SMART HR News You Can Use

Minnesota employers are required to keep certain records about each employee. The Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) can demand and inspect these documents at any time to ensure compliance with Minnesota law. Information employers must record and keep for each employee Name, address and occupation. Rate of pay and the amount paid each pay period. Hours worked each day (including start and end times with a.m. and p.m. designations) and each workweek. ...

You may want to consider setting LIFETAX up as a per pay period item starting in January so it is not forgottenin December each year (or during the year if the employee resigns).

The IRS has delayed the deadlines by which employers must furnish 2020 Forms 1095-C and 1095-B in early 2021. For 2020, the furnishing deadline was Feb. 1, 2021, Since Jan. 31, 2021, is a Sunday. The IRS has provided an additional 30 days for furnishing the 2020 Form 1095-B and Form 1095-C, extending the due date from Feb. 1, 2021, to March 2, 2021. The deadline for filing with the IRS under Sections 6055 and 6056 remains March 1, 2021 (since Feb. 28, 2021, is a Sunday), or March 31, 2021, if fi...

SMART eR now has the ability to build and track a questionnaire for COVID-19 self-examination. It will automatically track employee ID, date, and time of submission. To setup or view employee questionnaire answers, the user will need specific permissions to ensure confidentiality.  Please contact any SMART payroll/HR support staff at Region 1 for assistance setting up permission. 

Issue Number: Tax Tip 2020-105 The latest tax information and tips are just a click away. IRS.gov provides taxpayer assistance 24/7 and is regularly updated to reflect the most current tax information for most tax-related questions. The agency encourages the public to visit IRS.gov to: Get answers to tax questions. The Interactive Tax Assistant asks a series of questions and immediately provides answers on a variety of tax law topics. Download forms and publications. View, download and...

TRA rate change is effective 7/1/2020. The employer contribution will increase annually for the next 4 years. The employee share will increase in 2023. 

Taxpayers should be on the lookout for new versions of these two scamsWith scam artists hard at work all year, taxpayers should be on the lookout for a surge of evolving phishing emails and telephone scams.Taxpayers should watch for new versions of two tax-related scams. One involves Social Security numbers related to tax issues. The other threatens taxpayers with a tax bill from a fictional government agency. Here are some details about these scams to help taxpayers recognize them:The SSN schem...

(From the IRS....Issue Number: Tax Tip 2019-18)When someone legally changes their name, there are tax consequences they need to know about, especially at tax time. People change their names for several reasons: Taking their spouse’s last name after a marriage Hyphenating their last name with their spouse’s after getting married Going back to their former name after a divorce Giving an adopted child the last name of their new familyThe IRS wants people experiencing a name change to re...