DCAR Newsletter - September 2014

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Tight Timeframe for Payroll Processing in November

Don't Forget

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.


PAYROLL

Reminder: Benefit Allowance, Benefit Deductions to Go From 26 to 24 Pay Periods per Year

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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October Columbus Day Federal Holiday

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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SoonerSave Contributions to Employee Accounts

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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Deceased Employee Payroll Processing, Reporting

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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Taxability of Gift Cards, Certificates, Coupons

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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Submission of OMES Form 94P Tidbits

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

Convenience Fees for Self-Sustaining Boards

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 (Phase II agencies only)

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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Submission of OST Stop Payment and Hard Cancel Form when Replacement Requested

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. 

  1. 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.
  2. 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:

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. After a vendor ID is created, Transaction Processing will be notified by Vendor Maintenance and the replacement warrant will be processed.

Hard cancels:

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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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Higher Education Only – Use of the 20R-Canceled by Statute Replacement Request

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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REMINDER - Instructions on Payment of Miscellaneous Payroll Withholding Claims

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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Voucher Documentation – 700 Class Funding Transactions

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

Payments to OMES/ISD for FY15 Shared IT Services

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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Volume 25, Number 03
Fiscal Year-2015
September 12, 2014


In This Issue ...


TRAINING

Upcoming Local Training/CPE 14th Annual Oklahoma Payroll Conference

Friday, Sept. 19, 2014

Presented by the Oklahoma City and Northeastern Oklahoma Chapters of the American Payroll Association 

Moore Norman Technology Center
South Pennsylvania Campus
13301 S Pennsylvania Oklahoma City, OK  73170

Registration:
$90.00 Prior to July 1, 2014
$110.00 July 1 – Sept. 1, 2014
$150.00 Sept. 2 – Sept. 18, 2014
$200.00 Day of Training

For more information, please visit the website.

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AGA CPE Luncheons

The AGA CPE luncheons resume in September.  Luncheons are planned to qualify for 1 hour CPE.  Luncheons are at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum at 11:30.  This next fall luncheon will be on October 21st.

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AGA Fall Seminar

November 5th at the MetroTech Business Conference Center Auditorium from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  8 hours CPE including 2 hours Ethics. 

Cost:     
$100 if registered and paid by October 17th
$125 after October 17th

For more information please contact Stephanie Langs at Stephanie.Langs@omes.ok.gov.

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Certified Government Financial Manager Course

Due to popular demand, the Oklahoma City chapter is once again offering the Certified Government Financial Manager courses here in Oklahoma City.  The courses will be offered March 4-11, 2015.  The training offers 48 hours of CPE and the cost will be $1,150 to $1,500 which makes it very affordable CPE.  For more information contact Riley Shaull at riley.shaull@trs.ok.gov

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Contacts

Accounting:
Jennie Pratt, CPA, CGFM
(405) 521-6160 jennie.pratt@omes.ok.gov

General Ledger:
Dan Thomason, CPA
(405) 522-4992 dan.thomason@omes.ok.gov 

Payroll:
Lisa Raihl, CPA
(405) 521-3258 lisa.raihl@omes.ok.gov 

Transaction Processing:
Steve Wilson
(405) 521-4679
steve.wilson@omes.ok.gov 

Payroll Processing:
Elsa Kunnel
(405) 521-6178
elsa.kunnel@omes.ok.gov 

AP Manager:
Patricia Garcia, CPA, CGFM
(405) 522-6855
patricia.garcia@omes.ok.gov 

Vendor Maintenance:
Victoria Baker
(405) 522-3093
victoria.baker@omes.ok.gov 

OMES Service Desk
(PeopleSoft questions)
(405) 521-2444
helpdesk@omes.ok.gov 

Financial Reporting Unit:
Matt Clarkson, CPA
(405) 521-2759
matt.clarkson@omes.ok.gov

ARRA:
Steve Funck, CPA, CGFM
(405) 521-3231
steve.funck@omes.ok.gov 

ABS:
Steve Funck, CPA, CGFM
(405) 521-3231
steve.funck@omes.ok.gov