ACR 30087 – USPS System Change
Jan. 14, 2011
Introduction
ACR 30087 modifies the Payroll module of the Uniform Statewide Payroll/Personnel System (USPS) effective Jan. 14, 2011.
Issue
The IRS Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 modified the employee Social Security (OASDI) tax rate from 6.2 to 4.2 percent, effective Jan. 1, 2011. The employer OASDI tax rate remains at 6.2 percent. USPS was originally programmed to double the employee OASDI and Medicare tax when interfacing amounts to Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS). This had to change since the employee and employer rates are different now.
Imputed income was generated and recorded for all employees who:
- were set up to receive this non-cash special pay, but
- did not receive the pay on earnings history for the month that month-end reports were requested.
The imputed income was posted to the Employee Payment History Warrant Detail (H0HU2) screen. Report 10 (Payroll and Deduction Register) and Report 185 (Pay Period Summary Totals) were also generated. The employee and state share of OASDI and Medicare taxes were paid via USAS on the next payroll cycle for the employee. Since the employee and employer share are now reported separately, imputed income transactions need to process with a payroll cycle to record the state share of OASDI and Medicare tax.
Solution
Modifications have been made to all of the necessary screens and reports to calculate the OASDI tax rate of 4.2 percent for the employee and 6.2 percent for the employer. Field headers and titles were also updated to reflect a separation between the employee and employer amounts of OASDI tax withheld and paid. USPS automatically adjusts for the employee portion of OASDI tax that was over withheld on any 2011 payments processed prior to the migration of this ACR.
Imputed income will continue to generate as before with the month-end report process, except:
- Imputed income will now post to the pending file, which can be deleted if necessary before it posts to the H0HU2 screen and interfaces the state share of OASDI and Medicare tax through USAS.
- Report 558 (Generated Imputed Income Transactions) will include all employees with transactions that posted to the pending file.
- Reports 10 and 185 will no longer be generated with the imputed income transactions that generate with the month-end process.
Note: If after reviewing an employee’s situation, you find that the imputed income should not have been generated, you can delete the pending transaction on Pending Transaction Delete Request (HPKDL) screen up until the next final payroll is processed. This will stop the imputed income from posting to the H0HU2 screen and interfacing the state share of OASDI and Medicare tax to USAS. It will also reverse the imputed income adjustments to accumulators.
Screens affected
- H0HU2 (Employee Payment History Warrant Detail)