Welcome back to our new blog series, “Payroll Prep: Beyond the Halfway Mark”! In Part Two, get ready to dive into the ultimate guide for mastering wage balancing. We’ll reveal three important aspects of balancing employee wages that will help you confidently conquer this crucial phase of preparing for year-end. Whether you’re a payroll pro or just starting out, this blog is your ticket to success. Let’s embark on this exciting journey together!
Balance Employees’ W-2
To ensure accuracy, carefully review all year-to-date employee information and tax settings regularly instead of waiting until year-end. This proactive approach prevents last-minute corrections in December.
Navigate to Team > Payroll > Forms > W2
- On the W-2 Form screen, click the ellipses and select Manage Views.
- On the Manage Views screen, there are 6 reports for each year to help you balance. To run the report(s), click on the three dots next to the report, then click Run, or click on the report name in the Report View column.
- Run each listed report by clicking on the flag icon next to each report. These audit reports may reveal employees with questionable data conditions or discrepancies that must be investigated and corrected. If the report shows "No Results," there are no discrepancies for that specific report. For reports with data, export and save them.
- Correct differences and verify all employee issues are fixed by running the audit report.
For additional information on how to research and correct any discrepancies, read the How to Audit/Balance Employees’ W2 for Totals and Accuracy in UKG Ready article.
Balance Subject Wages
Confirming the accuracy of employee wages is integral to guaranteeing precise tax reporting. This process encompasses validating federal, state, and local taxes to ensure compliance with tax laws, ultimately minimizing the risk of penalties and fines. Running a Data Export to compare the new and previous data can help show variances.
Navigate to Company Settings > System Data Export > Data Export
- Create a New Data Export
- Select the Payroll Summary By Employee Data Export
- Change the Default Settings date to the proper dates
- Run the Data Export
For additional details and examples, please read the How to Balance Subject Wages article.
Balance Tax Wage Details
Balancing employee tax wage details is a crucial aspect of year-end activities. Proper tax wage balancing ensures that tax forms, such as W-2s and 941s for employers, are correct, ultimately preventing discrepancies that can lead to penalties or audits. As a Payroll Administrator, it's important for employees to trust that their data is accurate for their personal tax filings. At UKG, we understand the significance of this responsibility and appreciate your dedication to this important task. Please ensure you follow this process as often as possible to proactively address any issues that may arise.
Navigate to Team > Payroll > Reports > Taxes > Tax Wage Details > Tax Wage Details
- Adjust the filters to include the full year and export your report
- Navigate to Team > Payroll > Forms > W2
- Pull in necessary columns
- Compare the Tax Wage Details report and the W-2 report to confirm that the totals match
- If variances are found, start by recalculating your W-2s: Navigate to Team > Payroll > Quarter/Year End Process > Company Tax Years > select EIN under applicable tax year > click Recalculate W2/1099s
For more insight on the above process, please visit the How to Balance Tax Wage Details to W2s in UKG Ready article.
Bonus tip: You can also use the Guided Analysis for Tax Wage Details process to help save time manually finding variances.
Make sure to keep exploring and getting to know your available resources!
As always, we want to make sure you are aware of your resources before diving into the Quarter and Year-End tasks:
UKG Ready® Payroll Services customers
Be sure to join the UKG Payroll Services (UKGPS) group in the UKG Community™. Additionally, the UKG Payroll Services Resource Center should be added to your favorites. There, you can find quarter and year-end guides, FAQs, and a recording of the Quarter-End deep dive webinar to help you kick off your quarter and year-end processes.
UKG Ready non-Payroll Services customers
Check out the Year-End Resources page in the Community, and don’t forget to join the UKG Ready - Payroll and Tax discussion group to lean on your fellow payroll experts and customers just like you.
We recommend checking these pages weekly as they are regularly updated with useful job aids and resources.
As we wrap up our second installment in the “Payroll Prep: Beyond the Halfway Mark” series, it’s vital to reflect on our strategies for balancing employee wages while staying proactive in our planning. Ensuring accurate W-2 data throughout the year not only makes your year-end easier but also helps prevent costly errors, ensures compliance with tax regulations, and provides employees with timely and accurate information. This proactive approach can save time and reduce stress for both employers and employees.
Keep an eye out for our next installment of the three-part "Payroll Prep: Beyond the Halfway Mark" series. The upcoming piece will cover the Year-End forms process and highlight important deadlines. Remember to use the UKG Community for all Quarter and Year-End resources. Let’s collaborate to conquer the challenges of year-end and reach the path to success.