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The
go-live date for the PeopleSoft financials upgrade is tentatively planned for mid- to
late-November. Because of the
integration between financials and HCM, the timing of payroll processing will
be critical. With the upgrade and
holidays occurring in November, it is imperative that payrolls processed for
all paydates in November be processed timely and submitted in accordance with
the existing policies. Agencies cannot rely
on any extension of that due date. The five
business days prior to the payday deadline should be considered the"drop dead"
date. The deadline for submission for
the Friday, Nov. 14 payday is 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6. The deadline for submission for the Friday,
Dec. 5 payday is 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26. Other November paydates will follow the
normal schedule. Please plan now and make
sure that employees know how critical it is to get their time entered early and
payrolls processed timely.
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STATE COMPTROLLER
The comment period for the Statewide Accounting Manual has expired and the latest revisions will be posted to the DCAR website in the next few days. We appreciate your comments. There were some corrections and minor wording changes. The following changes were made to add clarification or change policy (additions are underlined):
30.20.01 Point of Emphasis: No money shall ever be disbursed from any Agency Clearing Account class funding, except for refund of erroneous or excessive collections, credits and payment of sales tax to the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC), and manual disbursement of EFT returns.
40.10.04 State Agency Acquisition Limits
State agencies shall make open market acquisitions not exceeding $5000.00 that are fair and reasonable unless an agency’s acquisition level has been reduced below $5,000.00 by the Central Purchasing Division…
50.10.05C(3)(d) – Added contact information for obtaining information regarding the OMES Human Capital Management Model Project.
50.30.08 A. (last paragraph) Purchases and charges of a personal nature, such as telephone calls to family or friends, reading materials, over-the-counter medicines, non-business use transportation, etc., are included in the per diem (50.30.05) and are not allowable business reimbursement expenses.
60.10.01 and 60.10.02
The due date for Forms 11 and 11A reconciliations was changed from the 10th to the 20th of the month.
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PAYROLL
While performing data cleanup related to the 9.2 upgrade of PeopleSoft, OMES has been monitoring the deposit entries that have not been finished. Additionally, we have received several helpdesk cases related to unfinished deposits.
It is very important for users to timely complete and budget check each deposit. If a deposit is not in a valid budget checking status, OST will not receive the deposit information and will not be able to sweep the appropriate remote banks. If funds remain in remote banks, OST is unable to invest the money resulting in the loss of interest revenue to the State. In addition, the entry will not post to the General Ledger and be reflected in your cash balances.
If the agency does not finish a deposit because it is incorrect or unneeded, the agency must delete the entry before rekeying a new deposit. If you are unable to delete the Deposit, please file a helpdesk case.
OMES will be monitoring deposits and will delete unfinished Batch 99 deposits monthly.
Due to the volume of Batch 7 and 61 Deposits that OST needs to approve on a daily basis, it is imperative that the expected date be accurate. OST’s current business process related to approval of Batch 7 and 61 involves looking at the money received on or around the expected date of the Deposit. All Batch 7 and 61 Deposits with an Accounting Date older than one month will be deleted by OMES if the amount is not on OST’s Unclaimed Deposits list. If the money is still anticipated, a new deposit will need to be entered once the money is received.
If an older Batch 7 or 61 Deposit needs to be claimed, please enter a new deposit and notify Maude Harris, Katie Keller and June Epps by email and include the Deposit ID, amount and expected date.
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The following email address should be used for submitting payroll documents to Transaction Processing for payment of payrolls. This should also be used for general correspondence on issues involving the submission of payrolls. This is a group email that allows several Transaction Processing staff to receive the email notice. payrolltransprocess@omes.ok.gov
Original payroll documents and legible faxes are still allowed in lieu of emailing. If faxing, payroll documents should be transmitted to (405) 521-3383. The agency must verify the transmission was successful by the confirmation on the agency’s fax machine. If originals are used, send to the State Capitol attention: OMES Transaction Processing, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 107, Oklahoma City, OK 73105-4801.
OMES will initiate the payroll claim processing procedure upon receipt of the documents.
As a reminder, agencies will submit the following payroll documents to OMES Transaction Processing:
- The final Budget Check Report
- The final Claim Document – signed
- The CA GL Interface Trace File
Agencies that interface payroll (higher education) will submit the Validate PFT Funding Report if there is a Budget Deficit on the Final Budget Check Report.
All documents must be received five business days prior to the actual pay date to ensure adequate time for audit and processing. Once OMES receives the documents, the reports will be reviewed and the payroll will be released to be picked up by a process that sends the checks and direct deposits to the Office of State Treasurer (OST) for further processing.
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Authorized payments of employee moving expenses under Title 74 O.S. § 500.51 et seq, either directly or indirectly to an employee, may be taxable and/or reportable on the employee’s W-2. Payments may be for qualified or nonqualified moving expense reimbursements and require close review to ensure proper reporting is completed.
Qualified moving expenses paid or reimbursed by an employer can be treated as an excludible fringe benefit to the employee. The exclusion only applies to the reimbursement of moving expenses that the employee could deduct if he or she had paid or incurred them without reimbursement. Please refer to IRS Publication 15-B, Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits, and IRS Publication 521, Moving Expenses, for additional information. Qualified moving expense reimbursements paid directly to the employee are reported on Form W-2 only in box 12 with code “P”. Qualified moving expenses paid by an employer directly to a third party on behalf of an employee (i.e. moving company) are not reportable on Form W-2.
Nonqualified moving expense reimbursements, paid directly to an employee or indirectly on behalf of an employee, are taxable to the employee and are included on Form W-2 in boxes 1, 3, 5, and 16 with the applicable taxes withheld and reported. No box 12 reporting is required for nonqualified moving expense reimbursements.
A common error occurs when employee moving expenses are paid through accounts payable without notifying agency payroll personnel. Agency business practices must ensure communication between the different departments. Good communication and procedures will allow for the correct reporting of all moving expense amounts as required by the IRS. When moving expenses are paid through accounts payable, please forward all relevant information to agency payroll personnel for inclusion on the employee’s W-2 at year end as needed. Payroll personnel will need to review the information, and if taxable to the employee, process through payroll so that taxes are calculated and withheld and the amounts are reported on the W-2.
Process the taxable amount through payroll using the TRC Code of “MOVE,” which will show as earnings code “MOV.” The amount will be included as taxable income and will be taxed on the paycheck.
Amounts determined only to be reportable on the employee’s W-2 in box 12, will need to be forwarded to OMES, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 122, Oklahoma City, OK 73105-4801, Attn: Lisa Raihl or Jean Hayes. Please include in the memo, the employee name, employee ID number, and amount to be included on the W-2 in box 12 with code “P”.
For questions or more information, please contact Lisa Raihl at (405) 521-3258 or lisa.raihl@omes.ok.gov, or Jean Hayes at (405) 522-6300 or jean.hayes@omes.ok.gov.
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Title 47 O.S. § 156.1, as amended, while forbidding the personal use of state-owned motor vehicles, permits the use of the vehicles for the commuting of designated employees.
The personal use of an employer-provided vehicle to commute constitutes a noncash taxable benefit to the employee even when the use of the vehicle is for the benefit of the employer. Excepted are qualified nonpersonal-use vehicles (any vehicle not likely to be used more than minimally for personal use because of its design). Please refer to IRS Publication 15-B, Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits, for a list of vehicles generally included as qualified nonpersonal-use vehicles.
The employee can 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 valuation method is dependent on the employee status. Control employees (elected officials or employees whose compensation is at least as great as a Federal government employee at Executive Level V - for 2013; $147,200) cannot use the commuting valuation rule ($1.50 rule). All other employees can have the value computed using the Automobile Lease Valuation Rule, the Vehicle Cents-Per-Mile Rule, or the Commuting Rule ($1.50 rule) subject to the requirements of each rule.
All valuation methods are included in IRS Publication 15-B, Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits. The most common method is the Commuting Rule ($1.50 rule) for valuing employee use of an employer-provided vehicle. The employer must require the employee to use the vehicle for a business purpose; it cannot be voluntary on the employee's part. Personal use for commuting can be valued at $1.50 each way between home and work. If more than one employee commutes in the vehicle, each rider has imputed taxable income. The taxable amount, if not paid by the employee, must be processed through payroll so that taxes are calculated and withheld and the amounts are reported on the W-2.
Process the taxable amount through payroll using the TRC Code of “CAR,” which will show as earnings code “CAR.” The amount will be included as taxable income and will be taxed on the paycheck.
We highly recommend the vehicle usage be included in the employee’s payroll each pay period (for the previous pay period, as needed). This will preclude a large sum being included in the employee’s last pay of the calendar year which would result 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 questions, please contact Lisa Raihl at (405) 521-3258, lisa.raihl@omes.ok.gov or Jean Hayes at (405) 522-6300, jean.hayes@omes.ok.gov.
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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 OSF Form PWC.
Warrants issued by the State Treasurer which, for any cause, remain outstanding or unpaid for a period of ninety (90) days shall be revoked and canceled under the provisions of Title 62 O.S. § 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.
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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 the OMES Form 20R and send to 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. (Title 62 O.S. § 34.80.) Notification should include the warrant number, warrant date, and must be signed by an agency approving authority. Please send notification to 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 Lisa Raihl at (405) 521-3258, lisa.raihl@omes.ok.gov or Jean Hayes at (405) 522-6300, jean.hayes@omes.ok.gov.
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If an agency employs an individual that works in a state other than Oklahoma, please verify the setup of the employee in the HCM system on the State Tax Data tab (Payroll for North America > Employee Pay Data USA > Tax Information > Update Employee Tax Data). The State and UI Jurisdiction should be set up for the state where the employee actually performs duties. Upon processing of payroll, please review the paycheck to verify the state withholding and unemployment tax classes are set up as you expected. For assistance, please contact the OMES HelpDesk and an EBS Payroll Team member will be assigned to assist you.
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ACCOUNTING
CAFR
 GAAP conversion form reporting for FY 2014 is underway. As a result of the exciting changes brought by the Encore project there have been upgrades to GAAP reporting forms. The new forms and instructions can be found on the website. Please be sure to download and use the new forms for your FY 2014 filings.
Please keep a copy of the completed forms for your records. Form upgrades should not affect procedures used for preparing the GAAP forms. Your agency's reviewer will submit the new forms as an attachment via e-mail in Excel format to your financial reporting analyst. The e-mail submission will be considered the reviewer’s electronic approval signature. Please contact your financial reporting analyst with any questions.
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VENDOR MAINTENANCE
In an effort to ensure accurate payment processes, OMES Vendor Management will initiate a mass vendor inactivation effective Sept. 8, 2014. All Supplier vendors who have not received payments or activity since Jan. 1, 2011, will be inactivated in the OMES 00000 SETID vendor file. Additionally, employee vendor files who are not active in the HCM employee vendor file and have not received payments since Dec. 31, 2013, will also be inactivated.
Please limit reactivation requests to vendors with current payment or purchasing activity needs. To ensure timely and accurate processing of payments, stat cancels and contracts please allow ample time for review and processing of reactivation and banking requests. Please contact Vicky Baker at Victoria.Baker@omes.ok.gov if you have questions or concerns.
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Please contact Vendor Maintenance directly at vendor.form@omes.ok.gov with all requests for reactivation. To reactivate vendors that are in an inactive status, the state must have proper documentation on file to validate the information received historically. Please submit a new Vendor Payee Form verifying name, tax id number (social security number or federal employer identification number), address, EMAIL and contact information. To ensure IRS Substitute W-9 reporting requirements are met, vendor must identify business or individual status/type and sign page two of the document. Completed forms should be emailed to vendor.form@omes.ok.gov with explanation of reactivation request. Vendor Maintenance will first review account history and advise reason for inactivation as well as eligibility for activation.
Inactive vendors are also required to add new banking information for Electronic Funds Transfer payment, unless an Exemption Request has been filed and approved with the Office of State Treasurer.
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Vendor EFT Bank information
- Once the email address has been updated on the vendor record, vendors will receive a follow-up email with an attached Vendor EFT Bank Change form and instructions to register their EFT banking information.
- The email will contain an attached EFT Bank Change Form, PIN Number and PeopleSoft Vendor ID.
- Vendor should be instructed of expected email and to follow instructions to update their EFT banking information via the Vendor Registration portal.
- If email is not received, PIN Numbers can also be provided by OMES Vendor Management staff. Please email all PIN requests to vendor.eft@omes.ok.gov.
EFT Banking cannot be authorized until the EFT Bank Change form has been received and processed. The form should be completed by the authorized individual(s) for the vendors financial activity, as well as the vendor's financial institution. The financial institution should fax or mail completed form to the Office of State Treasurer for processing using the attached instructions. Please do not email EFT Bank Change forms. Please allow 5-7 business days for processing.
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ENTERPRISE BUSINESS SERVICES (EBS)
 The EBS Upgrade Team and their agency partners are working in the new test environment "unit testing" or "systems testing". They are finally getting a look at how 9.2 behaves with unique enhancements and test data! This means the project has reached another milestone and has moved solidly into the Building Phase. Follow along on the Milestone Map. The goal of unit testing is to provide you, the user, with the cleanest financials work environment possible. As previously mentioned, this phase of the project is the first time the EBS Upgrade Team and partners get a chance to see 9.2 work with your data.
They are running numerous test scenarios to make sure that the data passes from place to place, screen to screen, and module to module without a misstep.
When they find a misstep -- it is called a bug. Finding and exterminating these bugs is priority. But, the team can't do it alone -- they will be consulting agency users and partners for input on best practices to get rid of some of the bugs. Upgraded functionality in the software will mean that some of the data may not end up where it is supposed to -- and they will be looking for your expertise on how to best handle it to meet your needs.
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Any queries -- public or private -- created, modified, copied, etc., after Aug. 29, 2014, WILL NOT be available in the new 9.2 version when it goes live.
What You Can Do To Prepare:
- Mark your calendar NOW! "Aug. 29 - Query Freeze".
- Do NOT build, modify, or copy queries after Aug. 29.
- Understand that any queries you build, modify, copy, or receive after Aug. 29 will not be available once we Go-Live.
- For Query Managers, if you must build, edit, or copy, decide how you plan to handle those queries after Aug. 29.
- Notify people you regularly assist with new queries -- let them know how you, as a Query Manager, plan to handle your queries after Aug. 29.
- Do not wait until Aug. 29 to develop a plan or to execute a plan.
- If you MUST build, modify, copy, or receive a query after Aug. 29, record the information about it: the name, data included, where it came from, is it public or private?
Don't forget! Queries you provide to others after Aug. 29 will have to be rebuilt and tested thoroughly by you, as the Query Manager, once we are live. Because private queries, are just that -- private -- EBS is limited in what it can do to assist individual users with private queries.
REMEMBER: Public Queries that exist prior to Aug. 29 will be carried over into the upgraded environment, so keep notes on modifications and distribution you may do after Aug. 29.
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