USPS Process Guide –
Chapter 14: Period-End Processing

Month-End Processing

Month-end processing involves “closing out the books” for a calendar month regardless of the type of payrolls you run. The month-end process involves two distinct tasks:

• Running the month-end reports
• Clearing the month-to-date accumulators

The following are the steps in the month-end process:

Step	Action
1	Process all payrolls for that calendar month and make note of any exceptions that could affect reporting.
2	Request month-end reports on the HNKRQ (Payroll Period End Request) screen. These reports are primarily benefits based (retirement, insurance, Tex Flex, deferred comp, etc.).
3	Receive and review the reports for accuracy.
4	Request clears on HNKRQ. This process zeroes out all month-to-date accumulators (gross, net deductions, taxables, taxes, etc.), updates deduction information on the HNY and H0Z screens and produces Report 074 (Period-End Clear Control Totals).

You can begin the close-out process of the previous month anytime after the first of the following month. You cannot process the next regular payroll until this month-end clear process has been completed. As soon as the previous month is closed out, any payrolls run become part of the current month’s accumulators, regardless of their pay period.

Reports Generated During the Month-End Process

154	TRS Contributions Report for Warrants
155	ERS SSN Corrections for Active Retirement Contributions
171	Employees with Defined Contribution Plan Balances
172	Separated Employees with Defined Contribution Plan Balances
174	Employees Participating in Defined Contribution Plan
175	Defined Contribution Transmittal Letter
177	Employees with 401(k) and 401(k) loan contributions
527	Employee History Out of Balance With Year to Date Totals
558	Generated Imputed Income Report
571	Generated State Paid Insurance Transactions
674	Month End Clear H0Z Change Listing
882	Employees Receiving Retirement Benefits
911	Position Control Lapse Calculation

Reports Run Monthly, but Outside of the Month-End Process

Report	Name	When Run
538	Credit Union Deductions	1st working day of month
575	ERS Retiree Report	Runs after file is received from ERS
96	Membership Dues	Working day on or immediately preceding 19th day of month
71	Labor Statistics	Last working day of month
543	Terminated Employees	Last working day of month
798	New Hire Report	1st working day after the 7th day of the month
978	ERS Transmitted DCP election changes	Upon receipt of DCP file from ERS.

Optional Reports Which May Be Helpful but Must Be Requested by the Agency

165	Staffing Master	HSRPT
185	Pay Period Summary	HSRPQ
190	Consolidated History	HSRPQ
192	State Matching Money	HSRPQ
508	Active Positions	HNKPC
902	Employee on LWOP	HNKPM

Quarter-End Processing

Quarter-end processing involves “closing out the books” for a quarter by clearing out quarterly totals and running reports that assist you in quarterly reporting requirements. Because both tax and wage reporting are based on the date of payment (rather than the pay period), this process takes place after all payrolls with payment dates in that quarter have been run (in March, June, September and December). The quarter-end process involves three distinct tasks:

• Moving the current quarter totals into the prior quarter
• Clearing the quarter accumulators
• Running the quarter-end reports (from the PRIOR QUARTER field)

The following are the steps in the quarter-end process:

Step	Action
1	Process all payrolls that require payment before the end of the quarter.
2	Perform month-end process and tax balancing, and note any exceptions that could affect reporting.
3	Request quarter-end reports and clears on the HNKRQ (Payroll Period End Request) screen. The clear process places quarterly totals from H0ATB, H0ATC and H0BPA into the prior quarter and clears quarter-to-date totals. Prior quarter totals are then used to generate the reports.
4	USPS automatically runs the quarterly reports the night of the quarterly clear process. These reports are all tax related.

You should try to close out the quarter and run your reports as soon after the month-end clear process as possible. You cannot process the next regular payroll until this quarter-end clear process has been completed. As soon as the quarter is closed out, any payrolls run become part of the current month and quarter accumulators, regardless of their pay period.

Reports Generated During the Quarter-End Process

39	Tax Liability Report
56	Quarterly Composite Tax Report
58	Form 941 Worksheet

Reports Run with Month End Reports for November, February, May and August

761	FTE State Employee Quarterly
509	Management to Staff Ratio

Reports Run Quarterly, but Outside the Quarter-End Process

921	TWC Wages by Employee
922	TWC Wages by Document
923	TWC Wages by County
926	TWC Negative Wages by Employee
928	TWC Discrepancy Report

Optional Reports that May Assist with Quarterly Reporting Requirements, but Must Be Requested by the Agency

185	Pay Period Summary	HSRPQ/HNKPA
190	Consolidated History	HSRPQ/HNKPA

Completing Form 941 – Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return

Step	Action
1	Compare Report 56 (Quarterly Composite Tax Report) with Report 58 (Form 941 Worksheet). These are two of the reports you requested from your USPS representative as one of your quarter-end tasks. Report 56 is a comprehensive tax report for the quarter. It collects quarterly information by line item, displaying detailed tax information for the current quarter, prior quarter and year-to-date within the following categories: Tax unit Country code State code Local/name code Information for the report is pulled from the H0A, H0B, H0C and HNP databases. Report 58 provides a concise worksheet of the data required for reporting federal income tax, wages and social security taxes deposited. The worksheet lists, by tax unit, the total number of active employees on file. It also lists FIT, OASDI and MED/HI taxable wages. Information for this report is pulled from the H0A, H0B, H0C, HID and HNP databases. Note: Report 56 lists what actually occurred for your agency. Report 58 has a few calculated fields (for example, FICA).
2	Make any necessary adjustments to the figures on the reports, then complete your agency’s Form 941 by transferring information from Report 58 to the correct line item on Form 941.

Completing State Reporting Requirements

Report 761 (FTE State Employee Quarterly)

Report 761 is a worksheet that assists you with completing your agency’s FTE Quarterly Report, as required by the State Classification Team of the State Auditor’s Office. It calculates the full-time equivalents (FTE) by dividing the number of paid hours (not including overtime or lump sum payments) in the quarter by the number of hours in the quarter. The report also counts the number of full- and part-time employees as of the last day of the specified quarter.

Use the information from Report 761 to fill out the official FTE Quarterly Report. This report should not be attached to, or sent in lieu of, the official form.

Note: Report 761 is produced according to the fiscal quarter rather than the calendar quarter.

Report 921 (TWC Quarterly Report – Wages by Employee)

This report lists, both by employee and by agency, the total Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) wages paid in the calendar quarter.

Do not send a copy of Report 921 to TWC. USPS staff submits that information by electronic file. Reconcile the total TWC wage amounts listed on Reports 921; the TWC Quarterly Reports, Wages by Document (Report 922) and Wages by County (Report 923); and the quarterly Consolidated History Summary (Report 190).

If you find any discrepancies in this report, notify your USPS representative so that corrections can be made.

Report 922 (TWC Quarterly Report – Wages by Document)

This report is used as a tool to aid you in the reconciliation of total TWC wages.

If you find any discrepancies in this report, notify your USPS representative so that corrections can be made.

Report 923 (TWC Quarterly Report – Wages by County)

This report lists TWC wages and number of employees by county.

Use this report to complete the Employer's Quarterly Report (Form C-3), which requests the number of employees by county. You also use Report 923 to report the number of employees and amount of wages by county on the Multiple Worksite Report (Form BLS 3020). If you find any discrepancies in this report, notify your USPS representative so that corrections can be made.

Report 926 (TWC Negative Wages By Employee)

Report 926 lists all employees whose total TWC wages for the quarter are negative.

Report 928 (TWC Discrepancy Report)

Report 928 lists all employees whose payroll data and personnel data are inconsistent. These discrepancies can be the result of:

• A letter of authorization which has a change to a position number done after the payroll ran causing the HOH history record to have a different position number than the HNH history record.
• A payroll record with pay period dates after the termination date.

The report describes the error condition and the disposition of the wage information.