With year-end fast approaching, the Lone Oak Payroll tax manager, Ariel Peterson, provides some best practices for your staffing agency’s year-end process.

Based on my experience as the tax manager here at Lone Oak Payroll, here are four best practices for your staffing agency to consider as your team prepares for year-end filings and W-2s.

1. Plan early.

First, it is a good idea to start on this process for year-end filings and W-2s early so that, if any corrections are needed, there is ample time to fix it in your back office system prior to the end of the year. Completing corrections early helps to prevent tax amendments and W-2 corrections.

2. Verify account information.

Review your account information to ensure it will be reported accurately. Information that staffing agencies should verify include: account numbers, unemployment tax rates, and filing frequencies. These items should be entered accordingly in your back office system. Be sure that you also keep track of any changing rates and frequencies for the New Year. States will start sending updated information as the New Year approaches.

3. Double check employee records.

Consider reviewing employee tax set-ups to ensure their W-2s will reflect accurate information. Review the tax state and local taxes set-up on the pay set-up of their employee profile as well as any items that may be marked exempt in error on their taxes under their employee profile’s pay set-up. I also recommend reviewing the worksite set-ups to ensure the accurate tax state and local taxes were selected.

4. Review reports.

There are two reports that will help you prepare for year-end: the tax deposit report and the employee wage statement report. The tax deposit report will provide you an overview of the jurisdictions that have been processed on your checks. The run date can be set for whichever period you want to research. This will give you a good starting point to confirm that no incorrect taxes have been generated. The “Employee Wage Statement” will help you verify that an employee has been taxed appropriately.

These are just a few best practices that I recommend for staffing agencies to stay on top of year-end processes and ensure that it is as smooth as possible. If you want to learn more about Lone Oak Payroll tax services when it comes to year-end filings and W-2s, contact us today!

Ariel Peterson, Tax Manager

Ariel Peterson is the Tax Manager at Lone Oak Payroll and has been with the company since July of 2012. Ariel and her team handle everything related to payroll taxes for our clients, including tax filings and payments. In addition, Ariel and her team help clients manage their accounts, keep tax rates updated, and keep their accounts in good standing.