04Jun 2013 by Nancy Smyth
Certified Payroll-Numbering and “No Work” Performed Reports

Certified Payroll-Numbering and “No Work” Performed Reports

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Questions from our readers
Certified Payroll numbering and the submission of "No Work" performed reports should be easy to figure out, but the way that the instructions provided on the U.S. Department of Labor website are written is very confusing - see this question submitted by a reader. Our company is fairly new to working on Prevailing Wage jobs and submitting certified payroll reports and I'm so confused about the requirements for numbering the reports and the submission of "No Work Performed" payrolls.  The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) website states payrolls must be submitted sequentially and should be based on the weeks worked under a contract but the instructions also states submit for no work week.  Can you tell me which is correct?  Thanks, Pamela ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Pamela Thanks for stopping by and…
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21May 2013 by Ben Smyth

Automating Job Costing Overtime, an 800 pound gorilla with an attitude

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, From Our Guest Bloggers, Job Costing Tips, Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Add-Ons
Calculating and distributing employee overtime is a burdensome process that many business owners and payroll administrators have to deal with on a weekly basis.  Everyone has a different opinion on just "HOW" that overtime is to be calculated and distributed.  By everyone, I mean the business owner, the payroll clerk, heck even the Federal and State government.  No wonder it's just a problematic situation! At first blush this seems drop dead simple. Overtime goes to the time worked after 40 hours, or maybe over x hours per day as well.  This seems reasonable, but would it be simpler if overtime were just distributed over all the jobs that the employee worked that week.  That seems fairer, as each job gets a share of the overtime costs for that week. Then…
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18Apr 2013 by Nancy Smyth
Entering Historical Paychecks – Payroll Taxes and the Accounts They Post To

Entering Historical Paychecks – Payroll Taxes and the Accounts They Post To

Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
Setting up QuickBooks payroll and entering historical information can be quite confusing.  Thankfully there is a Payroll Setup wizard that will help you through most of the really rough parts. I am entering historical payroll from 2012.  Our fiscal year began 10/1/12. It is now 4/12/13.  How is best way to enter this payroll and balance month by month until I get to the current info.  Also, I am confused on what accounts the payroll taxes post to. I'm not sure I have them set up at this point. Especially on the exact accounts I need for payroll taxes and are they debits or credits. and how do I link them to my chart of accounts. Any help would be appreciated.  Debbie Hi Debbie If you are entering historical payroll…
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07Nov 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Job Costing Payroll When Using a Payroll Service

Job Costing Payroll When Using a Payroll Service

Job Costing Tips, Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
Using an outside payroll service, such as Paychecx or ADP, is a popular option for many business owners.  While using a payroll service often provides many benefits one of the biggest challenges or drawbacks is for the company that needs job costing.  See this question submitted by a reader. My company uses a 3rd party to do all of our payroll.  We receive an itemized report back showing what we spent for the week.  I am having trouble trying to get this information charged out to individual jobs.  I track all of the hours separately in Excel, with estimated costs.  How can I job cost this information?  Thank you – Michelle Hi Michelle I bet you are having trouble getting payroll information charged to individual jobs, that’s one of the…
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09Aug 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Reporting Fringe Benefits Paid in Cash on Certified Payroll

Reporting Fringe Benefits Paid in Cash on Certified Payroll

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers, The "Sunburst" Website, Webinars & Training
Reporting prevailing wage fringe benefits paid in cash to the employee has specific requirements when completing the Federal WH-347 Certified Payroll Report.  Here is a question from a reader who is submitting the built-in QuickBooks certified payroll report and is being told that she is not correctly reporting the cash fringe benefit amounts. Hi, I found your blog through a Google search and can't believe all the information you have here about certified payroll, prevailing wage and using QuickBooks - so far I've learned so much!  I could really use some help and couldn't find anything that I thought fit our specific situation.  We are a non-union contractor working on prevailing wage jobs and we pay the full fringe benefit amount to the employee in cash.  We use the QuickBooks…
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01Aug 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Breaking Down Payroll by Job, Phase and Cost Code

Breaking Down Payroll by Job, Phase and Cost Code

Job Costing Tips, Payroll Tips, Reports
  Breaking down payroll by job, phase, and cost code is something that I'm often asked about by the construction clients/customers that I work with.  Construction payroll is probably one of the more complex payrolls that anyone can encounter, see this question submitted by a reader. I need payroll broken down by Job, then Phase (service item), then cost code. Is there a way to enter time in QuickBooks by three categories? Thanks, Susan Hi Susan Thanks for stopping by and submitting this awesome question! Actually, I'm asked this question a lot and have been working on an entire training series (eBook and several videos) about different ways that contractors can set up QuickBooks to handle even the most complex payrolls like this - unfortunately it won't be finished until…
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27Jul 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 7/20/2012 – 7/26/2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 7/20/2012 – 7/26/2012

News You Can Use
Weekly wrap-up of news and information from around the web – there’s so much information out there that it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. I’ll try to be consistent and organize the information into the same categories each week It's been an insanely busy week here and I didn't get to spend as much time on the internet surfing and reading as I normally do. Accounting & Taxes Why was my voice not Heard by The AICPA? https://t.co/I5J9NqCw -> Doom Awaits the Student Loan Defaulters https://t.co/Ce3JEqGu via @bruce_taxguy -> An IRS Audit..and They Require…
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23Jul 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Wage Restitution and Certified Payroll Revisions

Wage Restitution and Certified Payroll Revisions

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers
  Wage restitution and certified payroll revisions happen when you miss an update to the wage determination which increases the prevailing wage rate and the fringe benefit rate or perhaps you weren't informed until after working on the project for several weeks/months that this project was subject to prevailing wage.  Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of clear guidelines for submitting revised certified payroll reports, however, I've had experience in following two different sets of requirements.  See this question submitted by a reader. My question is, if a subcontractor pays restitution for an employee(s), do they have to send the same Certified Payroll Reports back with revision on top? Or will they have to send a separate Certified Payroll Report with the dates they were owed restitution stating the dates they…
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20Jul 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 7/13-7/19/2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 7/13-7/19/2012

News You Can Use
  Weekly wrap-up of news and information from around the web – there’s so much information out there that it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. I’ll try to be consistent and organize the information into the same categories each week.   (Technorati claim token 3JSYVT43VAMQ). Accounting & Taxes Oregon Tax Scam Could Have Been Much Bigger| AccountingWeb | https://t.co/ZcFla7kn -> Do you need to file a tax return https://t.co/K0JwKyt3 via @bruce_taxguy -> Senate Republicans Vote Down Small-Business Tax Breaks : The World :: American Express OPEN Forum https://t.co/muNkjKLj via @OpenForum -> Should You Get an…
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12Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Worker’s Comp Increases 45% in California, Beginning 7/1/2012

Worker’s Comp Increases 45% in California, Beginning 7/1/2012

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, Payroll Tips, Webinars & Training
  California Worker's Compensation Insurance premiums will increase by 45% over last year  for renewals after July 1, 2012 according to The Worker's Comp Executive. California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones went against a unified front of labor and employer representatives siding with the insurance industry and the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) in approving a 8.3% increase mid-year rate hike for California employers.  Added to the 37% rate increase he approved for January, July and later renewals are facing an average rate increase of 45.3% over last year at the same time. Worker’s Comp and payroll taxes take a huge bite out of a contractors profit when working on Public Works construction projects – especially if the contractor is paying the full fringe benefit rate of the prevailing wage…
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10Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 6/1-6/7/2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 6/1-6/7/2012

News You Can Use
Weekly wrap-up of news and information from around the web – there’s so much information out there that it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything.   Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday.  I’ll try to be consistent and organize the information into the same categories each week. Accounting & Taxes IRS to Step up Audits of Sole Proprietors https://t.co/yXwpoSGM -> Does your QuickBooks file agree to your Tax Return? - https://t.co/Wzah0P9q -> Year End Tasks for Filing Taxes https://t.co/1GNu8sQQ -> Think You Can’t Afford to Pay Your Payroll Taxes-Think Again https://t.co/vnEDD6fU -> Be Prepared for Wage & Hour and IRS Audits https://t.co/6y1npe1l…
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05Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Think You Can’t Afford to Pay Your Payroll Taxes-Think Again

Think You Can’t Afford to Pay Your Payroll Taxes-Think Again

IRS Information, Payroll Tips
  Failing to remit payroll taxes is a big mistake!  Sometimes a business owner will let the payment of payroll taxes slide in favor of paying other vendors OR perhaps will make a partial payment, thinking it will be ok -- not a good idea ----- always remit the full amount of your payroll taxes before paying other bills.  Here are a couple of examples why.  If you have check writing authority and it can be shown that you were aware your company or client paid other expenses when payroll taxes were due, the IRS can come after you for the taxes, penalties and interest. D and her husband were equal owners and sole corporate officers of a business. After they separated, they continued to run the business.  The firm…
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01Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/25 – 5/31/2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/25 – 5/31/2012

News You Can Use
  Weekly wrap-up of news and information from around the web – there’s so much information out there that it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything.   Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday.  I'll try to be consistent and organize the information into the same categories each week. Accounting & Taxes In an effort to help Kansas City Siamese Rescue, L & R Tax Preparation is going to be offering tax p https://t.co/VWxCSEB7 -> IRS issues guidance on $2,500 health FSA contribution limit https://t.co/268MCUzQ -> Self-Proclaimed Alabama Governor Sentenced for Tax Fraud https://t.co/EOiWNZW5 -> ARTICLE: What to Look for in a Construction…
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25May 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/18 – 5/24/2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/18 – 5/24/2012

News You Can Use
  Weekly wrap-up of news and information from around the web – there's so much information out there that it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. Accounting & Taxes There's a New Kind Of Tax Preparer In Town - https://t.co/9JKFLV41 Even in a divorce, tax planning is important: Excluding Residence Sale Gain: https://t.co/wcm3LZO8 Did you know you can subscribe to the IRS tax calendar? https://t.co/qOipaCuT Is Your CPA REALLY the Right Person to be Completing Your Tax Return? https://t.co/PirWQFHx -> Few Small Businesses Claim the Health Care Tax Credit : The World :: American Express…
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