Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Facts and Statistics about Employee Theft


You wouldn't think that people would “Bite the hand that feeds them.”, but that very phrase has become a grim reality...To the tune of about 994 billion dollars being reported as employees stealing. What is even worse is that theft by employees is rising, and no one is immune to the sting as workers are lured into theft of not just pencils and paper clips, but even electronics and office equipment. Time theft is another dangerous trend in the workplace, and it is becoming a driving force in Federal and private investigations around the country. I have assembled a lot of facts and figures, and some of the numbers that employers have claimed are staggering...

Office Theft:
  • Large companies have seen a 27% increase in internal theft.
  • 7 percent of their revenue is being lost to fraudulent activities annually!
  • Management accounts for up to 37% of all frauds recorded.
  • It takes about 2 years to detect office fraud.
  • An average of 1 out of every 30 retail employees are arrested for theft at the workplace.
  • Of all the employees recorded, statistically men steal more often and steal more. Men stole an average of $250,000 and 59.1% of the men surveyed said they stole from their employers. Women were much less at $110,000 and only 40.9% fessed up.
  • Education levels were a surprising factor as well, and while the employees with the highest degrees were least likely to steal, they took the most at a time.
  • The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports about 75% of employees steal from the workplace and most do so repeatedly!
  • One third of bankruptcies in corporate America are directly caused by employee theft.
  • 20% of every dollar earned by a U.S. Company is lost to employee theft.
  • 60% of inventory losses are caused by employees.

Time theft can destroy your company's productivity...and Profits!
Time Theft:
  • The Boston Globe and Denver Post report that “time theft” and loafing cost U.S. companies over $400 Billion a year in lost productivity.
  • Employee time theft costs as a result of buddy punching, early or late arrivals, and long breaks or meals are estimated to be $98 billion in the U.S. alone.
  • Time spent surfing, shopping, or just checking up on their Facebook can steal enormous amounts of billable time.
  • Late arrival or early departure.
  • Taking long lunch hours and breaks.
  • Requesting paid sick days for inappropriate reasons.
  • Slowing down the work pace to create overtime.
  • Excessive socializing and personal telephone calls.
  • Handling personal business while at work.
  • Using Company time and facilities to operate another business.

Time theft is not confined to any one type of person or industry. It applies to “white
collar” and “blue collar” employees in every type business, institution, profession and
governmental agency. It occurs in every organization with a payroll.

Sources:

Payrollbuilder is an online payroll service, which makes it simple to use and easy to access. To employers who have workers out on work sites, with a single purchase you can have your employees clock in from their phones and you will be alerted to where exactly they where when they clocked in. We protect your wages and follow all the tax laws to the fullest extent. We want to serve the Natural State, and are ready to serve you in Fort Smith, Little Rock, Russellville, Fayetteville, and everywhere else in Arkansas and the U.S. Visit our website for more information!


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Infographic: Explaining the Payroll Tax Cut to Small Businesses

What Small Businesses Should Know About the Payroll Tax Cut Extension [INFOGRAPHIC]
via: What Small Businesses Should Know About the Payroll Tax Cut Extension [INFOGRAPHIC]

Payrollbuilder is an online payroll service, which makes it simple to use and easy to access. We protect your wages and follow all the tax laws to the fullest extent. We want to serve the Natural State, and are ready to serve you in Fort Smith, Little Rock, Russellville, Fayetteville, and everywhere else in Arkansas and the U.S. Visit our website for more information!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Baker's Dozen of Common Payroll Mistakes

Though not as tasty, these payroll mistakes can cost you a lot more than the cost of these diabetes-inducing pastries.

Everyone makes mistakes, but in payroll it seems like there are a lot of mistakes to be made. Below is a list of 13 of the most common payroll mistakes I have seen and compiled them into a single list. I hope they are helpful to you and can help improve your own payroll system for your business!

  1. Not backing up your system: Since the person who manages your payroll is most likely human, you can rest assured they will not be able to work every day. Make sure that you have some means of still operating your payroll program without them. You also need to have a manual means of recording payroll in the event of a technological malfunction.
  2. Failure to Issue 1099's: When hiring a vendor or independent contractor, it is important to remember if you pay them more than 600 dollars for their services, they have to file a 1099. Harsh penalties are subject to anyone who doesn't provide this form, as it is an integral part of your outside employment and tax records.
  3. Incorrectly Classifying Employees: Making sure that your employees are correctly classified is imperative to not only keeping good tax records, but different employee types are subject to different payments and/or benefits packages. Make sure you adhere to all your state and federal laws in regards to how your employees are classified and structured within your business.
  4. Improperly Labeled Independent Contract Workers: Labeling all your employees independent contract workers is not a good way to avoid giving them compensation. The status of employment is also watched closely by the IRS, and improperly labeling employees is a good way to get audited and can greatly impact your worker's income taxes and tax withholding.
  5. Exempt or Non-exempt?: Employees who are classified as exempt are not required to accumulate overtime. Simply putting an employee on salary does NOT exempt them from overtime. Classifying an employee's status requires you to be familiar with federal and state laws, and can be different for different jobs.
  6. Excluding Travel and Commuting Expenses for Employees: As a general rule of thumb, traveling and commuting expenses accrued are not considered taxable income to a subordinate. If said employee is traveling to a work site not located in his permanent residence, however, than his travel and commuting benefits will need to be provided.
  7. Miscalculating Unemployment for State Taxes: Being late or miscalculating your state's Unemployment Taxes can cost your business its unemployment tax credit, which can be up to 5.4%. You can also face a lawsuit if notice is not provided for employees who have been laid off of their unemployment benefits.
  8. Improperly Recording Overtime: There are state and federal regulations on overtime pay. It is not limited to 1.5 times the hourly wage of the employee and may carry even more calculations to be accurate.
  9. Security for Employee Paychecks: Technology has helped make businesses big and small be more self sufficient and have more advanced tools for their activities. This same technology is being used to cheat you in some situations as well. Check fraud is a very real occurrence, and you have to make sure your business is protected by way of watermarks or any other kinds of security paper methods. Because of this fact more businesses are paying their employees through direct deposit, which bypasses the paper method of fraud completely.
  10. Mishandling Employee's Debts from Wages: It is vital to withhold any type of wage garnishments, tax levies, child support, or any other court-ordered paycheck withdraws. Be sure you confirm with the state that is ordering the payment that you are deducting the employees check correctly.
  11. Lack of or Unsatisfactory Record and Data Acquisition: Almost 2% of all total payroll costs are contributed to errors in record-keeping. The Internal Revenue Service demands you retain four years of records at least, and some states require even further archiving.
  12. Not Properly Recording Taxable Items: Federal tax laws requires you to consider prizes and awards fringe benefits subject to income and employment tax withholding. Gift cards are considered as cash and should never be excluded from taxable wages.
  13. Not Meeting Timetables for Taxes: Depending on how late a company is on reporting their taxes, they may be subject to late deposit penalties and interest rates. Depending on how late the tax payments are, the range can vary from 2% to up to 20%
Payrollbuilder is an online payroll service, which makes it simple to use and easy to access. We protect your wages and follow all the tax laws to the fullest extent. We want to serve the Natural State, and are ready to serve you in Fort Smith, Little Rock, Russellville, Fayetteville, and everywhere else in Arkansas and the U.S. Visit our website for more information!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Arkansas Top State Salaries 2011

Taken from: http://www.arkansasonline.com/right2know/statesalaries/

This database contains salaries of employees from all state agencies as well as public universities and colleges. The information for employees making less than $100,000 was collected through Freedom of Information Act requests filed in October 2011 and reflects employee data from the 2011-2012 fiscal year. Salaries of $100,000 and more reflect information collected in February 2012. Salaries and compensation are only shown for those earning more than $37,823, the equivalent of $18.18 per hour, the median household income level in Arkansas as determined by the U.S. Census.


Text Version:

Name/Institution/Position/Pay
Bobby Petrino/University of Arkansas-Fayetteville/h. football coach/$2,985,000.00
Mike Anderson/University of Arkansas-Fayetteville/h. basketball coach/$2,200,000.00
Gus Malzahn/Arkansas State University – Jonesboro/h. football coach/$850,000.00
John D. Day/UAMS/chair, neurosurgery/$648,327.00
Richard Hampton Turnage/UAMS/chair, surgery/$630,129.00
Michiaki Imamura/UAMS/chief, cardiovascular surgery, CH/$629,838.00
Daniel Rahn/UAMS/chancellor/$612,000.00
Stephen Canon/UAMS/chief, pediatric urology, CH/$575,000.00
Thomas G. Pait/UAMS/prof., phys./$550,000.00
Richard Nicholas/UAMS/chair, orthopedics/$524,581.00
Curtis L. Lowery/UAMS/chair, ob-gyn/$511,163.00
Philip J. Kenney/UAMS/chair, radiology/$501,000.00
Samuel D. Smith/UAMS/prof., phys., CH/$490,000.00
Tom D. Collen/University of Arkansas-Fayetteville/h. bskball coach/$485,034.00
Christopher T. Westfall/UAMS/chair, opthalmology/$485,000.00
Vaneerat Ratanatharathorn/UAMS/chair, radiation oncology/$482,864.00
Debra H. Fiser/UAMS/dean-College of Med./$481,185.00
Paul Vincent Petrino/University of Arkansas-Fayetteville/offensive co./$475,000.00
Paul J. Haynes III/University of Arkansas-Fayetteville/defensive co./$475,000.00
Jeff Long/University of Arkansas-Fayetteville/VC-athletics/$475,000.00
Frederick R. Bentley/UAMS/prof., phys./$467,000.00
Richard J. Jackson/UAMS/prof., phys., CH/$452,000.00
Gregory W. Albert/UAMS/asst. prof., phys., CH/$450,000.00
Carmelita S. Pablo/UAMS/chair, anesthesiology/$437,000.00
Robert Todd Maxson/UAMS/assoc. prof., phys., CH/$432,400.00 


This news brought to you by Payrollbuilder.com.

Payrollbuilder is an online payroll service, which makes it simple to use and easy to access. We protect your wages and follow all the tax laws to the fullest extent. We want to serve the Natural State, and are ready to serve you in Fort Smith, Little Rock, Russellville, Fayetteville, and everywhere else in Arkansas and the U.S. Visit our website for more information!


Monday, May 14, 2012

Jonesboro Man Sentenced on Bank Fraud and Failure to Pay Payroll Tax Charges

If you're committing Payroll Fraud, you will get caught!

Article showing that your Payroll Taxes are serious!
http://www.fbi.gov/littlerock/press-releases/2012/jonesboro-man-sentenced-on-bank-fraud-and-failure-to-pay-payroll-tax-charges

LITTLE ROCK—Christopher R. Thyer, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas announced today that Scott Keith Voss, 43, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller to serve 33 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Judge Miller also ordered Voss to pay restitution of $450,000 to the First Bank of Owasso and $148,564.94 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Voss, who served as pastor and president of First Pentecostal Church of Jonesboro, pled guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of willful failure to pay over tax on November 9, 2011. Voss admitted during the plea hearing that from September 2007 until June 26, 2010, he devised a scheme to defraud the First Bank of Owasso. As part of the scheme, Voss applied for a loan from the First Bank of Owasso, pledging as collateral the Jonesboro Worship Center real estate. Voss then failed to obtain appropriate board of directors’ authorization to so encumber the church real estate. Voss used the funds to retire previous unauthorized loans for his own personal use, and to obtain additional funds for expenditures not approved by the board of directors of the Jonesboro Worship Center.

Additionally, Voss admitted that from 2006 through 2010, First Pentecostal Church of Jonesboro withheld tax payments from its employees’ paychecks. However, through this same period, the church failed to make any payments to IRS of these withholdings. Voss was the person responsible for the collection and pay over of the church’s payroll taxes. This investigation was conducted by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation.

This news brought to you by Payrollbuilder.com.

Payrollbuilder is an online payroll service, which makes it simple to use and easy to access. We protect your wages and follow all the tax laws to the fullest extent. We want to serve the Natural State, and are ready to serve you in Fort Smith, Little Rock, Russellville, Fayetteville, and everywhere else in Arkansas and the U.S. Visit our website for more information!

State of the Baby Boomer Infographic

++ Click to Enlarge Image ++
State of the Baby Boomer [Infographic] - SeniorHomes.net
Image Source: Senior Homes

The Baby Boomer and the state that they are most likely in. Lots of info about how the Baby Boomer is currently experiencing modern life. This is provided by seniorhomes.net. This service is perfect for your small business payroll and can be used by anyone(even Baby Boomers!). Payrollbuilder is an online payroll service, which makes it simple to use and easy to access. We want to serve the Natural State, and are ready to serve you in Fort Smith, Little Rock, Russellville, Fayetteville, and everywhere else in Arkansas and the U.S. Visit our website for more information!

Infographic: Payroll And Tax Deductions

Payroll and Tax Deductions Infographic [Via: Paycor Payroll Software]

Finding useful information can be difficult at times for payroll. This handy infographic displays a lot of information about Payroll and Tax Deductions. This is originally from http://www.paycor.com/infographic/payrolltaxdeductions. Payrollbuilder is an easy-to-use payroll software designed for human resource management. This service is perfect for your small business payroll. Payrollbuilder is an online payroll service, which makes it simple to use and easy to access. We want to serve the Natural State, and are ready to serve you in Fort Smith, Little Rock, Russellville, Fayetteville, and everywhere else in Arkansas. Visit our website for more information!


Arkansas State Payroll Tax Information


Image from http://blogs.reuters.com/muniland/2012/04/11/the-state-of-state-and-local-taxes/


Local Taxes:
None

Arkansas State Tax Unemployment Insurance (SUI):
Report quarterly wages and contributions by filing Form (Employer's Quarterly Contribution and Wage Report) by last day of month following end of quarter. For more information click here.

Reserve ratio formula
Wage base is $12,000 for 2011 and 2012
Rates range from 1.20% to 7.10%
The rates for the first quarter of 2011 ranged from 1.00% to 10.90%
New employers use 4.00%

Arkansas State Tax Disability Insurance (SDI):
None

State Labor Laws:
Minimum Wage - The federal minimum wage rate applies.
Termination Pay - Fired - within seven days.

New Hire Reporting Center:
Employers must report hiring, rehiring, and return reporting to work within 20 days

PO Box 2540
Little Rock, AR 72203
501-682-3087


Remit Withholding for Child Support to:
Department of Finance and Administration
Division of Revenue
Child Support Enforcement Unit
PO Box 8133
Little Rock, AR 72203
501-682-6039


Reciprocal States:
None


Payrollbuilder is an easy-to-use payroll software designed for human resource management. This service is perfect for your small business payroll. Payrollbuilder is an online payroll service, which makes it simple to use and easy to access. We want to serve the Natural State, and are ready to serve you in Fort Smith, Little Rock, Russellville, Fayetteville, and everywhere else in Arkansas. Visit our website for more information!



Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Helpful Tips To Consider Before Switching Your Payroll Software




If you're tired of the Human ResourceManagement provider that you're currently using, and are considering using a different payroll service, then consider these tips.
  • Wait Before You Cancel Your Old Payroll Service: Just in case something happens with your new payroll system. You would hate to not be able to pay your workers because you're still required to submit information before the new system will work.
  • When To Cancel: The best time to move your payroll service is either at the start of a new year or at least a new quarter if you cannot wait that long. The less you have to carry over to the new payroll system the better, and the smoother you can dump your old service for your shiny new one.(sounds a bit like high school, eh?)
  • Make It a Clean Break: You need to pay all your outstanding taxes and get any forms filed you need to because generally your new service provider will not take on the liabilities of your previous payroll service provider.
  • If You Don't Cancel at a New Year or Quarter: Keep all your payroll records before you switch for your new provider. They will need that information if you're changing services in the middle of the year.
  • Where Are They Located?: One important thing to consider is if you know where they are located at. If they are national you may not have the same benefits a local organization may have. If you're not doing direct deposit you may have problems getting checks mailed out to people if they are in a different state than your payroll service provider
  • How is Their Customer Service?: Always consider this option BEFORE you make the move. Don't be afraid to call their customer service line to make sure there are real people to assist your customers. While you may be saving on your costs not having an efficient customer service provider could cost you your business leads.
  • System Thresholds: If you're a larger corporation, and you change to a cheaper payroll service, make sure they can accommodate your business. If they can only support 50 employees, and your company supports 500 workers, you will be in trouble.
  • Last But Not Least: Make sure you only have one company at a time doing your year-end forms such as your W-2s. If you cancel your services from your previous payroll provider make sure they don't file a W-2 at the end of the year.

Please do your research when switching your payroll providers, and always make sure your new service can not only do what your old one could, but with more benefits or a cheaper cost at the same benefits. Make sure that the human resource management system you hire is a great fit for your company. Payrollbuilder is always ready to support your business so check out our site and sign up with us today!