Welcome to the first installment of our three-part series, “Payroll Prep: Beyond the Halfway Mark.” This blog will serve as a guide to auditing your payroll configuration and validating reports, providing you with essential tips and resources. We’ll delve into the best practices for a comprehensive payroll audit, highlight common pitfalls to avoid, and offer best practices to minimize the need for last-minute updates and revisions. By the end of this read, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to proactively prepare for year-end reporting, ensuring a smooth transition into the new year.
It is Never Too Early to Start Planning
We understand that year-end can be extremely overwhelming, and the first step to alleviating that stress is to develop a plan. We suggest forming a year-end committee, discussing the year-end calendar and deadlines with your team, and reviewing the year-end checklist to determine how responsibilities will be split.
Get Familiar with Your Resources
To stay ahead of the curve, it's important to connect and engage with UKG® and ensure you have access to all available resources. UKG is committed to supporting you in completing your year-end tasks successfully.
For UKG Ready® Payroll Services customers:
Be sure to join the UKG Payroll Services (UKGPS) group in the UKG Community™. Here, you can connect with our subject matter experts and ask questions to the helpful community of colleagues. You can also set up your notification preferences to receive daily or weekly updates, as there may be discussions on topics relevant to your questions or concerns. Additionally, the UKG Payroll Services Resource Center should be added to your favorites. There, you can find quarter and year-end guides, FAQs, and a recording of the Quarter End deep dive webinar to help you kick off your quarter and year-end processes.
For UKG Ready Non-Payroll Services Customers:
Check out the Year-End Resources page in the Community, where you’ll find an abundance of resources to help guide you through planning, processes, and preparation for a successful year-end. And don’t forget to join the UKG Ready - Payroll and Tax discussion group to lean on your fellow payroll experts and customers just like you.
We suggest keeping an eye on these pages weekly, as they are often updated with helpful job aids and resources.
Scrub Your Data
There are several minor mishaps that can cause significant disruption in your year-end processes. Here are a couple of items to review for accuracy:
- Avoid diacritical characters in employee names.
- To verify Social Security numbers, utilize the Employees with Invalid SSN report in your UKG Ready solution under HR > Reports > HR Maintenance > Employees with Invalid SSN.
- Use the Recommend feature when inputting new addresses.
For more information on how to review these items, see the Preparing for Year-End guide.
Validate Tax EINs and Rates
Company taxes directly impact successful tax and payment filing. To verify your EINs and rates, take the following steps:
- Navigate to Settings > Payroll Setup > Company Taxes in your UKG Ready solution
- Add the following columns: Tax EIN, Company Tax- Current Rate % EE, and Company Tax- Current Rate % ER
- Verify the accuracy of the tax rates entered
- Run the Tax Verification Report under Team> Payroll > Reports> Taxes> Tax Documents to review the ID, rate, and frequency accuracy
Remember to always strive for clarity and diligence. UKGPS does not support some payroll-related taxes, so it's essential to identify and manage client-responsible taxes. The complete list of unsupported tax codes can be found here: UKG Payroll Services: Client Responsible Taxes.
Updating Tax EINs and Rates
When updates are needed, ensure to add a new line with an effective date instead of overriding existing rates.
For Payroll Services customers: Please notify UKG Payroll Services support if you need to update any tax account information.
Allocate Time to Review and Reconcile Payroll Data
- Verify that Earnings and Deductions are set to be reported to the correct W-2 boxes
- Confirm Third Party Sick Pay W-2 Settings
- Review the Tax Wage Details report to understand any variances in your state taxes. And here’s a key tip: use the Guided Analysis feature to help accomplish this in a few easy steps.
Did You Know?
By incorporating data validation reports into your monthly process, you can eliminate the time and effort spent reviewing and making adjustments at quarter end, leading to a significantly improved year-end experience.
As we head into the second half of the year, let’s embrace the power of proactivity. Ensuring the accuracy of our data is not just a task—it’s a commitment to excellence and a foundation for success in the coming year. Don’t hesitate to seek assistance in the UKG Community; it’s a space where collaboration and support thrive. Utilize your resources, ask questions, and let collective wisdom guide you.
Be sure to check out our second installment- Balancing Employee Wages, and the final installment- Year-End Forms and Deadlines. Together, we will navigate through the complexities of year-end and learn how to emerge successful.