“What’s New” on FMX

The deadline to file 1099-MISC forms (when reporting in box 7) with the IRS is Jan. 31, 2017. This applies to both electronic and hard copy files.

The last day to make changes to 1099 data in USAS and request the DAFR7950 report (forms and/or data set) is Monday, Jan. 30.

Due to this shortened processing timeline, the Comptroller’s office recommends that agencies begin reviewing their 1099 data immediately.

There will be two classes (login required) on Tuesday, Dec. 6 for agencies that process 1099s in USAS.

For processing timeline and instructions, please see USAS Procedures for 1099 Reporting for Calendar Year 2016 (FPP E.001).

USPS will be unavailable all day Saturday, Dec. 10, while we conduct the calendar year-end (CYE) file split.

All USPS payrolls finalized after the 2016/2017 file split must have a warrant date in calendar year 2017 and will be reflected in the 2017 files.

For more information, see USPS Calendar Year-End Close Process (FPP R.014).

For questions, please contact the USPS Help Desk at (512) 463-4008 or your assigned USPS representative.

Dec. 15 is the maintenance/corrections deadline for the fiscal 2016 First Quarter Veteran Workforce Summary Reports (Sept. 1 – Nov. 30). Copies of the quarterly reports will be sent via electronic file transfer (EFT) on Dec. 16. The online quarterly report acknowledgment form (with required complaint reporting included) will be available Dec. 16 and must be submitted by Dec. 23.

For more information, see Veteran Workforce Summary Reports and Veteran Complaint Reporting (FPP F.038).

Agencies that reimburse employees for state-related hotel stays are due a refund for the associated hotel occupancy taxes. The refunds are generated automatically through USAS each quarter.

The hotel occupancy tax refund for September through November will be available on the DAFR8190 and DAFR8200 reports on Dec. 9.

For more information, see Hotel Occupancy Tax Quarterly Refund (FPP B.006).

Warrant pickup will be available only from 8 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 23. For more information, see Holiday Payment Distribution.

State and federal holidays listed on the System Outages and Holidays Calendar with no scheduled USAS cycle are excluded when determining the direct deposit settlement date of a payment.

Since financial institutions are closed, no direct deposit activity occurs on those days. Agencies must exclude these dates when determining when to process their payments to ensure prompt payment and avoid late payment interest.

Note: If you need to submit a USAS or TINS batch file on a weekend or holiday, please see the Batch File Submission Calendar.

The CAPPS HR/Payroll Production environments will undergo Windows patching maintenance on Sunday, Nov. 20, from 4 to 9 a.m. The Production environments will remain available.

The CAPPS Financials Production environments will undergo Windows patching maintenance on Sunday, Nov. 20, from 4 to 9 a.m. The Production environments will remain available; however, during this window, the search feature in production will not be available.

Effective Nov. 16, the date entered into the USAS DOC DATE and PMT DUE DATE fields for Document Type 5 (Payroll Reimbursements and Adjustments) and Document Type 7 (Annuitant Payroll) transactions is limited to 45 days from the current effective date per the USAS System Management (97) Profile.

For more information, see ACR 60137 – USAS System Change.

The TINS SWA18802: Direct Deposit Cancellations Report is generated when bimonthly and monthly payroll and retirement direct deposit payments are canceled prior to transmission. Effective Nov. 14, the report will be distributed to agencies with applicable direct deposit cancellations.

For more information, see ACR 60218 – TINS System Change.

Video tutorials on the Comptroller’s online application for detailed payment information are now available on:

• State Payee Payment Resources on FMX
• Texas Direct Deposit on Comptroller.Texas.Gov
• The Comptroller’s YouTube playlists

The Search State Payments Issued tutorials present an opportunity to promote direct deposit for your agency’s payees. For more information, contact Payment Services.

Warrant pickup will be available only from 8 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 23. For more information, see Holiday Payment Distribution.

State and federal holidays listed on the System Outages and Holidays Calendar with no scheduled USAS cycle are excluded when determining the direct deposit settlement date of a payment.

Since financial institutions are closed, no direct deposit activity occurs on those days. Agencies must exclude these dates when determining when to process their payments to ensure prompt payment and avoid late payment interest.

Note: If you need to submit a USAS or TINS batch file on a weekend or holiday, please see the Batch File Submission Center.

The U.S. Department of Labor has released the final rules governing which executive, administrative and professional employees (white collar workers) are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime pay protections.

The Federal Overtime Changes Effective Dec. 1, 2016 advisory is intended to ensure that state agencies and institutions of higher education are aware of the changes.

Note: The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts does not provide guidance on matters related to the FLSA and overtime exemptions.

The Comptroller’s office bills agencies for their portion of statewide costs using the statewide allocated costs and billing procedures prescribed by the Governor’s Office. Agencies indicate the basis for allocating statewide costs and use that basis to distribute their statewide costs among sources of funding on the Statewide Cost Allocation Worksheet. The worksheet is due Jan. 15, 2017*.

*We anticipate a delay in posting the Fiscal 2016 Statewide Cost Allocation Summary of Fixed Costs by Agency. If it is not issued by Jan. 15, 2017, the Comptroller’s office will issue separate guidance, including new deadlines.

For agencies not submitting a worksheet, the Comptroller’s office will distribute statewide costs based on the agency’s appropriation year (AY) 2017 method of finance.

See General Revenue Reimbursement for Statewide Allocated Costs (FPP A.022) for complete information including contacts, instructions, forms and worksheet.

For state agencies and institutions of higher education reporting compensation in Box 7 (non-employee compensation) of the 1099-Miscellaneous (MISC) form, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) now requires a copy of the form to be filed by Jan. 31, 2017.

Certain payments must be reported to the IRS on a Form 1099-Miscellaneous (MISC) or Form 1099-Interest Income (INT) and a duplicate Form 1099 sent to the payee.

To help agencies and institutions comply with this requirement for calendar year 2016, USAS will capture 1099-related data and generate 1099 Verification Reports (DAFR 7940), Forms 1099-MISC and/or Forms 1099-INT (DAFR 7950) for each agency or institution upon request.

See USAS Procedures for 1099 Reporting for Calendar Year 2016 (FPP E.001).

Note: Per IRS instructions, if you are submitting hard copy 1099 forms to the IRS, Copy A must be completed using the 12-point Courier font and printed using black ink only.

The deadline for the fiscal 2016 annual financial report (AFR) is Sunday, Nov. 20. The Financial Reporting section highly recommends all USAS entries related to the AFR be made and released by 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17.

If your agency needs to make entries to USAS on Nov. 18, you must use USAS Batch Edit Mode 2 for all entries. Any entries made on Nov. 18 using any edit mode other than 2 will fail to process.

USAS will be unavailable after 7 p.m. on Nov. 18, and agencies will be unable to make further entries in USAS for fiscal 2016 after Nov. 18.

All entries for the fiscal 2016 AFR must be backdated using an effective date of 08322016.

Please contact your financial reporting analyst for any questions related to AFR submission requirements and deadlines.

The State of Texas Annual Cash Report for fiscal 2016 is now available. The report presents the state’s financial position and details revenues and expenditures on a cash basis, as required by Government Code, Section 403.013.

Final copies of the 2016 Equal Employment Opportunity Report (FPP F.016) will be sent to each agency and institution of higher education via electronic file transfer on Nov. 16.

Nov. 14 is the deadline for making data corrections. Corrections entered or submitted after this date will not be reflected in the final report. The Comptroller’s office will send the final report to the Civil Rights Division of the Texas Workforce Commission on Nov. 16.