Payroll Changes Update

There is additional important information to pass along re Payroll 2011.

•  Intuit has released Payroll Update 21102, which includes the federal withholding tables for 2011 and reflects the Tax Relief Act of 2010.  If you have automatic updates turned on, you should receive this update automatically.  You can download it at any time, even if you have more payroll to process for 2010 - it will select the correct table according to your paycheck date.  It is important to be sure you have this release before processing 2011 payroll, as it contains the changes to the social security rate for employees deductions.
• Because of this change in social security rate for Employee's deductions to 4.2%, the Employer/Employee rates are no longer a 'Match' as they always have been since the Employer portion remains at 6.2%.  If you have any formulas or procedures that calculate your payroll tax liability by doubling either of these figures, they will no longer be correct. 

Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questions.  I am watching for releases of news, forms, and publications and will post again as I come across items of interest.
  

Tax Information - As It Is Confirmed

As IRS makes announcements re 2011, I will post the ones I believe to be of interest here. I expect it to be a bit hectic with the late tax decisions.

IRS Announces 2011 Standard Mileage Rates, used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2011, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

• 51 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 19 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

Re 'Preparing For New 1099 Reporting' - I previously reported the new requirements to provide 1099's to all vendors beginning with 2011 payments. One source has corrected that information to 2012 payments to be reported in 2013. As soon as I can confirm the effective date of the change, I will pass the information along.

Information for Year-end and New Year

Season's Greetings!
As the end of one year and the beginning of another rapidly approaches, there are a few things I would like to mention.

• If you have employees, it is a good time to ask them to be sure their address is current and their name and social security number is correct. A new W4 is not required each year, but if you need or want new 2011 W4 forms they are usually available by Jan 1st at www.irs.gov.
  

• I am recommending that you begin collecting W9's from everyone you make payments to (except employees) beginning Jan 1st 2011. As it stands, you will be required to provide payees and the IRS with 1099 forms for payments made during 2011, so it is important that this information be collected up front before making payments. The W9 forms are also available at www.irs.gov.

• If there are any changes or improvements you would like to see in the services I provide to you, please let me know! New options have become available, and I always welcome new ideas!

• Florida State Unemployment Rates - As expected, the minimum state unemployment rate will be raised in 2011 from .0036 ($25.20 per employee on $7000) to .0103 ($72.10 per employee on $7000). The maximum rate remains at .054 ($378.00 per employee on $7000). You should be receiving a form showing your new rate soon - please send a copy for my information. In addition, there will be a Special Interest Assessment to cover the interest on the funds borrowed from the federal government to cover benefit payments. You should receive a notice by early February explaining the calculation of the special interest assessment, with a coupon for the business to pay its share of the interest on the federal advances. Please send a copy of this to me as well. If you would like more information, goto www.myflorida.com/dor and follow the link.

That is all for now. I wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

10 Things That Good Bosses Do

This was on www.bnet.com blog by Steve Tobak recently, and I thought it was worthy of sharing.

Pay people what they're worth, not what you can get away with. What you lose in expense you gain back several-fold in performance.
Take the time to share your experiences and insights. Labels like mentor and coach are overused. Let's be specific here. Employees learn from those generous enough to share their experiences and insights. They don't need a best friend or a shoulder to cry on.
Tell it to employees straight, even when it's bad news. To me, the single most important thing any boss can do is to man up and tell it to people straight. No BS, no sugarcoating, especially when it's bad news or corrective feedback.
Manage up... effectively. Good bosses keep management off employee's backs. Most people don't get this, but the most important aspect of that is giving management what they need to do their jobs. That's what keeps management away.
Take the heat and share the praise. It takes courage to take the heat and humility to share the praise. That comes naturally to great bosses; the rest of us have to pick it up as we go.
Delegate responsibility, not tasks. Every boss delegates, but the crappy ones think that means dumping tasks they hate on workers, i.e. s**t rolls downhill. Good bosses delegate responsibility and hold people accountable. That's fulfilling and fosters professional growth.
Encourage employees to hone their natural abilities and challenge them to overcome their issues. That's called getting people to perform at their best.
Build team spirit. As we learned before, great groups outperform great individuals. And great leaders build great teams.
Treat employees the way they deserve to be treated. You always hear people say they deserve respect and to be treated as equals. Well, some may not want to hear this, but a) respect must be earned, and b) most workers are not their boss's equals.
Inspire your people. All the above motivate people, but few bosses have the ability to truly inspire their employees. How? By sharing their passion for the business. By knowing just what to say and do at just the right time to take the edge off or turn a tough situation around. Genuine anecdotes help a lot. So does a good sense of humor.

While I may not agree with every word, there are some very good points worth consideration.

Phishing Emails re EFTPS

This is an alert re emails claiming to be from the IRS re EFTPS payments. The EFTPS number states that they will not contact you via email. If you do receive one of these emails, do not click on any of the links, and instead forward it to phishing@irs.gov or call 1-800-366-4484.

QuickBooks 2011 Releases!

Today is the release date for the new QuickBooks 2011 products with exciting new features, some I found are features I have been waiting for and didn't even know it!

I just watched the first of four webinars I have signed up for this week, and will try to sum up a few things here that I found most interesting and exciting.

• First, program loads/opens faster. (Bad new for those of you who have made a routine of things to do while you wait, good news for those who tend to shake their mouse and get red in the face and curse while waiting.)
• There is a new Search - nothing like the Find feature (which is still there), but you can basically run a Search on anything at all and get results.
• Customer Snapshot is new, and looks a little like the Company snapshot. It includes helpful information such as Years As Customer, Average Days to Pay, etc.
• Batch Invoicing (need to invoice more than one customer for the same thing? You can do as many as you like)
• 'On-screen' information for Create Invoice and Enter Bills screen about Customers / Vendors that you may need to see while completing the screen... saves switching back and forth.
• Collections Center for customers that saves time following up with balances.
• Intuit Payment Network is a paypal-type network that allows a customer to pay online from your invoice, at an unbeatable flat-rate of fifty-cents per transaction.
• Accountant's version allows two company files to be open at once.
• Balance Sheet can now be run by Classes.
• And one the biggest new features may be (not available until later this year) QuickBooks Connect/QuickBooks Mobile, which will allow some functions online and/or from your Iphone such as invoicing, viewing customer/inventory/pricing/vendor info and more.

So, that is a taste for now. I will be updating frequently as I learn more from the webinars and by actually using the features, but feel free to give me a call if you have questions or would like more details in the meantime.

QuickBooks Tip - Customize The QuickBooks Icon Bar

One of the great tools for getting around easily in QuickBooks is the icon bar, and it is made even better by customizing it for your needs. For instance, I like to have a button on the icon bar to take me directly to 'Print Paychecks'. Or, you may want to begin by deleting buttons you never use. Here are easy instructions to do just that.

A little tip from me here. This doesn't have to be a big chore (those that seem to get put off) - I recommend doing this when you realize you are repeating a task often enough that it really should be handier, and add just that one item. This way, it won't take up a lot of your time, and it will give you more practice by doing it more often. Once you have gone through the steps a time or two, you will always remember how it is done.

• To begin, right-click on the icon bar (in a blank spot) and then left-click on Customize Icon Bar. You'll see a window listing the current content.
• Scroll to see the current configuration. Then, as an example, to add an icon below Company Snapshot, click on Company Snapshot to highlight it and then click Add. A new window displays your options. Select the icon you want and then click OK.
• To change the label or description of an icon, highlight it in the main list and click Edit. Similarly, you can delete an icon. You can also change an icon's position by dragging and dropping it.
• Your toolbar will change to reflect your choices. If there are too many icons, clicking on the >> symbol will display the remaining ones.
• QuickBooks uses vertical bars to divide the toolbar icons into related groups. You can add and delete these by clicking on the icon name above the desired position, then clicking Add Separator. Finally, buttons at the window's bottom let you display icons only or icons and text.
• Additional tip: Some QuickBooks windows not listed can still be added; try clicking the View menu when you're on an unsupported page and look for an option like Add "Build Assemblies" to Icon Bar.

I think this is a great skill to add to your QuickBooks knowledge. I would enjoy hearing whether or not you find this useful, and ways you may have used the information. I really enjoy hearing stories, because I continue to learn from fellow QuickBooks users.