January 5, 2009

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I add additional Federal and State withholding to an employee's taxes folder?

Go to the Taxes folder in the Employee Setup. Click on the Add button. From the list of taxes, select Fed W/H Additional, and click OK. Repeat the same procedure to add State W/H Additional. Enter a fixed amount or vary it each pay period. All payrolls in the future will have the Fed W/H Additional and State W/H Additional available on the Payroll Data window.

The software is withholding less federal taxes than last year. What is affecting the amount of Federal taxes withheld from an employee's income?

The federal tax table for the current year has changed based on inflation indexing. Other factors affecting withholding are the amount of taxable income, the pay frequency, marital status and the number of exemptions.

When setting up an employee, I noticed FICA listed in the Employee Tax folder twice. Why?

There should be two FICA's listed in each Employee Taxes folder. The FICA(E) is the employee's portion that is deducted from their paycheck and the FICA(C) is the company's matching portion. The FICA(C) is not deducted from the employee's paycheck, but is required for the calculation of the Form 941, Employer's Federal Quarterly Tax Return.

Why is there a large number in the fraction box of the Form 941, Employer's Federal Quarterly Tax Return?

A small number in the fraction box of line 9 is normal. A large number is caused by having one or more employees exempt from FICA or Medicare taxes or by manually changing the FICA and Medicare taxes computed by the program.

How do I enter in the Year-to-Date data if I start using your program mid-year?

It is important to enter year-to-date payroll information before doing your first payroll using the program. Having previous payroll data in the software is required for accurate federal and state tax reporting.

First, setup the company, then setup each employee.

Second, determine how you want to enter previous payroll data. If it is early in the year, you may want to recreate each pay record for each employee. After the first quarter, you may want to enter monthly or quarterly totals for each employee. How you do it is up to you, but you must have at least one record for each employee that worked during the quarter.

Third, click on Options on the File menu and select After-the-Fact Payroll.

Fourth, click the Payroll button. Select the date for the payroll and each employee to enter based on your decision in the second step. Enter payroll data for each employee by going to each of the fields and entering the amount paid and withheld for each item. Click OK or next when done. Do this for every employee.

Fifth, verify the information entered is correct by printing summary reports for each employee. You can also view each employee's W-2 on the screen at anytime.

Sixth, after you have entered all the year-to-date information, click on Options and turn off After-the-Fact Payroll.

Why is my dot-matrix printer so slow?

If you are using a dot-matrix printer you need to select a font that is built into the printer rather than use true type fonts.

To change the font, from the File menu, select Report Setup, and then you can change the font. Typical dot-matrix fonts will be named Draft 10 CPI or Courier 10 CPI. Avoid true type fonts such as Courier New, Arial or Times New Roman.

Why are the last few characters missing from each line?

Check the margin settings in the printer setup. The printer setup can be accessed through the Windows Control Panel.

We are required to make our payroll deposits using EFTPS. Does PenSoft payroll offer EFTPS?

PenSoft payroll provides access to the IRS Electronic Tax Payment System export for tax deposits. In order to use this feature, you must apply to the IRS using their business enrollment form, and receive the free EFTPS software from the IRS. Directions to setup and run EFTPS export can be found in the program help file and in the manual.

We want to use direct deposit but our bank requires the file to be in a NACHA format. Does PenSoft Payroll use the NACHA file format?

The direct deposit export file created by the program complies with all standard financial institution and Automated Clearing House (ACH) formats and regulations.

What type of system do I need to run PenSoft Payroll?

The system requirements are an IBM-compatible Pentium computer with a hard disk. Windows 95/98/2000/NT, a minimum of 16 MB RAM, and a printer.

Can there be multiple wages?

The user can have multiple hourly wage categories. A combination of predefined and user defined wage categories may be used.

Is the capability for Multi state taxation available?

The program has the capability to handle Multi state taxation. Company locations and /or employee addresses may be in multiple states. Tax reports are available for each state used.

Is there a limitation to the number of additional deductions?

The company can have a total combination of 128 taxes and deductions and each employee can have a total combination of 128 taxes and deductions. Deductions may be either predefined or user defined.

Does the program handle the various retirement plans?

The program handles most the IRS approved retirement plans. Additionally, the company can enter a retirement plan and configure the correct taxation procedures.

Can I print W-2's on the forms from PenSoft payroll products?

Yes the basic program prints on W-2 forms. Additionally, the optional magnetic media module allows for magnetic media submission of W-2s and printing of all other employee and employer copies of W-2s on bond paper.

If the tax rates change during the year do I have to pay for the tax update?

Any changes to the Federal or State withholding rates during the year will be automatically sent to registered subscribers at no additional charge.

When I put in a company name with an ampersand (&), some prompts show it as an underline (_).

Windows interprets the ampersand as an underline in some cases. You can usually get the ampersand instead of an underline if you use a double ampersand (&&).

What is the process to enter manual payroll checks? Do I just turn on the After-the-Fact payroll processing option?

Yes, but you don't have to turn on the After-the-Fact option. You can just enter the data in the payroll window by using the tab, arrow keys, or mouse to reach the correct field.

The After-the-Fact option does make it easier by automatically stopping at each location when you press enter. It also suppresses some warnings since it is assumed that you are entering the data you want.

Do you have the ability to start a new year without printing W-2's for a prior year? Some companies are not quite ready to do their W-2's before their next payroll. Would you just copy the company to another company and start again?

Each year is independent. You can print the W-2 for any year at any time. We will ship the new edition at the end of the second week in December. Many people will start using the new edition the first week of January, but not print their W-2's for the previous year till the end of January. A conversion program is included each year which brings the setup information (company name, address, employees, etc.) forward to the new program. This has no effect on the previous year's data.

Why are you not automatically putting in SDI and ETT rates for California? They are all the same for all companies in California.

California SDI and ETT may be the same for most companies in California, but this type of tax varies enormously from state to state. The rate will be converted from one year to the next so you have to enter it once initially. You do not have to enter it again, unless the rate changes.

How do I set up an employee with salary and an overtime hourly rate.

You must manually divide the annual salary by the number of hours per year (a 40 hour week normally equates to 2080 hours a year) to obtain the hourly rate. Multiply this by your overtime rate (usually 1.5), and enter it into the overtime rate. Make sure the overtime pay field is active for the employee. When entering payroll, just enter the overtime hours when necessary.