Top Story
 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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PAYROLL
House Bill 1107, of the 1st session of the 54th Legislature, 2013,
mandated the payment of the flexible benefit allowance for employees on
biweekly payroll to be credited annually over 24 pay periods. In addition,
benefit deductions for employees on biweekly payroll will now occur over the
same 24 pay periods.
As previously announced by the OMES Human Capital Management Group, this
transition will be effective with the first paycheck of 2015 (pay date of Jan.
9, 2015). This will only affect state agencies; institutions of Higher
Education are not affected. This only
affects employees paid on a biweekly basis (26 pay periods). The transition
only includes benefit deductions for health, vision, dental, life options,
disability, health savings accounts, and flexible spending accounts (health
care and dependent care).
Other deductions such as retirement, garnishments, child support, taxes,
or voluntary payroll deductions (i.e.: banks, employee associations, college
savings plan) will not be affected.
Two months during the year, there will be a third paycheck with no
benefit allowance and no benefit deductions. The third paycheck in these
‘three-payday months’ may be larger or smaller than the previous two checks
that month. Employees may also see a difference in the amount of taxes withheld
for Social Security, Medicare, federal and state thereby increasing or
decreasing the amount of net pay.
To see the full notification, please visit the website.
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In planning your work
for October, it is important to remember that Columbus Day is Monday Oct. 13.
Although not a state holiday, Columbus Day is a federal/bank holiday. As a
reminder, all payroll documents must be received five business (5) days prior
to the actual pay date to ensure adequate time for audit and processing.
Adherence to this policy will ensure payrolls are processed to pay timely.
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Employee deferrals and
employer contributions must be remitted to OPERS in a timely manner to ensure
participant amounts are posted and transferred to the selected investment
options within 10 business days of the payday, end of payroll period, or process
date, whichever is later.
OMES processes payments
for SoonerSave amounts on confirmed payrolls on a weekly basis. This payment
schedule far exceeds the requirements set forth in the plan and IRS rules. On
many occasions contributions are posted to employee accounts on or before the
actual pay date. Occasionally, and due to the payroll processing schedule of
agencies, payments may post after the actual pay date.
Please remind employees
that payments not showing on a quarterly statement may be due to the later
processing of payroll and will show in the next quarterly statement. Employees
are also encouraged to use the SoonerSave website to review and receive up to
date information on their account. The following link for SoonerSave can be
found at the OPERS website or you may go directly to the SoonerSave
website.
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The OMES Form DER,
Deceased Employee Reporting, is required to be completed by agencies when an
employee dies and payments are made after the date of death. The form is on the
OMES website under DCAR Forms. Once completed, please send the form to OMES/DCAR
payroll, attention Lisa Raihl or Jean Hayes. Please complete and submit the
form after the employee payments have processed so that year-end reporting will
be correct.
For procedures on
processing payroll after the death of employee, the HCM how-to document titled
‘Payroll Processing for Death of an Employee’ is on the CORE website under
HCM’s Module News for ‘How-to Documents’.
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Giving gifts to
employees is restricted and should only be given as part of a formal employee
recognition program. See 74 O.S. § 4121 and 4122.
Furthermore, any gift cards, certificates, and coupons given to employees are
to be included in the employee’s taxable income.
These items are
considered by the Internal Revenue Service to be cash or a cash equivalent and
do not meet the requirements to be excludable as a de minimis fringe benefit.
Even when an employer
provides gift cards, certificates, or coupons to purchase a turkey, ham, or
other nominal value property, these are considered wages and are subject to
income and employment taxes. This is true even when the card restricts the
items purchased, the time to use the coupon, and any unused portion is
forfeited. Cash equivalents do not meet the de minimis fringe benefit
requirements.
Process the taxable
amount through payroll using the gift card amount using the TRC Code of “GIFT,”
which will show as earnings code “GFT.” The amount will be included as taxable
income and will be taxed on the paycheck.
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When
submitting the OMES Form 94P, Overpayment Refund Request, please do not provide
copies of personal checks. The form
allows the agency to enter the amount paid back which indicates to OMES that
the overpayment has indeed been paid.
Additional back up data is not required.
The
form requires the State EmplID be entered.
This has been changed for the privacy and security of the employee.
Please do not submit with the social security number or any other number.
Please
complete and submit the Form 94P as soon as the employee has paid back the
overpayment to the agency. Timely
submission helps ensure full recovery of OPERS/OLERS 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 and result in a loss to the agency. In addition,
retirement calculations may be incorrect if the overpayment is not corrected
timely.
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ACCOUNTING
OMES
will not consider credit card convenience fees to be part of the gross fees
charged by state boards for purposes of calculating the 10% payment to the
General Revenue Fund if the convenience fee is entirely a pass-through charge
by the board and fully remitted to the third party credit card establishment.
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Express Deposits is a
functionality that may be used by agencies that have implemented the
Accounts Receivable and Billing modules.
Agencies utilizing Express
Deposits should discontinue the use of Express Deposits for any funds being
claimed through Batch 7 or 61. Approvals by OST do not function properly
with this type of deposit. If the agency is claiming funds using Batch 7
or 61, they must use Regular Deposits.
Edits are being activated in the
system to prohibit the selection of these batch codes.
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When a warrant is lost or destroyed and you need it
reissued (prior to statutory cancelation), you must follow these steps by
submitting the OST Stop Payment and Hard
Cancel Form to request a stop payment on the lost or destroyed warrant. This
is also the process when a miscellaneous warrant is issued in error and it
qualifies as a replacement by OMES against the original voucher record. In this case the OST Stop Payment and Hard Cancel Form should be submitted to
request a hard cancel of the warrant.
NOTE: Such replacements by OMES (whether lost,
destroyed or issued in error), are only done through this process for warrants
on the OST bank accounts 7925467 (most operating funds–i.e., funds 19100,
21000, 40500, etc.), 77XXAGY–example 7 Fund# 701 Agency#
090 (all 700 funds–i.e., 70100, 71000, etc.) and 8905467 (lost or destroyed payroll warrants being reissued).
Both miscellaneous and payroll warrants when lost
or destroyed should have a stop payment processed (unless the destroyed warrant
is legible enough to identify). The hard cancel will apply only to
miscellaneous warrants.
- If replacement of a lost or destroyed warrant is
requested, Section 2, Part B and Part C of the form must be completed. NOTE: Lost
or destroyed payroll warrants are replaced as a miscellaneous warrant, not as a
payroll.
- If an authorized replacement of a hard canceled warrant
is requested, Section 2, Part A and Part C of the form must be completed.
The
vendor ID used in Part C will depend
on whether the warrant was issued by a higher education agency or a non-higher
education agency since most colleges and universities are under a separate
vendor file (HECLM). Normally the
vendor ID will remain the same as that under which the voucher was processed. However, since lost or destroyed payroll
warrants are replaced as miscellaneous warrants from the special OMES Agency
46700, the employee must be setup with a vendor ID under the State Vendor File. This also applies to higher education
employees. If an employee does not
already have a vendor ID record in the State
Vendor File, the agency must submit an OMES
Form Add/Changes for Employees/ Board Members along with the OST Stop Payment and Hard Cancel Form. A good search tool to see if an employee
exists with a state vendor ID is the PeopleSoft public query OSF_VENDOR_CHECK and
only the employee’s SSN number is required along with the SetID 00000. If the
vendor ID is found and the proper Location exists for the replacement, please
put the State Vendor File vendor
ID # and Location # in the fields provided in Part C of the form.
This
search tool is also good if searching for vendors in the vendor file by using
the vendor’s TIN (FEI or SSN) number along with the SetID 00000,
or SetID HECLM if looking in the higher education vendor file.
The agency will need to send to the OST:
- Appropriately completed OST
Stop Payment and Hard Cancel Form (include warrant to be canceled for Hard
Cancels)
-
An OMES Vendor/Payee Form
or OMES Form Add/Changes for
Employees/ Board Members (as applicable)
Stop
payments:
- OST
will process the stop payment and send the OST
Stop Payment and Hard Cancel Form to OMES Transaction Processing along with
the OMES Vendor/Payee Form or OMES Form Add/Changes for Employees/ Board
Members if it was sent in with their form (if necessary).
-
If the vendor ID
record must be created, Transaction Processing will then send the vendor form
to Vendor Maintenance to have a vendor ID created. If the vendor ID record
already exists for the payee, the replacement warrant will be processed upon
request.
-
After a vendor
ID is created, Transaction Processing will be notified by Vendor Maintenance
and the replacement warrant will be processed.
Hard
cancels:
-
OST will
process the hard cancel and send the OST
Stop Payment and Hard Cancel Form to OMES Transaction Processing along with
the OMES Vendor/Payee Form if it was sent in with their form (if necessary).
- The only time
an OMES Vendor/Payee Form would be
necessary for reissuing a hard cancel is if the voucher was a multiple payee
voucher and the correct vendor was not in the vendor file.
-
The
cancellation step will occur and if an approved reissue condition
exists** (see below), Transaction
Processing will send the vendor form to Vendor Maintenance to have a vendor ID
created.
-
After a vendor ID is created, Transaction
Processing will be notified by Vendor Maintenance and the replacement warrant
will be processed. If the vendor ID record already exists for the payee, the
replacement warrant will be processed upon request.
** Erroneous
warrants to be reissued when correcting the amount /payee as follows:
-
The warrant was paid to the correct payee but to
the incorrect location and address.
- The warrant was paid to the correct payee but for
the incorrect amount.
- The warrant is paid to the incorrect payee but the
multiple vendor ID #0000001104 is the vendor ID on the Invoice Information page
of the voucher.
-
The warrant should have been assigned to a payee
and the supporting documentation for the assignment was attached to the
original voucher (needs to be noted on this form), otherwise the agency must
process a new voucher with the proper documentation.
NOTE:
If the replacement does not qualify under one of the above conditions, OMES
will notify the agency that a replacement will not be made. The warrant
will be canceled, but the agency must issue a new voucher.
If you should have questions concerning these
procedures, please contact Jeannette Pascher at (405) 521-6187 or jeannette.pascher@omes.ok.gov.
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When replacing statutory canceled
warrants using the Canceled by Statute
Replacement Request (OMES Form 20R), we will now require a properly
completed OMES Vendor/Payee Form to
be submitted with the OMES Form 20R.
Such replacements are issued from the special OMES Agency 46700 because
the funds are held in the state ‘Canceled Warrant Fund’. Since the original warrants were issued from
the HECLM vendor file, we must get the vendor set up in the State Vendor File before a replacement
can be issued.
However, it’s possible the vendor
form may be avoided since some higher education vendors already exist in the State Vendor File. Agencies can search the State Vendor File to determine if the vendor/payee is already in
the state file. A good search tool is the PeopleSoft public query OSF_VENDOR_CHECK and only the payee’s TIN (FEI or SSN) number is required along
with the SetID 00000. If the vendor is found and the proper Location exists for
the replacement payment, please note the State Vendor File vendor ID number and Location on
the top of the 20R form. This will allow us to start the replacement process
without waiting for the vendor to be setup in the state file.
This new procedure requiring the OMES Vendor/Payee Form
to be attached to the OMES Form 20R is effective immediately.
If you should have questions concerning these
procedures, please contact Steve Wilson at (405) 521-4679 or steve.wilson@omes.ok.gov.
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We have found where some agencies are still paying Miscellaneous
Disbursements of Payroll Withholdings using only a regular voucher form (15A Claim
Jacket Voucher Form). However, the OMES Form 15A must be accompanied
by the OMES Form 3, Notarized Claim
Voucher And Disbursements of Payroll Withholdings. Because all vouchers
submitted for payment must include an invoice (62 O.S. § 34.65), the
OMES Form 3 serves as an invoice and must be attached with every payroll
withholding payment. The Form 3 should include the vendor, payroll
withholding amount, and pay run ID for the pay period in which the funds were
withheld. The voucher form would only include a Claimant signature for payroll
withholding refunds, but is not required to be notarized. The Form 3 has a
space for the Department Supervisor's Approval Signature, if required by
agency.
Please contact Transaction Processing if you have
any questions about the required forms or information to include for such payments.
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All voucher expenditure records processed through the
state accounting system consist of the OMES Form 15A-Claim Jacket Voucher Form and an invoice or related support
information serving as the invoice. Even
though the 700 Class Funding voucher documents are not submitted to this
office, such complete voucher documentation is required to be retained by the agencies. Said documentation becomes the ‘official
state record’ for such expenses and are subject to document retention and
disposition requirements of the State Department of Libraries.
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ISD-FINANCE
As a reminder, invoices issued by ISD for services provided
are required to be paid in accordance with the terms of the agreements under
which they are invoiced. Prior year agreements remain in effect into FY15, as
they contain the following language in the “Miscellaneous” section:
“This agreement shall remain in
effect until modified or replaced by an amendment or superseding agreement
executed by both parties, or until terminated by either party providing sixty
(60) days written notice to the other party.”
Hence, agencies should continue to pay invoices for services
rendered in accord with their existing agreement. Billings associated with newly signed
agreements will become effective as of the first day of the month in which they
are signed.
Additional language provides that payments not received in a
timely manner shall be deemed delinquent and may be subject to collection via direct voucher processed
against AGENCY funds by the Division of Central Accounting and Reporting as
provided by the legislative authority granted ISD under 62
O.S. §35.1 et seq.
Questions or comments may be directed to Ray Hankins at (405) 521-6583 or raymond.hankins@omes.ok.gov or Cathy Menefee at (405) 521-6584 or cathy.menefee@omes.ok.gov.
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