Archive for March 30th, 2009

Crazy

March 30, 2009

Always do the things you fear the most. Courage is an acquired taste, like caviar.   Erica Jong

We have a dedicated person who works here who’s initials essentially form the word” Krazy”. I love her exuberance and enthusaism that she brings to our office. She’s not afraid to tackle the tough stuff and she does so with gusto.

And we are bringing on the tough stuff. In our industry, converting from one software to another is a kind of crazy. The kind of crazy that means, “What was I thinking?” It will take us a year and a half at the least to make the transition – we will make mistakes – our clients will question the need for us to change – I will question whether the investment is appropriate, especially when our industry is changing so fast that what we have now may be behind the times sooner rather than later.

And yet our most daunting point from a staffing perspective, is that everyone wants to be first on the learning curve of the new software. They want to be out there. They’re not afraid of change. They’re not daunted by the prospect of failure. They want to learn. That’s called a success problem in my book. We can’t all be first, even in our small company, but by golly we’re going to try to get everyone up to the speed they want to be going as quickly as possible.

Change – it’s tough, it’s frustrating, it requires longer hours, it raises questions, and it’s necessary if we want our company to survive. I’m sure you’ll hear more about this change over the coming months. It’s the big enchilada in our garden of payroll.

Cheers,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

Posted in Work Environment | Leave a Comment »

COBRA

March 30, 2009

Simply stated, it is sagacious to eschew obfuscation.     - Norman Augustine

We don’t pretend to be experts in the administration of COBRA – the continutation of health insurance when an employee separates from the business or organization for which they were employed. We’ll leave that to others who are specialists. But with the new legislation, payroll companies like ours, became players. That’s because as part of the stimulus bill, employees who were involuntary terminated and who elected COBRA after September 1, 2008 may receive a 65% credit off their COBRA insurance. They get this credit from their employer who in turns receives the same credit on their payroll tax deposits (941 payments) which is then reflected on their quarterly payroll tax form (Form 941) – get all that?

As a payroll provider to such an employer, we need the ex-employee information and the amount the company paid on the employee’s behalf to cover their COBRA payment. We then add that information to the payroll we are running thereby reducing the amount the employer owes the IRS and reflecting this information on the Form 941.

It’s simple, yet complex. There is a labyrinth of questions that can complicated the process regarding employee eligibility, negative liabilities, overpayment by the company of the COBRA amount, etc. I would add that the administration of this benefit is yet another reason to outsource payroll. We keep up with the legislative changes on this issue, we work with multiple employers regarding this issue keeping us current on multiple fronts and we keep our systems up to date in order to insure complicance.

The eyes may roll up at yet another government change – but we’re there for you.

Sincerely,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

Posted in Payroll - Regulations - OT | Leave a Comment »

Spring

March 30, 2009

You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere. - Charles F. Kettering, 1876 – 1958

Spring forth, spring forward, spring out, spring cleaning, spring, sprang, sprung. It’s quite the word. I don’t think other languages have quite the word that we have for spring with it’s many meanings and connotations. But feel free to correct me. I love to learn about the hidden meanings of words.

And what would a blog be without some reference to spring. Out with the old, in with the new. Out with our older software, in with our new software. Although the outing and inning will take place over 18 months. It’s the cleaning times. I feel for those in the two climate world of wet and dry seasons. How would I ever know to start the cleaning or changing process. Spring provides a reason for change .

And change – heard here before – is the root of capitalism – perhaps too swift at times. It’s how we make a move to our next level. It’s why we stumble because we move too fast. It’s also why relationships grow and die. Either both parties change and grow and the relationship strengthens or the parties go in different directions or one just doesn’t change. To paraphrase, perhaps by standing still, you are the one that’s changing.

Spring it on,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

Posted in Payroll - General | Leave a Comment »

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