HR/Payroll Conference CallSeptember 16, 2014

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Agenda

• PY Updates– Processing Employee Tax Withholding

• HR Updates– Telephone Number Updates in IT0105

– Revised Dual Employment Timesheet

– LI Reminders

– BOBJ Announcement

• Time Updates– SB744 – Bonus Leave

– Adverse Weather Liabilities

• Benefits Updates– Annual Enrollment

– Tricare Supplement Plan

– Notice of Creditable Coverage

Processing Employee Tax Withholding

General Information•Transactions are keyed using PA30 and Infotype 0210 (Withholding Info W4/W5 US)•Employees should use ESS to key withholding elections except where:

– Employee does not have ESS access

– Employee is claiming “Exempt from Tax Withholding” status (ESS will not process exemptions)

•Forms used to process tax withholding on behalf of employees:– Form W-4: Used for federal tax withholding

– Form NC-4EZ: Used for state tax withholding

– Form NC-4: Also used for state tax withholding but does not provide the option to claim exempt status

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Processing Employee Tax Withholding(continued)

General Information (continued)•Withholding entries should begin with the following start dates:

– Monthly employees – Begin on the 1st day of the month

– Biweekly employees – Begin on the 1st day of the pay period

– Exceptions include newly hired or reinstated employees

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Processing Employee Tax Withholding(continued)

Withholding Form Requirements•Withholding forms are subject to audit by the IRS and NCDOR, and penalties may be assessed for missing documents. To remain compliant with state & federal laws:

– NEVER accept a form that is NOT CURRENT. (W-4 forms have the calendar year in the top left corner of the form.)

– NEVER process a form that is NOT SIGNED or DATED.

– NEVER accept an email authorization in lieu of an official form.

– NEVER process withholdings based on a phone call or other verbal authorization.

– ALWAYS obtain a current and properly executed form PRIOR to keying any withholding elections for an employee.

– Retain all processed forms for at least four (4) years beyond the employee’s separation date.

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Processing Employee Tax Withholding(continued)

Claiming a Status of Exempt from Tax Withholding•An employee may elect to claim a status of exempt from tax withholding.•Employees cannot key a status of exempt from tax withholding through ESS, so all exemptions must be processed by the agency HR/Payroll offices.•HR/Payroll offices MUST have the following properly executed forms from employees prior to keying an exemption:

– Form W-4 for federal tax exemptions

– Form NC-4EZ for state tax exemptions

•Exemptions may be submitted for any range of pay periods within a year (e.g., exemption for a single month.)•All exemptions expire after February 15 of the next calendar year and employees must submit new forms to renew the exemption. (Ignore the system prompt to make the end date February 17.)

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Processing Employee Tax Withholding(continued)

Military Spouse Exemption from North Carolina Tax Withholding •The documentation required to process an employee’s exemption based on the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act of 2009 is more extensive. To claim a military spouse exemption from NC tax withholding, an employee MUST submit the following documentation:

– Form NC-4EZ Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate (Line 4 of the form must be completed.)

– Copy of the spousal military identification card

– Copy of the service member’s most recent leave and earnings statement

•The certificate expires effective February 15 of the next calendar year.

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Processing Employee Tax Withholding(continued)

Processing Exemptions from Tax Withholding•To avoid errors in processing exemptions, agency HR/Payroll staff should adhere to the following:

– Use the COPY function to generate a new record, NOT the create option.

• Keeps dates consecutive with no gaps (Pay periods with gaps will result in withholding at the higher rate of “Single with No Allowances.”)

• Programmatically generates a future dated transaction by replicating the previous non-exempt tax record

• Allows HR/Payroll staff to modify the record without rekeying other data

– NEVER key an “End Date” that is later than February 15 of the next calendar year. (DO NOT key 12/31/9999 as the end date!)

– Key the Tax Exempt Indicator as “R Exempt, reportable.”

– NEVER select “Y Exempt, not reportable.” This option excludes the employee’s wages from their W-2 and will require correction at year end by BEST Shared Services.

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Processing Employee Tax Withholding(continued)

Resources - More Information is available for the following at the listed website addresses:

2014 Federal Form W-4:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

2014 North Carolina Form NC-4EZ :

http://www.dornc.com/downloads/nc4ez.pdf

2014 North Carolina Form NC-4:

http://www.dornc.com/downloads/nc4.pdf

Frequently Asked Questions on the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act of 2009

http://www.dornc.com/taxes/wh_tax/faq.html#spouses

Instructions for processing tax exempt withholding transactions:

http://www.osc.nc.gov/training/osctd/help/Payroll/Job%20Aids/ProcessingTaxExemptWithholding.pdf

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IT0105 – Work Telephone Number Update

• Work Telephone Number formatting was cleaned up in IT0105 last month– Acceptable format: 919-707-0707

• A ‘First Telephone Number at Work’ Bulletin has been added to the BEACON Training Help website in the Personnel Administration > Bulletins folder

• Purpose:– To show how the infotype validates telephone numbers entered in

the system

– Displays an error message if the telephone number is not entered in the correct format

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IT0105 – Work Telephone Number Update(continued)

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919.707.0587

IT0105 – Work Telephone Number Update(continued)

• Infotype 0105 is what is used to compile the State Employee Directory

• Inaccurate numbers can be corrected at the Agency level using:– PA30 / Infotype 105; Subtype 0020

• A form is also available for mass work telephone number updates on the BEACON/BEST website link: http://www.osc.nc.gov/BEST/support/forms_pa.html

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Revised Dual Employment Timesheet

• The Dual Employment Timesheet has been revised to allow time entries for up to four weeks instead of two. The additional weeks will eliminate the need for agencies to send in multiple timesheets for the same employee(s) each month. Reducing the number of timesheets also makes the dual employment process between BEST OM/PA and BEST Payroll more efficient. The new timesheet has been loaded to our website:

http://www.osc.nc.gov/BEST/support/forms_pa.html• All timesheets must be received by the close of business on the

15th of each month to ensure payment in that month’s payroll. If timesheets are received after the 15th, BEST cannot guarantee compensation for the current month.

• Refer to the March 19, 2013 BEST HR/Payroll Conference Call for any Dual Employment Processing Questions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lratGTkegQo13

LI Reminders

• All action deletions related to the 2014 Legislative Increase must continue to be routed to OSHR for approval via spreadsheet before submitting a ticket to BEST. Once you receive OSHR approval, forward the approval email and spreadsheet of actions to BEST (only one ticket per spreadsheet, this is an exception to normal procedures). BEST will notify you when the OSHR approved actions are deleted. Any LI related deletion requests not on the spreadsheet must be sent to OSHR for approval before BEST will delete.

• Per the memo from Pam Bowling/OSHR sent on August 25, 2014, agencies may process the new retroactive replacement actions previously approved via the spreadsheet without routing the PCR(s) to OSHR for approval. This blanket approval is valid for September payroll only, and is not valid after September payroll finalization. Comments on these actions must indicate on the PCR and IT0000 that the action is being processed retroactively based on a blanket approval from OSHR to process the (deleted action) effective (date) due to LI.

• After September payroll finalization, the normal BEACON/OSHR processing agreement will resume.

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SAP Business Objects Announcement

• BEACON introduced a new Enterprise Reporting System for HR/Payroll data to HR Directors on 9/15/14 – ‘SAP Business Objects’ (BOBJ)

• The system will provide improvements to the current reporting architecture resulting in a more efficient means of providing knowledge & oversight to HR/Payroll processes

• This new reporting system will eventually replace the existing Business Intelligence system (BI Reports)

• The system will be introduced in phases

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SAP Business Objects Announcement(continued)

• Phase 1 – expected to begin 12/8/14– Pilot will feature a small selection of highly used BI reports

– Agency HR Directors will be asked to provide 2 pilot participants familiar with BI reporting to be trained on the new system & provide feedback

• Phase 2 – Go-Live expected to begin 2nd quarter of 2015– The system will be made available to all existing BI users

– The initial number of reports will be limited to focus on getting everyone trained on the new system capabilities

• Final Phase – Migration of all existing reports & development of new products

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SB744 - Bonus Leave

• Accrual of Bonus Leave granted by SB744 has been implemented in BEACON.

• All employees eligible for the leave as of 9/1/2014 should now have the entitlement in the Bonus Leave quota (Q50).

• The leave was added to the current Bonus Leave quota bucket for employees with balances remaining from the prior Bonus Leave awards in 2002, 2003, and 2005.

• For all other employees, the new Bonus Leave quota was generated with a validity date of 9/1/2014.

• The Bonus Leave is part of the Approved Leave hierarchy.

• This leave does not expire and can be paid upon separation.

• Maintenance of the Bonus Leave quota (Q50) via IT2013 is now only available through BEST. 17

SB744 - Bonus Leave

Maintenance of the Bonus Leave quota (Q50) via IT2013 is now only available through BEST.

Similar to the Special Leave award last year, all active permanent EEs were granted 40 hours of Bonus Leave or the appropriate proration on 9/1/2014. If an EE is on LWOP as of 9/1/2014, the EE should not be exhausting any leave and can only use the awarded amount once reinstated. Just as before the recent award of Bonus Leave, reports are available to help agencies monitor EEs that are on LWOP.

– BI Report – B0185 LOA Action with Absence

– PT_BAL00 – to monitor T50U/T50R for EEs that should not be using leave

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Adverse Weather Liabilities

• Looking ahead to 2015, there are thousands of AW liabilities that will expire. Please be proactive and run B0210 to see which EEs have liabilities in the next 12 months

• January 2015 – 4,155 EEs totaling 41,891 hours• February 2015 – 6,565 EEs totaling 80,550 hours• March 2015 – 3,247 EEs totaling 19,459 hours• Link to Job Aid:• http://www.osc.nc.gov/training/osctd/help/Time%20Management/

Job%20Aids/RecoveringAdverseWeatherOwed.pdf19

2014 Annual Enrollment – 2015 Plan Year

• Annual Enrollment will be held Oct 1 – Oct 31, 2014 for:– State Health Plan

– NC Flex Plans

• Enrollment choices for benefits will be effective: – 1/1/15 – 12/31/15

• Employees can:– Switch between Plans

– Add or Remove Dependents

– Cancel Plans

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2014 Annual Enrollment – 2015 Plan YearState Health Plan

• If employees are satisfied with their current plan, they do not need to re-enroll

• HOWEVER, if enrolled in the 80/20 plan or CDHP & employees wish to maintain or lower their premium, employees will need to complete the wellness premium credits as required below:– Employees do NOT have to re-indicate a PCP if one has already

been chosen

– Employees WILL BE REQUIRED to complete the Tobacco Attestation again

– Employees WILL BE REQUIRED to complete the Health Assessment again, IF completed prior to 11/1/13

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2014 Annual Enrollment – 2015 Plan YearNC Flex

• If employees are satisfied with their current plans, they do not need to re-enroll; most plans will automatically renew

• EXCEPTIONS:– Employees MUST RE-ENROLL in the Flexible Spending

Accounts each year• Health Care FSA• Dependent Day Care FSA• Be sure employees indicate an annual/yearly amount

• Employees wishing to cancel an NC Flex plan, MUST log on during annual enrollment to cancel and remove the plan

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Annual Enrollment Process

• State Health Plan or NC Flex enrollments must be completed online through BEACON’S Employee Self Service (ESS) portal at https://mybeacon.nc.gov

• For instructions to guide you through the electronic enrollment process, click the “Read before Beginning Online Enrollment” link

• BEST Shared Services Center will help employees with ESS enrollments, but will NOT provide benefit counseling

• Employees will be referred back to the Agency HBR for benefit counseling

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Annual Enrollment – Phone Enrollments

– Only for non-ESS employee users

– Need to call Active Health to complete the Health Assessment (Ph#: 800-817-7044)

– Must have PCP information available

– Must know Spouse’s SSN

– Must know what plans they want to enroll in. Benefit counseling will not be provided to the employee

– Calls are recorded to validate enrollment information

– BEST will provide HBR a list of phone enrollees so benefit statements can be printed

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New Hire Enrollments

• Employee must be in the BEACON system

• New Hires on or after October 1st:– Employee will complete two (2) enrollments

– Complete the New Hire Enrollment FIRST -The New Hire link is for enrollments as a new hire through the end of the current 2014 year (12/31/14); this online enrollment needs to be completed within 30 days of the date of hire.

– After the new hire enrollment is completed, the Annual Enrollment link will generate the following Monday & the employee will need to complete the 2015 enrollment

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Qualifying Events (QE)

• QE on or after October 1st

– For all qualifying events in October• The QE enrollment change will delete the employee’s 2015 enrollment.• After the QE enrollment is completed, the following Monday the employee

will need to complete or recomplete their 2015 annual enrollment.• NCFlex – Only the plans that were changed during the QE enrollment will

need to be recompleted.• SHP – For any SHP QE changes, the employee will need to recomplete

the wellness initiatives to maintain or lower the premiums for the 80/20 or CDHP plans.

– For all qualifying events in November • BEACON will reenroll the employee back in the Health Plan as of

1/1/2015.

Note: Return from Leave will follow this process.

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Employees on LOA during Annual Enrollment

• Employees on LOA with ESS access still need to go online to make enrollment changes

• Employees without ESS access can call BEST to process a phone enrollment

• Agencies need to monitor employees on LOA that are still eligible for state sponsored insurance:– LOA for Short Term Disability with > 5 yrs of service

– LOA for Injury Leave & Workers’ Comp

– LOA for Family Medical Leave

– These employees on 80/20 or CDHP will need to complete their Tobacco Attestation & Health Assessments (done prior to 11/1/13) AGAIN to maintain the wellness initiative premium rates

• Agencies need to monitor employees separated for Pay Continuation that are still eligible for state sponsored insurance as outlined above

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ESS Enrollment Screens

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ESS Enrollment

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ESS Enrollment

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ESS Enrollment

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ESS Enrollment

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ESS Enrollment

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ESS Enrollment

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ESS Enrollment

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ESS Enrollment

• Last Steps– Review Enrollment icon– Save icon

• Encourage your employees to ‘Print New Plan Selections’ for their Benefits Confirmation statement as proof of their enrollment changes.

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How to be proactive for Annual Enrollment!

• Employee Responsibilities:• Have employees log into their NCID to ensure

access & contact the NCID Administrator to reset if needed

• Have employees update/verify their address in ESS• Have employees enter a personal email for benefits

updates in their ESS ‘Benefits Medical Information’ link

• Have employees complete the Health Assessment now, prior to 10/1/14

• Have employees select or update their PCP now• Have employees update or verify dependent data

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How to be proactive for Annual Enrollment!

• Agency HBR Responsibilities:• Run Benefits BI Report B0011: Participating

Employees– Get a list of EEs enrolled in the FSAs to remind them

to re-enroll

– Get a list of EEs enrolled in the 80/20 & CDHP plans to remind them to re-complete the wellness initiatives

• Run PA BI Report in Employee Details & Actions folder for B0080: Last Employee Action in Effect as of Selected Date– Get a list of employees on LOA or Separated Pay

Continuation

– Sort by Action Type & Action Reason38

TriCare Supplement Plan

• TriCare Supplement Plan is a new NCFlex plan for eligible retired military state employees

• It was the goal to have this plan available for enrollment during this year’s Annual Enrollment

• OSHR is currently experiencing a challenge with vendor contracts on trying to implement the plan for a Jan 1st effective date

• OSHR Benefits Division should be distributing additional information regarding this plan soon

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FYI: Notice of Creditable Coverage mailing

• The State Health Plan mailed ‘Notice of Creditable Coverage’ letters to approximately 47,000 employees:– Members currently enrolled in the Traditional Pharmacy plan with

the State Health Plan

– Members that are 65 or older, &

– Members that will be turning 65 at some point in 2015

• This mailing is proof the enrolled employee has creditable prescription drug coverage under the State Health Plan

• This is important for employees becoming/or who are eligible for Medicare, if they are contemplating purchasing Medicare Part D prescription coverage

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FYI: Notice of Creditable Coverage mailing(continued)

• The State Health Plan encourages every member to evaluate his or her own coverage needs, but feels the State Health Plan prescription drug benefit is equal to or better than, a prescription benefit offered by a standard Medicare Prescription Drug Plan

• Questions concerning the mailing can be directed to• State Health Plan at 1-855-859-0966

• Questions regarding Medicare prescription drug coverage can be directed to – Medicare at 1-800-633-4227

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Questions

Questions???

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