Payroll – Employees (U.S.)

Year-End Preparation

The following items can be done before year-end processing.

• Update Tax Tables:

  Tax table records are controlled by an effective date. You can enter updates for new rates at any time; however, make sure the effective date matches the date when the tax rate takes effect, not the date you make the entry. Use the following screens to verify the information.

  • Federal Retirement & Unemployment Insurance – Make sure rates and limits for FICA and FUTA are set correctly. Go to Employees > Setup > Taxes & Insurance > Federal Retirement & Unemployment Insurance (Rates tab).
  • Payroll Tax Authority – Make sure that rates and limits for SUTA, SDI, and SUI are set correctly. Go to Employees > Setup > Taxes & Insurance > Payroll Tax Authority (State Taxes tab).
  • Income Tax Table – Make sure that federal, state, and local income tax rates are correct. Go to Employees > Setup > Taxes & Insurance > Income Tax Table (all tabs).
    Note: Tax table information is available on the Trimble Support Center. Tax tables are updated as information becomes available from each tax authority. Viewpoint recommends that you subscribe to the tax tables for the states relevant to your organization so that you are notified when the information changes.
• Verify Workers' Compensation Policy:

  Verify that your workers' compensation policy is up-to-date. Review the expiration date and, if needed, add a new policy for the new year.

• Print Forms W-2 Summary Report:

  The report provides information on the number of Forms W-2 needed – in total and for each copy form. You can run this report at any time to assist in determining the number of Forms W-2 that you need.

  1. Select Employees > Quarter and Year End > Print Forms W-2 Summary Report.
  2. Run the report in ProContractor, or select Print/eFile with Aatrix. Refer to the Paper and Electronic Filing Options section of the Year-End Checklist (U.S.) for details.

  For more information, see Print Forms W-2 Summary Report screen (U.S.).

• Order your Forms W-2 and 1095-C:

  To order forms, visit www.viewpointforms.com or call (800) 825-8649. To determine whether to order pre-printed or blank forms, refer to the Viewpoint Forms section of the Year-End Checklist (U.S.) for details.

  Note: If you order your Forms 1095-C from www.viewpointforms.com, the Forms 1095-C may have a perforation, which does not affect printing. Each Form 1095-C is still one whole page.
• Review Payroll Setup:

  Make sure the information necessary for processing Forms W-2 is accurate. Use the following screens to verify the information:

  • Employee – Verify name, address, Social Security Number, and federal and state withholding information for all employees. In addition, review the Form W-2 settings (Retirement Plan, Statutory Employee, and Third-Party Sick Pay). Go to Employees > Setup > View Employee Setups (Employees view). You can customize this view and save it for use next year. If you need to modify an employee, double-click on the employee in the view to open the Employee screen for that employee.
  • Payroll Tax Authority – For each state that requires SDI/SUI, make sure that the Print SDI/SUI on W-2 field and the Box 14 fields are set correctly. Go to Employees > Setup > Taxes & Insurance > Payroll Tax Authority (State Taxes tab).
    For Ohio local payroll tax authorities, make sure that the Local Abbreviation value on the General tab is as follows:

    • The first 4 characters contain the local district name (or abbreviation).
    • The second 4 characters contain the school district code.
  • Deductions – If a deduction needs to appear on the Form W-2, make sure that the fields in the W-2 section are set correctly. Go to Employees > Setup > View Employee Setups (Deductions-General view). You can customize this view and save it for use next year.
  • Fringe Benefits – If a fringe needs to appear on the Form W-2, make sure the fields in the W-2 section are set correctly. Go to Employees > Setup > View Employee Setups (Fringe Benefits-General view). You can customize this view and save it for use next year.
    Tip: You can use other views to review additional payroll setup information, such as the All Deduction-Fringe-Additional Pay Setup view which shows where deductions, fringe benefits, and additional pays are applied. To generate other views, go to Employees > Setup > View Employee Setups and Employees > Reports > View Payroll Activity.

At Year-End

• Run the final payroll cycle for the year, including bonuses, layoffs, and taxable fringe benefits.
• Run all normal quarterly processing functions.
• Enter any necessary tax table updates, if not yet completed.
• Enter any necessary employee changes, including taxes, exemptions, fringes, deductions, and so on. Any changes made to employee files need to be verified on Forms W-2.

At this point, you are ready to begin processing payroll for the next year.

Processing Forms W-2

Complete Form W-3

• Reprint Forms W-2 Summary Report:

  Re-run the report to view the totals of W-2 information after you have finished making edits to Forms W-2. Go to Employees > Quarter and Year End > Print Forms W-2 Summary Report.

• Manually Complete Form W-3:

  Use the information from the Forms W-2 Summary Report to manually complete your Form W-3.

Complete Form 1094-C and Forms 1095-C

• Print Reports:
  Various reports can assist in completing Forms 1094-C and 1095-C. Print the following reports as needed.

  • Payroll Hours and Earnings History – This report provides historical payroll information. Go to Employees > Reports > Payroll Hours and Earnings History.
  • View Employee Setups - Employee-Employment Status view – Use this screen to review employee status data including start and end dates. Go to Employees > Setup > View Employee Setups.
• Create Form 1094-C:

  Go to Employees > Quarter and Year End > Edit Form 1094-C. You must start Form 1094-C before you can create Forms 1095-C, but you cannot complete Form 1094-C until you have completed Forms 1095-C. Viewpoint recommends that you confirm the address, EIN, and contact information on Form 1094-C and save the form.

• Create Forms 1095-C:

  Go to Employees > Quarter and Year End > Edit Forms 1095-C to enter coverage information for each employee.

• Complete Form 1094-C:

  Once you have completed Forms 1095-C for all employees, you can complete Form 1094-C. Go to Employees > Quarter and Year End > Edit Form 1094-C.

• Print Forms 1095-C for each employee:
  1. Select Employees > Quarter and Year End > Print Forms 1095-C.
  2. Print final forms in ProContractor, or select an e-filing option. Refer to the Paper and Electronic Filing Options section above for details. When you print forms 1095-C, ProContractor automatically attaches a PDF of the form to the associated Employee record in a binder item.
  Note: If you select to preview the forms 1095-C, ProContractor opens up to 25 forms in a single PDF file.

  When you select to print forms 1095-C, ProContractor combines the individual forms into PDF documents to be sent to the printer. By default, 50 documents are included in a single PDF. This means if you print 300 forms, you will see 6 PDF documents in the print queue. If needed, you can change the number of documents per PDF on the Print Forms 1095-C screen.

  Viewpoint recommends including 50 or fewer documents per PDF to prevent out-of-memory errors. If you receive such an error, try the following:

  • Reduce the number of documents per PDF on the Print Forms 1095-C screen.
  • If you have 100 or more employees, select to print the forms for a smaller range of employees.
• Print Form 1094-C:
  1. Select Employees > Quarter and Year End > Print Form 1094-C.
  2. Print final forms in ProContractor, or select an e-filing option.
• Submit Forms 1094-C and 1095-C electronically (if required):

  You will need to enroll in an e-filing service. See the Paper and Electronic Filing Options section of the Year-End Checklist (U.S.) for details.

  • If you are using Aatrix, select Employees > Quarter and Year End > Aatrix Report Filing.
  • If you are using Greenshades, select Employees > Quarter and Year End > Greenshades Electronic Filing.
  Note: The format of Forms 1095-C do not align with windowed envelopes. Viewpoint recommends sending the employee copy of Form 1095-C in the same envelope with the employee copy of Form W-2.