Do you have the correct I-9 form? As of 1/31/2020, employers should start using the new form dated 10/21/2019. However, using the new form will NOT be mandatory until May 1, 2020. The new form clarifies who can act as the authorized representative of the employer. The new form also clarifies acceptable documents that employees can present and how employers should record the documents. For more information and download the new form click here:
With the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2018, the IRS has revised the W-4 form for NEW 
employees that will start working with your organization on or after January 1, 2020.
The new form is easy for employees to use and understand. There are five steps.
Most employees will complete ONLY Steps One and Five. Take a look at the FAQs the IRS has available.
For additional information click here: SHRM Article.
It’s not all about the newest tools and gadgets. We just need to know what really matters today and act on it.
There are five trends women business owners should embrace as soon as possible to stay current and keep winning the day.
Dallas is the third Texas city to pass a paid sick time city ordianance. As a Houston employer, you may want to read this article to understand how this type of ordinance may affect you.
What you need to know:
The hits just keep on coming. Latest news from the IRS this week is concerning ACA enforcement even though Washington is busy trying to dismantle the machine. The IRS warns us that although the employee mandate is not being enforced in 2018 for 2017 violations, the employer mandate is still in force and is actively being enforce until 2019 tax year. Currently the Service has about 32,000 violation notices for 2017 tax year sent out and in various stages of collection enforcement. Some assessments are over $1.2 million! This applies to companies with over 50 employees.
The penalties for not offering an ACA compliant plan, resulting in employees applying and being approved by the Marketplace, are serious indeed. Employees who have received subsidies under ACA through Marketplace vendors, can cost your company as much $2,000 in fines, per employee. Contact your accountant to make sure you have filled out your ACA forms and make sure you don’t have any employees currently enrolled in the Marketplace, because they thought it was a choice offered to them.
It’s that time of year when the IRS starts rumbling again. But April 15 is the least of your problems if you have more than 50 employees, and get a certain IRS letter called the 226J.
If you open your IRS letter and it says Letter 226J in it, call your accountant immediately. This is the form that says that, according to the IRS, you did not comply with the ACA employer mandate requirements for the 2015 tax year.
You are responsible for offering ACA compliant coverage to your employees at a reasonable cost, compared to the wages of your lowest paid full time worker. If you did not offer affordable coverage to an eligible worker, and that worker instead buys his insurance on the healthcare exchange, you will be fined.
What this means is that one or more of your employees disregarded your employee health plan and signed up instead for a healthcare exchange plan. Those people may have qualified for a subsidy to help pay for their premiums, and Uncle Sam picked up the tab. And they’re sending you a demand letter for your failure to provide insurance along with penalties and interest.
You have 30 days from the date on the letter to respond to the IRS with your defense. Otherwise the IRS will assume that their numbers are correct and formally assess you and start collection activity.
If you have been cited in a Letter 226J, set out immediately to discover any errors or misstatements. And for heaven’s sake if you have not filed for tax year 2015, 2016 or
2017, submit filings immediately to minimize any further penalties. This is serious, and all the talk about “Obamacare is being dismantled”, or “the IRS is not auditing as much”, is just so much talk. The Service has full authority to pursue any company with 50 or more full-time or equivalent employees.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) added two employer reporting requirements to the Internal Revenue Code (Code), which will take effect for 2015 reporting:
The IRS has issued Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, for ALEs to satisfy the reporting requirement under Code § 6056. If the employer self-funds its plan(s), the employer also will use Form 1095-C to satisfy the additional requirement under Code § 6055.
The IRS has created two sets of codes in order to provide employers with a consistent way to describe their offers of health coverage. Each code indicates a different scenario regarding an offer of coverage, or explains why an employer should not be subject to a penalty for a particular employee, for a given month.
The list that follows provides an overview of the codes, with descriptions, a brief explanation of when the code should be used, and a clarification of what the effect of choosing a particular code may be.
You can also access the full list of codes, along with descriptions, in the instructions for Form 1095-C.