Workday@OK on-demand payment processing
On-demand payrolls are processed based on a regular schedule. The standardization of the on-demand payment process allows OMES to better manage its workload as well as set reasonable expectations with agency partners. As always, we encourage agencies to allow the retro process to pull in any prior period transactions to pay on the next payroll. On-demand payrolls should not be processed while the main payroll is in process, as it causes issues with recalculations and reconciliations for both the agency and OMES.
OMES will process on-demand payrolls every Monday and Wednesday, unless the Monday/Wednesday conflicts with a published monthly, supplemental monthly or biweekly payroll processing day, or a holiday. If there is a conflict, the on-demand payroll(s) will be processed the following business day. If a payment outside this published schedule is needed, an agency may appeal to the OMES Payroll director for an exception. An on-demand processing exception request form will then need to be completed by the agency, signed by the agency director or chief financial officer, and submitted to OMES.
Electronic I-9 processing in Workday@OK
Agencies should be running RPT00333 to identify employees with incomplete I-9 processing. Once identified, steps should be taken to ensure the I-9/E-Verify process is timely completed. If any issues or errors are encountered with the E-Verify process, including a Tentative Nonconfirmation (mismatch), please submit a service ticket for assistance.
As a reminder, the I-9/E-Verify process is used to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. In accordance with federal law, the employee must complete Section 1, Employee Information and Attestation, no later than the first day of employment. Section 2, Employer Review and Verification, must be completed within three business days after the employee’s first day of employment. The E-Verify process must begin no later than the third business day after the employee starts work for pay. For example, if the employee begins work for pay on Monday, the information must be entered in Workday@OK and the E-Verify case must be created by Thursday of that week. Failure to comply could result in the assessment of a penalty to the State of Oklahoma as the employer.
2025 W-2 electronic option in Workday@OK
Agencies are encouraged to promote electronic-only access to year-end forms. The following information is provided to distribute to employees:
To avoid waiting for your 2025 W-2 to arrive by mail, you can opt to go paperless only. When you choose to go paperless only, you will receive an electronic copy of the document that can be downloaded and printed earlier than if you elect both paper and electronic. Once you select to receive an electronic-only copy, you do not need to make the selection again in the future. A W-2 user guide has been created to assist you in opting out of receiving the document by mail. Those who have elected to receive both electronic and paper copies for their year-end document will have them mailed by the required deadline, and an electronic version will also be available by the deadline. W-2s are due to employees by Feb. 2, 2026.
Please be aware of phishing emails
Agencies are reminded to double-check any executive-level or unusual requests for lists of Forms W-2 or Social Security numbers. Cybercriminals continue to trick payroll and human resources officials by disguising emails to make them appear as if they are from an organization executive: The bad actor sends an email to an employee in the Payroll or Human Resources department requesting a list of all employees and their Forms W-2. The thieves then attempt to file fraudulent tax returns for tax refunds or post the information for sale on the darknet. Pay close attention to the sender's email address and verbally confirm requests for any sensitive data either in person or using previously known phone numbers.
As part of the 2017 Security Summit effort, the Don’t Take the Bait education series focused on raising awareness of the critical need for increased computer security and caution when reviewing email inboxes – with a specific focus on scam emails where a scammer identifies themselves as a friend, customer or company. View the series on the IRS website. In addition, the Security Summit continues to meet annually to address areas of need and help raise public awareness.
The IRS continues to investigate phishing emails. If an agency receives an email of this type, immediately contact Lisa Raihl at 405-521-3258 or Jean Hayes at 405-522-6300.
Employees working remotely – other payments due
Agencies with employees working outside of Oklahoma should be aware that other states may have implemented a Paid Family Medical Leave plan or other state plan as required by their laws. Such a plan may involve the withholding of amounts in the form of an employee withholding, an employer withholding or a combination of both. If such amounts are included in the payroll results, do not adjust or refund the withholdings. We are required to withhold, remit and report in accordance with state laws. Agencies need to understand the withholding and reporting requirements for each state where employees are working.
Note: The IRS has determined any employee amount due that is not withheld from an employee but is paid by the employer is considered taxable income to the employee and must be included on their W-2. As an employer, the State of Oklahoma shall not pay an employee's share of required state tax or other withholdings on their behalf. All employee amounts must be withheld from their payroll.
Health savings account (HSA) refund audits – payroll processing
Agencies that have received HSA refund audits from OMES HCM Employee Benefits should process employee refunds as soon as possible, no later than the last paycheck of this calendar year.
- For audits refunding 2025 HSA withholdings, processing the refund in the same calendar year will prevent the agency from having to complete a W-2C. If such refunds are processed in calendar year 2026, agencies will be responsible for completing W-2Cs for those employees.
- For audits refunding prior-year HSA withholdings (2024 or earlier), agencies are responsible for completing W-2Cs for those employees after the refund has been processed. Employees should receive their copies of the W-2C, and Copy A will need to be sent to OMES HCM Central Payroll.
Contact Jean Hayes with any questions at 405-522-6300, jean.hayes@omes.ok.gov or payrollreporting@omes.ok.gov.
Deadlines for November payrolls
This is a partial reprint of our article from October to serve as a reminder for the remaining November holidays.
In planning your work for November, Veterans Day will be observed on Tuesday, Nov. 11. The Thanksgiving holiday is recognized on Thursday, Nov. 27, and Friday, Nov. 28.
November biweekly payrolls for state agencies will be paid on Friday, Nov. 14, and Wednesday, Nov. 26.
November monthly payrolls will be paid on the last working day of the month, Wednesday, Nov. 26.
With these dates in mind, agency staff should plan their work accordingly:
Supplemental: Workday supplemental payrolls are set to pay on Wednesday, Nov. 12. Agencies must have the payrolls processed and paperwork forwarded to OMES by Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Biweekly: Biweekly payrolls are set to pay on Friday, Nov. 14. Agencies must have the payroll processed and paperwork forwarded to OMES by noon on Thursday, Nov 6.
The next biweekly pay date will be Wednesday, Nov. 26. Agencies must have the payroll processed and paperwork forwarded to OMES by noon on Wednesday, Nov. 19.
Monthly/legislative monthly: Monthly payrolls are set to pay on Wednesday, Nov. 26. Agencies must have these payrolls processed and paperwork forwarded to OMES by Wednesday, Nov. 19.
Taxability of gift cards, certificates and coupons
Gifts to employees are restricted and should only be given as part of a formal employee recognition program. See 74 O.S. § 4121 and 74 O.S.§ 4122. Furthermore, any gift cards, certificates or coupons given to employees are to be included in the employee’s taxable income. The IRS considers these items cash or cash equivalents; they 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 for cards or coupons that have specified timeframes or restrictions on eligible items, and when any unused portion is forfeited. Cash equivalents do not meet the de minimis fringe benefit requirements.
Agencies needing assistance with processing noncash taxable fringe benefits in Workday@OK, please submit a Payroll Support ticket in ServiceNow.
OMES Form PWC, payroll warrant cancellation
The OMES Form PWC should only be used when an employee is not entitled, in part or whole, to the funds. Receipt of a PWC form initiates the process to retrieve the funds – if direct deposit is involved – and cancel the warrant in the payroll system. It is imperative that agencies identify payroll errors and process the form immediately upon discovery.
Paper warrant cancellations: Email Form PWC to payrolltransprocess@omes.ok.gov and attach a scan of the original warrant (marked "void") to the email. Then, you must also mail or interoffice mail that original paper warrant (marked "void"), attached to the completed Form PWC, to OMES HCM Central Payroll, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Ste. 302-3. (These requests cannot be processed by fax.)
Direct deposit cancellations: Email Form PWC to payrollreporting@omes.ok.gov. The document must be password-protected, and the password must be sent in a separate email or via another secure method. To ensure direct deposit funds are returned, the PWC request must be received by noon three business days before the effective pay date. Any request for cancellation of direct deposits after that cutoff will be subject to recall or reversal procedures that are subject to denial by the employee’s bank. An employee must be notified in writing of a reversing entry and its reason no later than the effective date of the reversing entry. Please notify the employee no later than the day the OMES Form PWC is submitted for processing.
Your agency can modify the statement below and use it to inform your employee(s) of the pending reversal.
“A payroll item will be posted in error to your bank account on MM/DD/YY. A reversal has been issued and will be posted to your account to pull these funds back to the state. Please keep the full amount of this deposit in your account. If the state cannot retrieve the full amount of the deposit, action will be taken in accordance with applicable procedures to retrieve the funds from you.”
Once the funds have been returned to the state, OMES will process a cancellation in the payroll system, which returns the funds to the agency. If the funds cannot be recovered from the bank, the agency is responsible for recovering the funds from the employee. Please refer to 74 O.S. § 840-2.19 (D) for proper procedures for recovering overpayments, if needed. The agency should submit OMES Form 94P for processing if the employee reimburses the funds through a miscellaneous payroll deduction or cash.
PWC forms received for direct deposit items that are more than four business days past the effective date will not be processed pursuant to NACHA rules. If agencies encounter erroneous entries more than five business days past the effective date, please contact OMES or OST for consultation on options for recovering the funds.
Refunds of taxes for overpayments to employees (Form 94P)
Agencies need to review all outstanding employee overpayments and collect required amounts from employees. After collection, please submit OMES Form 94P, as applicable. If a refund of taxes is due to the agency, the form must be submitted by Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. After this date, refunds cannot be returned to the agencies; however, agencies are still required to submit the form after this date for employee wage corrections. Corrections due to overpayments will be posted to the employee’s 2025 W-2 for requests submitted through Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. Any corrections submitted after Jan. 2 will require a corrected W-2.
Submission of OMES Form 94P
When an employee reimburses a payroll overpayment, please complete and submit the OMES Form 94P as soon possible after the reimbursement is made. Timely submission helps ensure corrections are reflected in the quarter in which they occurred for proper reporting and helps ensure the full recovery of OPERS 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, resulting in a loss to the agency. In addition, retirement calculations may be incorrect if the overpayment is not reported timely.
Please do not provide copies of personal checks or copies of the pay slip. The form allows the agency to enter the amount reimbursed. Additional backup data is not required.
For the privacy and security of the employee, the form requires that the state employee ID (EmplID) be entered; do not submit it with the employee's Social Security number or any other number.
Employee overpayments collected after year-end
Employee overpayments collected in the next calendar year are to be repaid at the gross overpayment amount in accordance with IRS regulations. If an employee owes the agency, notify the employee that if the amount is not paid in full by Dec. 31, the amount due will increase to the gross amount.
In accordance with 74 O.S. § 840-2.19, the agency must send a notice to the employee within 10 days of identifying an overpayment. The employee then has 30 days to respond to this notification. Employees have several options for repaying overpaid payroll amounts:
- Reduction of annual leave (for the gross overpaid).
- Reduction of current gross salary (for the gross overpaid) in a lump sum or installments over a term not to exceed the term in which the overpayment(s) occurred.
- Lump-sum cash repayment.
- Miscellaneous payroll deduction (for the net overpaid) in a lump sum or installments over a term not to exceed the term in which the overpayment(s) occurred.
- Any combination of the above options.
With the calendar year-end nearing, the collection of any outstanding overpayment is especially important, and this must be conveyed to employees who owe any monies back to the agency. When an overpayment is reimbursed in a subsequent year, IRS rules state the employee must reimburse at the gross amount because the funds were available for use in the prior year and, as such, they are taxable to that year. Additionally, federal and state wages and taxes cannot be reduced for prior years when repayments are made after the end of that calendar year.
For example, John Doe was overpaid in August by $1,000 over regular wages. This was discovered in September, and the agency calculated what the correct payroll should have been. The net check difference was $743.50, which is the amount John Doe owes the agency if making the reimbursement by personal check or miscellaneous deduction in the current year. If the employee does not reimburse the net amount by Dec. 31, the employee owes the agency the full $1,000 gross overpayment.
If the employee reimburses the entire gross amount after year-end, the applicable W-2, corrected W-2 or W-2C will only reflect a change in the Social Security and Medicare wages and taxes. Since the employee received and had use of the funds during the year of overpayment, the amount is still taxable for federal and state purposes. The W-2 form will not correct federal or state taxable wages or income taxes. The employee may be entitled to either a deduction or credit on their current-year Form 1040 and should be advised to speak to their tax accountant.
Reduction of annual leave hours for overpayments
When an employee chooses to reimburse an overpayment using annual leave, the amount of annual leave reduced should equal the gross amount of the overpayment.
If an employee reimburses an overpayment using terminal leave (annual leave payout), an OMES Form 94P must be submitted to correct the retirement amounts reported on the check that included the overpayment. Terminal leave is not included in retirement wage calculations; therefore, a payroll adjustment is required.
Deceased employee payroll processing and reporting
State agencies must complete Form DER, Deceased Employee Reporting, when an employee has passed away and payments are made after the date of death. Complete all forms and send them to OMES Central Payroll as soon as possible after all payments have been processed. Submission of all relevant forms will ensure year-end reporting is correct.
Amounts paid in the year of death are reported on the W-2 for Social Security and Medicare only. The amount that would have been reported as federal and state wages is required to be reported on a 1099-MISC to the individual(s) who received the payment(s). Payments made in the year after the date of death are not subject to Social Security and Medicare and are not reported on the W-2. The amount that would have been reported as federal and state wages is reportable on a 1099-MISC to the individual(s) who received the payment(s).
The Workday@OK Deceased Payroll Process guide will assist you in processing payments after the date of death.
NOTES:
- Remember to put the term reason as due to death – Terminate Employee > Involuntary > Death.
- Due to the timing of the deposit and date of death, banks may return direct deposits for deceased customers. The return of an item will cause a delay to the beneficiary receiving the payment.
- To assist recipients in tax planning, notify them that they will be issued a 1099-MISC form at year-end, and that the amounts will be reported to the IRS and state.
Outstanding wage beneficiary designation option
40 O.S. § 165.3a allows employers to provide employees the option of designating a beneficiary for wages and benefits payable upon an employee’s death. As an employer, the State of Oklahoma provides this option to employees. Providing this option to employees relieves stress and anxiety felt by family members after the employee's death. It also provides clear guidance on who is to receive final wage payments.
This statute does not include any longevity payment that may be due as of the date of death of an employee. 74 O.S. § 840-2.18 (H.2) authorizes any longevity payment to be paid to the decedent’s surviving spouse, or to the decedent's estate, if there is no surviving spouse.
Workday@OK functionality is available for employees to complete the wage beneficiary designation, eliminating the need for agencies to provide paper forms. Agencies should maintain paper forms on employees until an updated one has been processed in Workday@OK.
The Workday@OK Completing the Outstanding Wage Beneficiary Designation Form guide will assist employees in completing the form. If completed outside of Open Enrollment, the form can be accessed by searching for the task “Create Request” and following the guide. Please communicate this to all your employees.
HCM system-calculated taxes
The HCM system correctly calculates taxes based on the current tax rates and an employee’s withholding certificates. Agencies should not override the taxes calculated. If the taxes appear to be incorrect, the employee's paycheck should be reviewed before continuing the payroll process. If the taxes prevent after-tax deductions from being withheld, the employee should be notified. Payment of items not withheld through payroll due to lack of net pay must be settled between the employee and the entity.
PeopleSoft HCM decommissioning
OMES will be decommissioning the PeopleSoft HCM system over the next year. Several steps that might affect agencies will be taken to complete the project:
- Sept. 2, 2025 – Institutions of higher education have had their access removed, as announced in the August newsletter.
- Oct. 1, 2025 – All recurring and scheduled processes have been terminated. Agencies should not schedule any new processes.
- Jan. 2, 2026 – State agency personnel access will be removed.
OMES personnel will continue to have access to the system due to the statute of limitations remaining in effect. If anything is needed after agency access has been removed, please submit a ServiceNow ticket. Within Workday@OK, Prism holds employee information in a manner similar to the Legacy Data Warehouse in PeopleSoft HCM. In the Workday@OK search bar, input “Prism” to see available reports.
|
