CAR Newsletter - October 2023

Volume 34, Number 4 | Fiscal Year 2024 | Oct. 12, 2023

• 2023 1095-C and W-2 Electronic Option in Workday@OK
• Employees Remote or Teleworking - Primary Location Outside of Oklahoma
• Payroll Deadlines Reminder
• Deadlines for November Payrolls
• Submission of OMES Form 94P
• Employee Moving Expense Payments are Taxable
• Payroll Warrant Reversals
• Using State Vehicles to Commute 
• Payroll Warrants Issued in Error
• Payroll Stat-Canceled Warrants not Eligible for Reissue
• Agency Address Verification

HIGHER EDUCATION

• November Payroll Deadlines

1099 INFORMATION

• 1099 Tax Information Quarterly Report

ACCOUNTING

• GSA Federal Per Diem Rate Changes – Effective Oct. 1, 2023
• Lapsing Funds

AGENCY NEWS

• Notification of Change Procedures - OST
• NACHA Rule Reminder – Egregious Violation
• Federal Tax Payment Notifications and Deadlines – Higher Ed Payrolls

TRAINING

• American Payroll Association Monthly Lunch & Learn – OKC Chapter Meeting
• Payroll Law

Agencies are encouraged to promote electronic only access to year-end forms. The following information is provided to distribute to employees.

To avoid waiting for your 2023 Form 1095-C or your 2023 W-2 to arrive by mail, you can opt to go paperless only. When you choose to go paperless only, you will receive an electronic copy of the documents that can be downloaded and printed earlier than if electing both paper and electronic. Once you select to receive an electronic only copy, you do not need to make the selection again in the future. A 1095-C user guide and a W-2 user guide have been created to assist you in opting out of receiving the documents by mail. Those who have elected to receive both electronic and paper copies for their year-end documents will have them mailed by the required deadlines. Electronic versions will also be available by the deadlines. W-2s are due to employees by Jan. 31, 2024. 1095-C forms vary in the due date and may be between Jan. 31 and April 1, 2024.

For employees working remotely outside of Oklahoma, this requires the state, as the employer, to register and withhold income taxes for that state, as applicable, and to report/pay unemployment and other payroll-related taxes. If an agency has employees working outside of Oklahoma, please contact the OMES Central Payroll group at payrollreporting@omes.ok.gov so that we can timely register in the state and determine the required withholding and reporting for those employees. The employee’s work location will need to be updated to reflect the state in which they are remote working for Workday to correctly calculate the payroll related taxes. 

Agencies are required to have payroll documents to OMES by 12 p.m. five business days prior to the pay date. All required documents must be submitted by the deadline to ensure adequate time for auditing and processing. These documents are required to be submitted by state agencies: 1) the final budget checking report showing no budget deficit; 2) the signed payroll claim document. The paperwork should be submitted to payrolltransprocess@omes.ok.gov with a read receipt. For all payrolls processed and paperwork submitted by 12 p.m., if all similar pay groups are received, the payroll will be released that day. If the paperwork is not received by 12 p.m., the payroll for similar pay groups will hold ALL agencies until the paperwork is submitted.

Any payrolls submitted after 12 p.m. will process the following business day once the paperwork has been received. If an agency is late submitting their payroll and needs the payroll to process that day in order to pay timely and will not be finished at 12 p.m., the agency must notify us either by contacting Elsa Kunnel at 405-521-6178 or Jean Hayes at 405-522-6300 or by email to payrolltransprocess@omes.ok.gov just as soon as the delay is known. 

Institutions of higher education have different document requirements. The following is required from the institutions: 1) the Validate PFT Funding report showing no budget deficit, and 2) the signed payroll claim document. Agencies are required to have payroll documents to OMES by 3 p.m. five business days prior to the pay date.

In planning your work for November, Veterans Day will be observed on Friday, Nov. 10. The state holiday for Thanksgiving is Thursday and Friday, Nov. 23-24. November biweekly payroll for state agencies will be paid on Friday, Nov. 3, and Friday, Nov. 17. November monthly payrolls will be paid on the last working day of the month, Thursday, Nov. 30.

With these dates in mind, agency staff should plan their work accordingly for these deadlines:

SUPPLEMENTAL: Workday supplemental payrolls are set to pay on Thursday, Nov. 09. Agencies must have these payrolls processed and paperwork forwarded to OMES by Thursday, Nov. 2.

BIWEEKLY: Biweekly payrolls are set to pay on Friday, Nov. 3. Agencies must have these payrolls processed and paperwork forwarded to OMES by Friday, Oct. 27.

The next biweekly pay date will be Friday, Nov. 17. Agencies must have these payrolls processed and paperwork forwarded to OMES by Thursday, Nov. 09.

For the Friday, Dec. 1, biweekly pay date, agencies must have these payrolls processed and paperwork forwarded to OMES by Wednesday, Nov. 22.

MONTHLY: Monthly payrolls will be set to pay on Thursday, Nov. 30. Agencies must have these payrolls processed and paperwork forwarded to OMES by Tuesday, Nov. 21.

When an employee reimburses a payroll overpayment, please submit the completed OMES Form 94P as soon as the reimbursement is made. Timely submission helps ensure corrections are reflected in the quarter in which they occurred for proper reporting and helps in the full recovery of OPERS retirement amounts. If the retirement system is not aware of an overpayment and the pending overpayment refund request, payouts to former employees may be incorrect, resulting in a loss to the agency. In addition, retirement calculations may be incorrect if the overpayment is not reported timely.

Please do not provide copies of personal checks. The form allows the agency to enter the amount reimbursed. Additional backup data is not required.  

The form requires the state employee ID be entered. This is for the privacy and security of the employee. Please do not submit with the Social Security number or any other number.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspends the tax-free exclusion of qualified moving expenses paid to or on behalf of an employee by an employer. The suspension period is for tax years beginning Jan. 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2025.

Authorized moving expenses paid directly or indirectly to or for an employee will be taxable as wages and must be processed through the payroll system. This includes payments made with the P-card and those processed through accounts payable.

If paying the employee directly (through accounts payable) or a third party for moving expenses, the agency must notify its payroll department of the amount paid. The amount must process through the payroll system as nonpaying, taxable earnings so the amount will be taxed and properly reported on the employee’s W-2. We recommend the amount be processed through payroll on the employee’s next paycheck. Delaying until the end of the year could cause a hardship for the employee by taking the taxes out during the holidays. Delaying could also cause issues with collecting the employee taxes if the employee has terminated employment.

For any amounts paid directly to the employee through the Workday system, taxes will be withheld from the gross amount and the employee will receive the net payment.

When a payroll warrant is reversed in workday, any payable time associated with that warrant will need to be paid using the on-demand process. Workday does not return those hours to the time sheet. For a replacement check to be issued before the reversal is complete, it requires entering time upon which to be paid.

Completion of the reversal after the replacement check results in duplication of the time worked in the system and potentially a duplicate payment to the employee if not reviewed and corrected. Agencies should not issue a replacement until the reversal is complete to mitigate any wage and tax balance discrepancies.

O.S. 47 § 156.1, as amended, prohibits the personal use of state-owned motor vehicles but permits the use of the vehicles for commuting in very specific situations. 2007 OK AG Opinion 18 also addresses this issue.

When a state employee is allowed to commute in accordance with the statute or the attorney general opinion, the agency must notify the governor, the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives. In addition, when an employee is using a vehicle from OMES Fleet Management, the agency must complete CAM/FLEET MGMT – FORM 022 Authorization for Commuting in State Vehicle.

The IRS considers commuting to be a noncash taxable benefit to the employee even when the use of the vehicle is for the benefit of the employer. There are very few exceptions to the taxability of commuting. Exceptions are for certain vehicles that are not likely to be used for personal use because of their design. These vehicles are listed in IRS Publication 15-B.

• The method of calculating the taxable fringe benefit is dependent on the employee’s status.
• Commuting rule: Most state employees may use the commuting rule. Under this rule, the value of a vehicle provided to an employee for commuting is computed by multiplying each one-way commute by $1.50. If more than one employee commutes in the vehicle, this value applies to each employee. This amount must be included in the employee’s wages or reimbursed by the employee.
• Cents per mile: A cents-per-mile method may also be used by most state employees.
• Automobile lease valuation rule: Elected officials or employees whose compensation is at least as great as a federal government employee at Executive Level V (for 2023; $172,100) are not allowed to compute taxable income under the commuting rule. These officials and employees must use the automobile lease valuation rule to compute taxable income.
• All valuation methods are described in detail in IRS Publication 15-B.

The employee may choose to have the value included as taxable income or pay the employer for personal use rather than having it treated as wages. When treating the value as wages, the imputed income is subject to FICA and income tax withholding. The taxable amount, if not paid by the employee, must be processed through payroll so that taxes are calculated and amounts are reported on the employee's W-2.

Process the taxable amount through the Workday system using the correct earning code. Vehicle usage (CAR) should be used for one-time payments. Vehicle Usage – TT (VEH) should be used when entering on the time sheet. Agencies are responsible for reviewing the entries for accuracy. The amount will be included as taxable income and will be taxed on the paycheck.

We recommend the vehicle usage be included in the employee’s payroll each pay period to prevent a large sum from being included in the employee’s last pay of the calendar year, resulting in a higher than normal amount of taxes withheld. Additionally, up-to-date reporting of vehicle usage will benefit the agency should the employee terminate during the year.

For more information, please contact Jean Hayes at 405-522-6300 or jean.hayes@omes.ok.gov.

If for any reason an agency receives a payroll warrant issued in error, the warrant should be returned as soon as possible to OMES for cancellation. Payroll warrants must be accompanied by an OMES Form PWC.

Warrants issued by the state treasurer, which for any cause remain outstanding or unpaid for a period of 90 days shall be revoked and canceled under the provisions of O.S. 62 § 34.80. For warrants canceled by statute, the cash is transferred to the canceled warrant fund. Agencies will not be refunded the value of the canceled warrants.

Agencies should be reviewing the PS Financials Payroll 36-Month Statutory Cancellation Report on a regular basis.

If there is a payroll warrant listed and the employee is entitled to the funds, please complete OMES Form 20R and send to OMES CAR Transaction Processing. This will allow a replacement warrant to be issued to provide the employees their due pay.

If there is a payroll warrant listed and the employee is not entitled to the funds, the issuing agency must notify OMES. (O.S. 62 § 34.80) Notification should include the warrant number, warrant date and must be signed by an agency approving authority. Please send notification to OMES CAR Transaction Processing stating that the warrant should not be reissued. In addition, the amounts must be removed from the employee’s earning record. Please contact Jean Hayes at 405-522-6300 or jean.hayes@omes.ok.gov.

Please verify the correct agency address is being used in the Workday@OK system. The agency address can be found on the Employee’s Earnings Statement. If the address is not correct for the agency, this should be updated. Please call the OMES Service Desk at 405-521-2444 to have the agency’s address updated in PeopleSoft Financials, which will flow over to Workday@OK.

n planning your work for November, it is important to remember Veterans Day will be observed on Friday, Nov. 10.  The Thanksgiving state holiday is recognized on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 23-24. With these dates in mind, please adjust your payroll processing schedules as needed. All payroll documents must be received five business days prior to the actual pay date to ensure adequate time for auditing and processing.

The first three quarters of the 2023 tax year are now complete. It is time for ALL agencies to run the Miscellaneous 1099 Tax Information Report which will include all transactions from Jan. 1 through September 30, 2023. The path for this report in PeopleSoft Financials is:

Accounts Payable > Reports > Payments > Misc Tax Information Report.

Please review the following items in this report:

• The Name and Tax ID number (TIN) must match the information on the vendor’s W-9, which designates the name and TIN that the vendor uses to report their taxes to the IRS, state Tax Commission and/or Secretary of State.
• Pay attention to the 1099 Flag: Y means the vendor should receive a 1099, and N means the vendor should not receive a 1099. A vendor does not need a 1099 if it is registered as a corporation, non-profit or government entity (the exception to this is when the payment is for legal or medical services). State employees in most cases should have an N 1099 flag. All other non-exempt vendors should have a Y 1099 flag. If there are any questions about a vendor’s 1099 status, please request an updated W-9 from the vendor and forward a copy to OMES.
• Please note that Address 1 in the vendor file is the vendor’s official address reported to the IRS and the designated address for 1099 reporting. If the vendor’s 1099 Flag is N, any new addresses provided will be added as a different location but Address 1 will not change. If Address 1 should be different, please request the change by submitting the request on OMES Vendor/Payee Form.
• Review all warrants processed for each vendor to ensure that the correct amount is listed for the proper vendor. (Any warrant corrections will need to be made at the agency level.)

Please send any corrections on this report to OMES by Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. If you have any questions, please contact Alicia Reel at 405-522-1099 or at alicia.reel@omes.ok.gov.

NOTE: This does not apply to Higher Ed Institutions; these institutions will do their own 1099 reporting for 2023.

The Government Services Administration (GSA) has posted revisions to its schedule, which we use for travel, effective Oct. 1, 2023 (federal fiscal year of October-September). The federal Standard CONUS Per Diem Rate for lodging increased and the meals/incidentals rate (our per diem) did not change. Some of the Non-Standard Areas with higher rates may have changed from covered to non-covered and vice versa. Furthermore, the Oklahoma City/Oklahoma County lodging rate increased and the meals/incidentals rates did not change.

The rate change is effective for travel occurring on and after Oct. 1, 2023, which is the start of the 2024 federal fiscal year. These new rates can be viewed or downloaded at the GSA website.

Agencies are required to complete all transactions related to FY 22 appropriations no later than Nov. 20, 2023, or the funds will lapse.

Agencies should run the Lapse Fund Advance Notice – Appropriated Funds Report to identify all funds that are due to lapse. The path to this report in PeopleSoft is: General Ledger > General Reports > Lapse Fund Adv Notice – Approp. If any lines have negative encumbrances or pre-encumbrances, these amounts need to be resolved. If you are unable to resolve the differences, submit a case to the OMES Service Desk. Be sure to indicate the specific funding lines with negative balances.

Additionally, some agencies had limits bills on their FY 23 appropriations, which changed them from nonfiscal (30 month) to fiscal (18 months with carryover ability). Those agencies must complete FY 23 transactions and process a budget carryover to FY 24 prior to the lapse date for those funds. The lapse date for these budgets is Nov. 15, 2023.

Please reach out to accounting@omes.ok.gov if you have any questions on this process.

You must handle Notifications of Change in a timely manner.

A Notification of Change is a non-dollar entry that the receiving deposit financial institution transmits to the ACH operator for distribution back to the originator through the originating deposit financial institution. When the RDFI receives a prenotification or a live dollar entry that contains incorrect information, it creates this notice, which:

• Identifies the entry that has been received at the RDFI.
• Pinpoints the specific information on the incorrect entry.
• Provides the correct information in a precise format so the originator can make the change.

Responsibilities of agencies

Agencies are required to handle the NOCs in a timely manner. The information reported in an NOC should be corrected within six banking days of receipt of the NOC information or prior to initiating another entry to the receiver’s account, whichever is later. However, agencies should not wait if the change can be made earlier.

Agencies should implement any necessary system/process edits ASAP to ensure that any subsequent transactions to the recipients in question cannot be initiated until the information reported in the NOC has been updated.

Fines and penalties for rules violations

If the agency does not correct the incorrect data upon receipt of the NOC, prior to initiating another entry, they may be subject to fines and/or penalties imposed by NACHA for the violation. The fine for an infraction of these rules is determined on an evaluation by NACHA and can range from $5,000 to $500,000 per month. Any fines or penalties assessed by NACHA and JPM for rules violations are chargeable to the violating agency. Repeat offenders may be subject to further consequences as repeated offences could jeopardize the state’s ability to participate in the NACHA network.

This communication is to remind state agencies they should provide an advance notice to the state treasurer of all disbursements that could negatively impact state cash flow requirements. For notice purposes, daily total submissions for disbursement equal to or in excess of $50 million shall deem to have the potential to negatively impact state cash flow. Notice should be provided to treasuryservices@treasurer.ok.gov and Lisa.Murray@treasurer.ok.gov. While OST will do everything possible to handle all submissions, failure to provide timely notice may result in delayed payments. 

Federal tax deposits must be released by the State Treasurer’s office no later than the day prior to the effective date of the payment. The deadline for notifying OMES to release a federal tax deposit for the following day is 10 a.m. the day prior to the release date. Submissions received after the 10 a.m. deadline will miss being released to the IRS timely and may result in late deposit penalties for untimely payments for which the institutions would be responsible. The timing of the notification to OMES is critical to allow for the timely release of funds to the IRS. Some institutions are failing to comply with the established deadlines. The process was established and communicated to the agencies prior to the Jan. 1, 2106, change in payroll processing.

The training provided to all institutions on Nov. 3, 2015, included specific instructions on the manner and timing of payroll tax deposits. That presentation can be found in the Financial Module News under the Business Application Services link of OMES. Significant steps and times in the process include:

1. Calculate the tax deposit.
2. Enter payment into ACES with appropriate data including the effective date.
3. Enter and save a journal entry into PeopleSoft with complete and appropriate chartfields using the current date as the journal date.
4. Send email to OMES CAR to be received by 10 a.m. – OMES will check all emails received by this time to include in that day’s processing. Emails received by OMES after that time will not be picked up for the current day processing.
5. Be sure the email includes the agency number, journal entry number, contacts and screenshot of ACES payment.
6. OMES will check the journal entries for accuracy, log the request for tracking, edit and post the entry before forwarding the transaction to OST for processing by 10:45 a.m.
7. OST will verify that the ACES entry agrees with amounts submitted by OMES and release the payments.
8. Between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., the agency should log into the ACES system to make sure that the payment has been released.
9. Notify OMES as soon as possible if a tax deposit was not released in accordance with these procedures.

Step 7 is necessary to ensure that communications were received and payments were released. This will help mitigate the risk that the initial email did not get delivered timely or was held up by filtering programs looking for spam email.

Topic: Secure Act 2.0
Date: Friday, Oct. 20, 2023
Time: Noon to 1 p.m. via Zoom

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