Payroll Chimp, LLC

02/08/2023

RFM Group - Mt. Pleasant's internet and phones are down due to an area power outage. We are sorry for any inconvenience.

07/05/2021

06/20/2021

Happy Father's Day from RFM and Payroll Chimp! Spoil your dad today!

04/02/2021

With the enactment of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), employers with fewer than 500 employees may continue to collect tax credits for voluntarily providing expanded leave originally provided under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Again, the FFCRA's mandatory leave provisions, requiring covered employers to provide Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) and Expanded Family and Medical Leave (EFML), expired on December 31, 2020.

The ARPA extends the availability of the tax credits to those employers who qualify and voluntarily provide employees with EPSL and/or EFML through September 30, 2021.

Some of the key changes to the FFCRA-type leave provisions include:
1) The ARPA restarted the bank of hours available for EPSL. Starting April 1 and through September 30, 2021, employer may voluntarily provide a new bank of up to 80 hours of EPSL for which the tax credit will apply.

2) The ARPA expands the existing list of qualifying reasons for EPSL to also include getting a COVID-19 vaccine, recovering from adverse reactions to the vaccine, and awaiting the results of a COVID diagnosis or test after having close contact with a person with COVID-19 or at an employer's request.

3) Starting April 1, the ARPA expands EFML to include all of the same qualifying reasons as EPSL. Also, the ARPA eliminates the requirement that the first 10 days of EFML be unpaid and thus, provides for a total of 12 weeks of paid EFML. The EFML rate continues to be two-thirds of the employee's regular rate, up to $200 per day (regardless of the reason for the leave).

A recap of all qualifying reasons for EPSL and/or EFML:
1) Employee is off subject to a Federal, State or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19.
2) Employee has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.
3) Employee is experiences COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis.
4) Employee is seeking or awaiting the results of a diagnostic test for, or a medical diagnosis of, COVID-19, because they have been exposed to COVID-19 or at the request of their employer.
5) Employee is requesting time off to obtain their COVID-19 vaccine.
6) Employee is requesting time off to recover from complications related to receiving their COVID-19 vaccine.
7) Employee is requesting time off to care for someone who is (a) subject to a quarantine order or (b) has been advised to self-quarantine.
8) Employee is requesting time off to care for their child/children whose school or place of care is closed, due to COVID-19 precautions.

Call our office is you have any questions (989) 772-7133 or chat with us below.

02/17/2021

We encourage all employers to encourage their employees to use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator to avoid surprises when filing their 2021 tax return. For any withholding changes employees are required to fill out a new 2021 W-4.

Check your tax withholding with the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator, a tool that helps ensure you have the right amount of tax withheld from your paycheck.

01/04/2021

Starting Jan. 1, 2021, employers subject to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) are no longer REQUIRED to provide employees with COVID-related paid leave, BUT they may do so in some situations and still receive tax credits for doing so.

The FFCRA, which required that employers provide emergency paid sick leave for COVID-related reasons and emergency paid family leave to employees due to school closures, expires on Dec. 31, 2020. These requirements were not extended as part of the stimulus package passed by Congress on Dec. 21, 2020 and signed into law by the president on Dec. 27, 2020. However, the tax credits to reimburse private employers for paid leave they provide to employees, originally set to expire on Dec. 31, were extended through March 31, 2021. (Public employers are not eligible for these tax credits.)

The way in which the tax credits were extended means that private employers subject to the FFCRA have some decisions to make.

DECISION 1: EMERGENCY PAID SICK LEAVE

With respect to emergency paid sick leave, employers have two fairly straightforward options:

-Through March 31, 2021, allow employees who did not use the full two weeks of leave (up to a maximum of 80 hours for full-time employees) by Dec. 31, 2020 to take any remaining leave (subject to the terms and conditions for taking such leave under the FFCRA) and receive the tax credits for paying such leave. The key here is to understand that there are no new hours of leave for employees starting Jan. 1. This is only an option to provide what had not been used; or

-Stop providing any emergency paid sick leave to employees because the FFCRA expired Dec. 31, 2020.

While the options available for handling emergency paid sick leave in the new year are straightforward, deciding which option is best and carrying out that decision correctly and consistently can be difficult. Among the issues employers need to carefully consider are these:

-When and how tax credits are claimed;
-Compliance with documentation and recordkeeping requirements;
-How to present and communicate the decision to employees;
-How offering (or not offering) the leave will impact employee decisions to come to work while ill or potentially exposed to COVID; and
-Whether to offer additional or different paid or unpaid leave regardless of the availability of tax credits.

DECISION 2: EMERGENCY PAID FAMILY LEAVE

With respect to the emergency paid family leave, the situation is much more complex. Determining how the extended tax credits provision interacts with the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which the FFCRA amended to create the emergency paid leave, becomes complicated quickly. This is primarily because the provisions extending the tax credits are ambiguous on a few key questions that are important for employers trying to understand how providing emergency paid family leave in 2021 will interplay with their own FMLA and other leave policies that often reset Jan.

1. Thus, in addition to the same considerations that apply for employers deciding how to handle emergency paid sick leave, employers also need to account for issues particular to the FMLA and emergency paid family leave:

The employer’s existing FMLA policies;
-The amount of FMLA leave available to employees beginning on Jan. 1;
-The potential for extended employee absences (up to 12 weeks);
-How much emergency paid family leave employees had previously used;
-The potential intermittent use of the leave;
-How offering (or not offering) the leave will impact employee retention and/or availability of employees to perform work; and
Interaction with other paid and unpaid leave policies

12/04/2020

Found a good tool for Employees to use to determine if the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) applies to them.

There isn't a specific tool for employers to use, but this one could assist in understanding the employers requirements.

Again, the FFCRA requires covered employers, of one to 500 employees, to provide emergency paid sick leave to eligible employees who cannot work due to qualifying COVID-19-related reasons.

Any questions please give our office a call.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/ffcra/benefits-eligibility-webtool