About This Course:
Payroll operations are rarely perfect. Regardlesss of your best efforts, information may not get to payroll in time to avoid late deposits, inaccurate returns, or missed payments. All of these can result in penalties. Further, if problems are found in audits, the penalties are usually more expensive, and can result in criminal charges.
The IRS has strict rules on penalties. They will always notify you about penalties assessed, telling you why the IRS believes the penalties apply. You can dispute them, and should if the IRS is in error. You should also dispute them in other circumstances. If you do owe it, paying as quickly as you can minimizes them and the interest that accrues.
First, you must understand under what circumstances penalties are applied. Most of us understand things like late deposit and late filing penalties. But underreporting or non-reporting of taxable wages remains a big threat to many employers. Be aware that many penalties increase the longer the debt remains unpaid.
Second, you should understand the most common causes of penalties, and how to avoid them. Then know which ones are considered more severe than others, resulting in penalties that can (and do) bankrupt businesses. Further, understand that the corporate veil that protects owners and officers from liability DOES NOT APPLY to payroll tax liability.
Third, learn how take action to minimize, reduce or effectively appeal the penalties. Even if the IRS is correct, under some circumstances they will waive them. If you cannot convince the IRS they are wrong, there are formal appeal processes you might want to take advantage of. This is particularly important when facing audit related penalties. So don't just accept what the auditor says - hold them accountable. You do so by knowing the criteria for assessment. Understand how to properly argue with the audtiors or, if necessary, appeal to the courts.
What You'll Learn:In this webinar you will learn:
- Types of Penalties
- Failure to File
- Failure to Pay
- Failure to Make Timely Deposits
- Failure to File Information Returns
- Causes and Severity
- First time filer
- Negligence
- Intentional Disregard
- Fraud
- Responsible Parties
- When the IRS will waive penalties
- Reasonable Cause
- Statutory Exceptions
- Administrative Waiver
- Undue Hardship
- Waiver Request best practices
Top FAQs
The company withholds income tax, Social Security, and Medicare from wages paid for employees, but none for Independent Consultants.
Employees work directly for the company, which controls their work, pays their taxes, and often provides benefits, whereas the Independent Contractor is hired to do a specific job without the employee perks.
In business since the mid-1990's, we have over 25 years of experience delivering high-quality training content via seminar, webinar, online, and other formats. Each of our courses are delivered by an industry expert who will share his or her years of experience to help you be in compliance, smarter, and more productive, and almost all offer SHRM and HRCI credits.
It often depends upon which factors - such as pay, tools, equipment, work hours, manner and means of performing services, etc,) the worker has control over.
Payroll Administrators must be able to:
- Properly "classify" workers
- Apply the various exemptions
- Calculate gross pay and properly make deductions
- Correctly identify, pay, and withhold taxes for employees
- Administer deferred compensation, cafeteria plan, sick pay, and other compensation
- Handle stock options, expense reimbursements, relocation, and other "expenses"
- Follow the proper policies, procedures, and documentation requirements for garnishments and levies
- Properly complete and file all required reporting requirements
- Correctly complete year-end requirements and establish year-beginning requirements
- Implement and maintain fraud, audit, disaster recovery, and record retention processes and procedures
In addition to ensuring that employees are paid correctly and on time, "Payroll" has numerous time and reporting requirements. The primary payroll areas include paychecks, reporting, operations, and management.
While many payroll-related regulations are federally-governed, there also are many state requirements, including those for handling garnishment, final paychecks, and unclaimed paychecks. Each state's requirements differ in the details, so be sure to check your state's requirements by clicking the applicable link(s) at the bottom of this page.
Definitely! An audit can be done either by an internal person or outsourced to an expert, with the expectation of fixing or updating any issues to avoid fines, penalties, etc.
A payroll audit is a review of an organization's payroll procedures. It can be done internally for assurance or by an external entity such as the government in reponse to a complaint, lack or inconsistent reporting, etc.
Payroll is much more than just handing out paychecks, and includes a variety of responsibilities such as handling garnishments, travel pay, multi-state taxation, unclaimed paychecks, and much more in a timely and accurate fashion.
A payroll audit typically occurs because either for many reasons: an employee makes a claim of unfair pay practices
Continuing Education Credits:
Click the 'Credits' tab above for information on PHR/SPHR, PDCs, and other CE credits offered by taking this course.
