Stay “In The Know” with current HR topics and trends

Got a few minutes to catch up on what’s coming down the HR pipeline?  Our H-R You In The Know will put you a step ahead of others in knowing what priorities you will need to address in your daily administration of payroll and people.

1. EEO-1 Reporting.
   Employers who are required to file EEO-1 data with the EEOC have until September 30, 2019 to submit Component 2 Pay Data for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s EEO-1 Report. See what types of businesses are required to file HERE. Developers at Payentry are working on a new report that will make your filing easier. We expect to have the report available for use in the beginning of September and we will send out a notification as soon as the report is available.
2. ACA Affordability Percentage Decreases to 9.78% for 2020.
   The IRS released the annual adjustment, once again lowering the percentage of household income used to determine whether a company’s healthcare coverage is affordable under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The rate for 2019 is 9.86%. View more information here.
3. New W-4 Form for 2020.
   The IRS just released a second draft of the 2020 Form W-4: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/fw4–dft.pdf. Although they will not be posting the final form until November 2019, the IRS said that there would not be additional substantive changes. The new title of this form is Employee’s Withholding Certificate which removes “allowance” from the name. This change underscores the fact that the form no longer uses allowances or exemptions to calculate withholding. The good news…your employees do not need to complete a new 2020 W-4 unless they want to make changes to the amount they are having withheld. Visit the IRS website for more FAQs on this topic.
4. IRS Offering a New Tool to Calculate Withholding.
   The IRS recently launched the new Tax Withholding Estimator, an expanded, mobile-friendly online tool designed to make it easier for everyone to have the right amount of tax withheld during the year. The Tax Withholding Estimator replaces the Withholding Calculator, which offered workers a convenient online method for checking their withholding. Check it out: https://apps.irs.gov/app/tax-withholding-estimator
5. Form I-9 Expired on August 31. 
   The Department of Homeland Security is expected to extend the current version of the form (marked 8/31/2019) without changes, with minor alterations to the instructions. While it is still not clear if DHS will provide a new expiration date for the form soon, past practice indicates that employers may continue to use the current Form I-9 until a revised version is available. Employers using Payentry’s onboarding are always connected to the most up to date forms, making hiring compliance easy.