance buy-ups
- Deferred Compensation: provider didn’t know how to set this up
Payroll & Pay-As-You-Go Work Comp
- Employees were misclassified resulting in excess premiums deducted
Payroll & Taxes
- Out-of-state new hires were all treated as Wisconsin employees; no state withholding taxes or unemployment were started
- No Quarterly Reports were filed; No Quarterly Taxes were paid
- Zero tax reports were not filed for active states without employees
- Powers-of-Attorney were not filed for new state taxes
Payroll & Time And Attendance
- Overtime incorrectly calculated for all departments where the employee worked
- Employees worked off the clock during lunches and breaks
- Rounding rules not set up with DOL (Dept. of Labor) guidelines
- No time sheets were kept for hourly employees
- Terminated employees were not given their final paycheck on time
- Child Support was not deducted per the most recent court order
Payroll & ACA (Affordable Care Act)
- FTEs (Full Time Equivalent Employees) incorrectly calculated
- Look-back Period incorrectly calculated
- Employer should have been treated as a Controlled Group
How to avoid payroll errors - your one-stop solution
I could go on and on. If you are or have experienced any of these, it will be worth your while to take a look at what Connect & Simplify has to offer. Give me a call or send me an email...
About The Author —
Barb Schnoll is a Subject Matter Consultant in Payroll, Time Labor Management, HR, and HCM systems. Her prior history also includes many years of business-to-business consulting, sales, implementation, and training in technology. She has seen payroll evolve from writing checks, paying taxes, and producing W2s to a full-fledged, cloud-based HCM system offering mobile access from smartphones to employees and new hires.
In her spare time, she loves traveling, motorcycling, and new this summer, discovering the endless trails of UTVs.
She has represented The Benefit Companies for 20 years.
Connect & Simplify™ partners with UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) to offer best-in-class Payroll Software, Kronos Time Clocks, HR, and HCM solutions.