ASCENTIS PAYROLL NEWS - Q1 2010

Successful Year-End

In the fourth quarter of 2009, Ascentis released Payroll version 3.1 which included two year-end related tools – the Annual Turnaround Wizard and the W-2 Wizard.

During the months of November and December, Ascentis offered a year-end webinar to clients so they could learn how to use these new tools as well as learning about additional year-end related options available both for payroll and self-service.

These year end Wizards and the year-end webinar proved to be a real success. Clients found it easier to go through the year-end process and they were also able to receive their W-2’s faster. Ascentis introduced a new feature to allow downloading the Employer W-2 copy, rather than printing and mailing it to every employer. Clients enjoyed instant access while helping keep Earth a little greener. We plan to continue enhancing the year-end wizards from year-to-year to ensure that each year-end process is easier than the last. Stay tuned for more great enhancements and tools!

If you have any questions, contact your client support representative.

IN THE NEWS - COBRA Credit Extended

The COBRA credit has been extended, so remember to continue to enter COBRA credit in payroll so the credit will apply to your 941. A few of the changes are:

1. It applies to employees that have been involuntarily terminated through Feb. 28, 2010.

2. Eligibility is based on the date of the qualifying event and not on the date that the employee becomes eligible for COBRA continuation, i.e., an employee who is terminated on Feb. 20, but doesn’t become eligible until March.

3. Maximum eligibility period extended from nine to 15 months.

For additional details http://www.irs.gov/

Standard Report Spotlight:

Reprint Payroll Audit Report

The Payroll Audit Report is a great report to review when processing a payroll. It shows the gross-to-net breakdown for each employee's check. You can easily see the paycheck results of changes made to an employee’s deduction, other pays, and tax settings in their master file, as well as any special entries added directly to their check. This report is generated automatically every time payroll is calculated or re-calculated.

Did you know you can re-run this report for any past payroll? If the report has fallen out of the report queue, to get it back simply rerun it by going to Reports > Payroll > Reprint Payroll Audit Report. When you select this report and click “Create” you will be provided with additional options for sorting and selecting criteria for running the report, as well as the option to choose which payroll to reprint the report for.

Feature Spotlight:

Ascentis Third-Party Check

Did you know Ascentis Payroll has a third-party check feature? If you currently request checks for garnishment deductions from your Accounts Payable department, why not use an Ascentis Third-Party Check instead? Ascentis Third-Party Checks allow you to setup Payees, produce checks and link them directly to garnishment deductions processed through payroll. In fact, the Third-Party module can generate a check for any deduction! This feature is easy to use, as well as more efficient, and ensures greater payroll confidentiality. Aside from the traditional printed-check, you can choose to create an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) file, if your payee allows, and you have the flexibility to choose check or EFT for each payee.

A new option with the third-party feature is that the third party-checks/EFT may be attached to your payroll process so that as soon as processing payroll is finished, the third party Check/EFT file is already generated, thus reducing after-payroll process steps. It's not necessary to run the check/EFT file after the payroll is processed. Ascentis also provides many auditing reports that generate through the payroll process, and allow you to confirm the accuracy of the third party checks prior to creating the check/EFT file.

Please contact your client support representative with questions about using this great tool or for assistance with the initial setup.

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