Payroll Vocabulary: Common Payroll Terms You Should Know

We found the implementation team very knowledgeable, supportive and very systematic. Ltd., Hi Tech Bio Laboratories, Hi Tech Analytical Works & Hi Tech Biosynth Pvt. Ltd., we appreciate your dedication to provide Payroll services to our companies from the approximately last 4 years. We acknowledge the fact that due to COVID-19, situation has become really tough across the globe. We all are forced to stay at our homes and take extra care of ourselves along with family members. It is a privilege to acknowledge you and your consultancy’s efforts and recognize the valuable service that you have provided to us.

The FLSA also established the federal minimum wage and provided several mandates related to child labor. The individual regulations in FLSA may, under certain circumstances, be superseded by state and local laws. Disposable earnings are an employee’s wages after all legally required deductions — setup a chart of accounts in quickbooks including payroll taxes — have been subtracted from his or her gross wages. Employers with gross sales of $500,000 or more per year are subject to the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) passed in 1938. This is a U.S. law that protects workers from certain unfair pay practices.

Additional Topics

Unemployment programs offer temporary compensation to people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Here are the top-line payroll terms you’ll hear as a small business owner. A high-deductible health plan (HDHP) is a health insurance plan that has lower premiums and higher deductibles than a typical health insurance plan. An acronym for Automated Clearing House, ACH refers to an electronic network dedicated to credit and debit transfers. Some of those jobs have been filled by more working-age people who weren’t looking for jobs at the beginning of the year.

If you are either registered for GST or withhold taxes from an employees wage, then you will need to submit and remit payment of your Business Activity Statement (BAS). A business activity statement is usually completed and submitted on a quarterly basis but some organisations may need to complete more frequently. You’ll hear this thrown around quite a bit and also referred to as FLSA. This is the federal act that consists of numerous laws meant to assure that employees are treated well and paid fairly. The federal minimum wage and overtime rules fall under this act as do recordkeeping rules and child labor laws. Gross pay is stated as an annual amount for salaried employees.

  • But now, under RTI, even when an employee provides a P45, a starter declaration must be filled out as well.
  • Net pay – One way to think of this is that it’s the employee’s take-home pay.
  • Sign up to receive more well-researched small business articles and topics in your inbox, personalized for you.
  • QuickBooks Online was considered the best overall software, while Xero was considered the best for micro-business owners.
  • These deductions — which include benefits offered under a Section 125, or cafeteria plan — decrease employees’ taxable wages.

When you dispatch the net pay to employees, multiple other aspects impact the final pay of the employees. This includes leave policy, benefits policy, attendance policy, etc. So, the first step is to develop these policies and get approval from the management on the same. Understand applicable payroll taxes, stay compliant with IRS. The rate that has been agreed upon to be the starting point for employee earnings.

Tax withholding

This is an employee benefits plan that meets the requirements of Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code. Also called a cafeteria plan, a Section 125 plan lets employees pay for their benefits — such as health insurance, flexible spending accounts and traditional 401(k) plans — with pretax money. You, as the employer, must match each employee’s contribution. The business submits both the employee’s and the company’s contributions to Social Security and Medicare.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

At the starting of the fiscal year, every employer asks the employees to declare their investments, tax savings, etc. to receive an amount of tax back during return. Calculation of TDS, EPF, etc. are all on behalf of the employer, which are deducted automatically from the salary of the employee. However, another requirement of compliance is the declaration. While we have already covered compliance in the previous section, there are several other compliance requirements of the payroll. Using a payroll system or payroll outsourcing for this payroll term in India is a feasible option.

Company

Employers must include imputed income in the employee’s W-2 form for tax purposes. Additionally, imputed income may be used to determine an amount for child support payments in some states. This is the amount earned by employees before any income taxes, benefits, or deductions are taken out.

Compassionate Leave is taken when a member of an employee’s immediate family or household passes away or is critically ill. Employees are entitled to two days each time they meet the criteria and is available to Full time and Part-time employees. Payment is at the base rate for the ordinary hours they would have worked during the leave. Paysquare is a very matured payroll processing solution and they have well paid down processes to manage first time as well as every month’s processing.

You can use payroll analytics to help determine variable pay. A business’ SUTA rate depends on its industry, age, and history of former employees filing for unemployment. That’s in contrast to FUTA, which charges a uniform rate for every employee at every business. State Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA) taxes fund state-administered unemployment programs. SUTA is an employer-paid tax, except in Alaska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, where both employers and employees chip in.

Employees are workers that are formally hired to fulfill a specific position within a company. They should not be confused with independent contractors, which we will cover below. Payroll Dictionary is a free resource and reference for payroll terminology and definitions. No matter how long we work at a job, there come times when we struggle to remember certain work related words or definitions.

Each payroll tax comes with its own set of rules, exceptions, and limitations. In payroll processing, withholding involves deducting money from an employee’s salary to fulfill government requirements. Fringe benefits are additional services, goods, or experiences given to employees beyond their regular wages, and they are subject to taxes. Examples of taxable fringe benefits include using a company car for personal activities, wellness program incentives like gym memberships, gift cards, and prizes or awards. Even small amounts like a $100 gift card must be reported as taxable income by employees.