SUBSCRIPTION: Payroll Essentials

Overview

*** This subscription includes six individual sessions for a total of 12 CPE. You receive significant savings when purchasing these webinars as a subscription. Each of the six courses runs live once a month beginning May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2025. Register for these scheduled courses as your schedule allows - at no extra cost to you. Once registered for this subscription, log in instructions will be emailed to you separately for each individual course. *** Payroll is among the most common tasks an employer undertakes while running their business. At its most basic level, payroll consists of an agreement between an employer and employee related to compensation for services. Once you look under the hood, there is so much more to payroll, including various kinds of compensation, payroll taxes and required reporting on government forms. Strengthen your expertise in providing client payroll services with one of the nation’s foremost authorities, and a practitioner herself, Elizabeth Bystrom.

Highlights

The major topics that will be covered in this course include:

Course 1: Payroll Essentials: Getting to Know Payroll Taxes

CPE: 2

Description: This course will provide a general introduction to the inner workings of payroll and payroll taxes. We will introduce you to the various types of payroll statutory and withholding taxes, under what conditions and which employees these various types of taxes apply, how to calculate, withhold and deposit those taxes and the related due date requirements that apply to payroll taxes. This course will include real-life examples of how to process payroll, the withholding and payroll tax deposit regime, familiar payroll forms, and tips and tricks for tying it all together.

Course 2: Payroll Essentials: Ethics in Payroll

CPE: 2

Description: Ethics in payroll is present in every step in the payroll process, from handling employee confidential information and dealing with pay, compensation and fringe benefits, to acting as an intermediary on behalf of federal, state, and local governments in the collection and remittance of payroll taxes. All levels of payroll staff- from payroll processor to payroll manager to CEO - encounter ethical considerations in their conduct when dealing with payroll matters. This course will discuss ethics as it pertains to payroll.

Course 3: Payroll Essentials: The Payroll Cycle of Life

CPE: 2

Description: This course will provide a general introduction to the payroll cycle of life, including real life examples of how to process payroll, the withholding and payroll tax deposit regime, common payroll forms, and tips and tricks for tying it all together.

Course 4: Payroll Essentials: Demystifying Form W-4

CPE: 2

Description: This course will review the Form W-4 in all its glory, including all the changes that were made to the format and substance of the form, understanding what an employer can and cannot do, and how to actually fill out the Form W-4.

Course 5: Payroll Essentials: Fringe Benefits: Taxable or Not?

CPE: 2

Description: Do you know how to correctly track fringe benefits, as well as apply and report the various withholding tax rules for those fringe benefits? The IRS says fringe benefits must be included in and reported as a part of employee pay, but with any good tax law, there are always exclusions to that rule. Knowing how to handle fringe benefits can be complicated, especially in an area that changes on an annual basis. Attendees will leave with an understanding of what the requirements are around fringe benefits, what constitutes a fringe benefit, and whether it is taxable or not.

Course 6: Payroll Essentials: Payroll Returns Done Right

CPE: 2

Description: This course will provide a general introduction to the workings of the payroll returns an employer is required to file. We will cover the various types of federal and state payroll taxes, what various payroll returns an employer may need to file, how to complete the most common types of payroll returns accurately, and real-life illustrations for reconciling at year end and ensuring your payroll returns are correct.

Prerequisites

None

Designed For

Appropriate for professionals at all organization levels, including seasoned professionals. this includes CPAs in public practice, as well as tax professionals working in industry, including those in Controller and CFO roles with a limited exposure to payroll.

Objectives

After attending this subscription, you will be able to...

• Indicate the types of payroll taxes related to a typical payroll check and identify the various types of payroll tax returns employers need to file and the due dates of these forms.
• Indicate ethical considerations that exist within the payroll function, recognize potential for ethical failures, and identify ways to implement basic due diligence within the payroll process.
• Recognize the common types of compensation and distinguish the various types of payroll taxes and other deductions from pay as well as the various payroll ta returns employees need to file.
• Recall the changes the IRS has made to Form W-4, identify resources employers can provide to employees requiring assistance with the W-4, and recognize the requirements employers must know about accepting Form W-4 as well as common mistakes and errors.
• Identify what constitutes a fringe benefit, distinguish between taxable and non-taxable fringe benefits, recall changes made by the TCJA to benefit rules, and recognize what fringe benefits require reporting on W-2s.
• Recognize common payroll tax forms, recall due dates for common payroll returns, and distinguish which federal and state payroll returns an employer is required to file.

Preparation

None

Notice

This course is offered by a 3rd party vendor and will not be accessible in the My CPE Tracker section of the ISCPA website. Course access information will be emailed directly to you by CPA Crossings.