AGENCY NEWS
The upgrade to the PeopleSoft accounting system is moving along with an expected go-live date of September 7th. The switchover will happen over Labor Day weekend and PeopleSoft will be shut down during that weekend. The upgrade puts us in a position to roll out new functionality and additional modules that have not been available to us in the past. Work on implementing new modules will be completed after the upgrade is finalized. Watch for training announcements and further updates in the weeks to come.
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As a result of the testing that must be done before the PeopleSoft upgrade goes live over Labor Day weekend, it is more imperative than ever that agency budgets are established in PeopleSoft before the end of July. Please plan early and make it a priority to submit your budget work program by the end of June.
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The Office of the State Treasurer (OST) has recently contracted with True Digital (TRUE), a PCI Qualified Security Assessor, to assist participating State agencies in completing their PCI-DSS assessments. Training of TRUE’s digital platform is scheduled for April 2020. Please be on the lookout for more information in the future.
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As announced in October, the statewide P-Card and Travel Office is no longer combined. Linda Powell is the State P-Card Administrator under Central Purchasing. The State Travel Office is within Central Accounting and Reporting. For all travel issues including online booking tool questions, please contact the Travel Office at [email protected].
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The transition to Journey House as the statewide contract for travel services is now complete. The online booking tool through Journey House is up and running. For OBT procedures and information contact [email protected].
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If you are interested in serving on the OFMA planning committee, please contact Stephanie Brown at [email protected].
The next OFMA meeting is scheduled for May 7, 2020 at 1:30 pm.
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PAYROLL
There has been an increase in fraud attempts to change employees’ banking information, including multiple change requests coming from a single email address. This article is a reminder to be cognizant that this issue is still ongoing and to be aware when receiving requests to update payroll information. To avoid processing fraudulent information, it is necessary to verify any attempts for payroll changes.
Immediate steps to take:
- Agencies must pull all Payroll Change/Direct Deposit forms from their public websites and move the forms to an intranet or distribute by employee request only.
- Additionally, until otherwise notified, personnel who handle employee payroll direct deposit procedures should verify ALL requests for changes to direct deposit by personally contacting the employee by phone and verifying information such as employee ID number, employment start date, etc. Do not contact the employee by responding to an email requesting the change. Make direct contact and ensure you are actually communicating with the employee and not someone posing as the employee.
- We advise agencies to set a time delay when changing direct deposit information to decrease the chance of wage theft.
- Call the OMES Service Desk at 405-521-2444 or contact the appropriate IT or security support for your organization if you receive a suspicious phone call or email.
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Agencies are reminded that employees must submit a signed and dated Automatic Deposit Transmittal (HCM-73) form along with a voided check or official document from the financial institution showing the financial institution’s routing number and the employee’s account number. If both documents are not provided by the employee, the change should not be completed in the HCM system.
If it’s discovered that an employee’s banking information was submitted fraudulently, the employee should contact the HR/Payroll Department immediately along with the authorities. Agency IT personnel should be notified if any correspondence was by email.
If the individual is also established in the Vendor File, please contact Victoria Baker at [email protected] or 405-522-3093.
For helpful information and tips, please visit the Oklahoma Cyber Command website.
The National Automated Clearing House Association website also has general information on electronic payment security along with a document for protecting against fraud.
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State agencies, with international students on OPT or CPT, need to evaluate the individuals when they are hired to determine if they meet the qualifications of being FICA (Social Security and Medicare) exempt, or if they are subject to FICA taxes. Failure to perform this evaluation upon hiring results in taxes being withheld incorrectly.
IRC 3121(b)(19) allows an international person on a student visa to be exempt from FICA taxes for the first 5 years of physical presence in the US. This exemption also applies to any period in which the foreign student is in "practical training" allowed by USCIS.
Agencies must request information from international student employees about their visits to the US along with a copy of their Visa or Employment Authorization Card that shows authorized practical training. Once all the information has been received, a determination can be made whether the employee is subject to FICA or qualifies for the exemption.
Additionally, if the individual is in a nonresident status, special instructions from IRS Notice 1392 must be followed when completing the IRS Form W-4. The state does not accept IRS Form 8233 for processing of tax treaty benefits; all employees must complete Form W-4.
Please contact Lisa Raihl at 405-521-3258 or [email protected] for additional information.
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When entering a new employee’s name and Social Security Number or updating a current employee’s name, please verify the name and SSN being entered is exactly as it appears on the employee’s Social Security card. This is critical in reporting not only the W-2 wages at year end but the Affordable Care Act required health offer/coverage information. If the name and SSN does not match the Social Security Administration records, the employee’s wages may not be credited to their Social Security account. Additionally, if the name and SSN do not match, the employee may not be reported correctly for ACA purposes which could result in an IRS letter to the employee for possible lack of health coverage or an IRS letter to the agency for not offering coverage.
Beginning Sept. 8, 2007, the Social Security Administration updated the Social Security card. The number holder’s name will always be printed on two lines, with the last name printed directly below the first and middle names. If you receive a prior version from an employee and are unsure, please ask the employee to verify the first, middle, and last names.
Additionally, compound names do not need to be hyphenated. If an employee provides a name with an apparent compound or multiple last names, ask the employee which name is the beginning of the last name and which (if any) is the middle name.
Please update the employee’s name in the HCM system as instructed in the COR301 Part II manual beginning on page 42 (Navigation: Workforce Administration > Personal Information > Modify a Person). You may enter the name that the employee currently uses as their paycheck name so that their paycheck will continue to reflect the same name as in the past, but the employee record and W-2 information should match the Social Security card.
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If an incorrect Social Security Number has been entered into the HCM system, please contact the OMES Service Desk to have the number corrected. DO NOT create another employee in the system; this will only compound the issue. Employees with multiple EmplIDs must have data combined onto the one correct record, which requires many corrections and changes in the HCM system.
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When entering a new employee or dependent's name and Social Security Number or updating an individual's name, please verify the name and SSN being entered is exactly as it appears on the employee's Social Security card. Benefit coordinators should ensure employees are aware of this when providing dependent information. The health insurance plans offered by the OMES Employees Group Insurance Division must also submit reports to the IRS for the Affordable Care Act. Incorrect information will cause the insurance plans to receive errors when submitting health coverage information and could result in an IRS letter to the employee for possible lack of health coverage on an individual.
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Agencies must complete Form DER, Deceased Employee Reporting when an employee has passed away and payments are made after the date of death. The form is on the OMES website under CAR Forms. Complete all forms and send to OMES/CAR payroll, (attention Alicia Reel) as soon as possible after all payments have been processed. Submission of this form will ensure year-end reporting is correct.
Amounts paid in the year of death are reported on the W-2 for Social Security and Medicare only. The amount that would have been reported as federal and state wages is required to be reported on a 1099-MISC to the individual(s) who received the payment(s). Payments made in the year after the date of death are not subject to Social Security and Medicare and are not reported on the W-2. The amount that would have been reported as federal and state wages is reportable on a 1099-MISC to the individual(s) who received the payment(s).
NOTE: Please let recipients know that they will be issued a 1099-MISC at year-end and that the amounts will be reported to the IRS and OTC. This will assist them in tax planning.
Procedures for processing payroll after the death of an employee are available in the HCM how-to document titled "Payroll Processing for Death of an Employee".
NOTE: Remember to update the date of death on the HR Personal Data Record, update Job Data for a termination with the reason code ‘SO4’ (deceased), and terminate the employee’s direct deposit. Banks will return direct deposits for deceased customers. A return of an item will cause a delay to the individual receiving the payment.
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Public query ‘GO_PY_DED_RUNID_BY_CONFIRM_DT’ is available to assist with the reconciliation of agency 633xxx accounts. The query contains useful information such as deduction codes and descriptions for payee identification, the number of employees with a specific deduction, the total amount deducted for those employees and the general ledger 633xxx accounts to which the deductions were posted. The query is driven by payroll confirm dates, and system prompts allow the user to select a time frame for payrolls processed. Access to the query is included in the payroll processor role. Agency finance personnel should coordinate with payroll personnel to have this query run for them. For questions or more information, please contact Courtney Cowart at 405-522-4179 or [email protected]or Lisa Raihl at 405-521-3258 or [email protected].
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The recommended best practice is that a replacement payroll warrant should not be processed until the incorrect warrant has been reversed. Processing another payroll before the desired reversal is complete may cause balance issues for Social Security, Medicare and unemployment wages and taxes.
Additionally, completing the reversal first allows reversed time to either be processed through payroll again, or if needed, time can be corrected and then processed again. If time entered was invalid or incorrect and should not be pulled into payroll again, it should be corrected on the time sheet and processed through Time Administration.
If an agency chooses to run a payroll before the reversal is complete, the agency is responsible for verifying the Social Security, Medicare and unemployment wages and taxes are correct on the replacement payroll warrant. The amounts should be manually calculated as if the reversal had been completed and verified to the system-calculated amounts. If different, please contact the OMES Service Desk and an EBS team member will assist you.
The agency is also responsible for correcting the time sheet by removing the time that processed back through payroll when a replacement check was processed before a reversal was completed. When a payroll check that had time pulled in from Time and Labor is reversed, the reversal creates offset payable time with status “Reversed” and an additional row in payable time with “Estimated” status when the check reversal is confirmed. The “Estimated” payable time will be pulled into payroll again when payroll is processed if not removed, which may cause an overpayment.
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