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It Pay$
To Know
February,
2007
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Chicago Chapter
American Payroll Association
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P. O. Box 836 – Chicago, IL 60690 – (773) 631-8480
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Welcome
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A Note from the Education Director
The 2007
Spring CPP Review class has begun. The Certified Payroll Professional Exam
and the Chapter’s Review course are designed to educate payroll professionals
and create a standard to measure overall payroll competency. Our first 2 classes were held on Saturday
February 3rd and 17th. Our attendees
braved the cold weather to pursue their goals. Good luck to all of you in reaching your goals. .
Our 2007 Spring FPC Review class will begin on March 3rd. The 3-day course is an excellent review of payroll fundamentals. The course covers Payroll Fundamentals, Fundamentals of Payroll Operations, Paycheck Fundamentals, Tax Reporting and Payroll Accounting Concepts.
In
addition to the review classes this year’s topics for our Educational
Meetings are IRS Updates, Managing Job Stress, Local Taxes, Business Expenses
through Payroll and Preparing for Year-end. For more information on our Review Classes and Education Meetings go to our website www.chicagopayroll.com.
Thanks to all of you who help to make our classes and meetings a success.
Pat Bradberry, CPP Education Director |
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Educational News |
NEW EDUCATIONAL GRANT The
Chapter will be offering a chance to earn an Educational Grant for our CPP
Class for 2008. During the next two
meetings, March and June, we will have an entry form to enter the
drawing. Indicate whether you would
be attending the class to earn your CPP status or you are returning to earn
your RCH (Recertification Credit Hours).
We will have a winner for both groups. The winners will be announced during National Payroll Week. |
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Chapter Meeting March 30, 2007 |
Be on Top of the latest Compliance Priorities!!! And Don’t let
Stress get the better of you!! Join The Chicago Chapter
meeting On Friday, March 30, 2007 Meeting Hosted by Ceridian.
Riverway Complex
6133 North River Road
Rosemont, IL 60018
9:00 a.m. -12:00 noon
Continental Breakfast 8:30 Plan on
attending Compliance
Priorities Overview: What's New For 2007!
We will review proposed legislation to increase
the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade, including possibly a
cap on deferred compensation; update retirement security issues and
specifically the Pension Protection Act of 2006; give you the latest on
Health Savings Accounts compliance issues, including touching on the
President's new healthcare policy initiative; and outline pending immigration
reform legislation, focusing on new employer compliance responsibilities for
electronic employment verification. This session will keep you ahead of the
curve of compliance changes in Washington DC! Our expert presenter is: Jim
O’Connell is Vice President, Government Relations & HR Policy, Ceridian
Corporation. With over thirty years experience in federal legislative and
regulatory affairs, Jim focuses on HR and payroll policy issues, keeping
customers informed about fast-changing and complex compliance regulations and
workforce trends. Jim is a frequent participant in HR and payroll industry
meetings, including the American Payroll Association and the Society for
Human Resources Management (SHRM).
The Summer 2006 issue of Ceridian Solutions Magazine featured Jim’s
article, The 21st Century
World of Work: Five Megatrends Shaping the Future. In addition John Labbe, principal of JEM
Performance Consulting, will be presenting Don’t let Stress get the better of you!! This will be a very informative yet fun session for
you. John brings over 25 years of
experience in training and employee performance improvement. Reserve your space
today! Call the Chapter Helpline at:
and $20.00 for non-members. |
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Charity Events |
Save
those Holiday Cards What are you going to do
with all the lovely holiday cards you received? Don’t just throw them away.
Bring them to our March 30 at Ceridian. We will gather all the cards and send them off to St Jude’s
Research Hospital. Let’s see how big
of a bundle we can ship off. |
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Government
News |
GOVERNMENT
WEBSITE LINKS: INTERNAL REVENUE
SERVICE - www.irs.gov ELECTRONIC FEDERAL TAX
PAYMENT SYSTEM - www.eftps.gov SOCIAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION - www.ssa.gov US DEPT. of LABOR - www.dol.gov IRS Has Free Publications on Every Topic You Need
Social Security Wage Base Increases The
maximum earned income level subject to Social Security tax will be $97,500 in
2007, the SSA has announced. The Social Security tax rate will remain at 6.2%
in 2007, which means the maximum amount of Social Security tax for employers
and employees will be $6,045 in 2007. The SSA
has published a fact sheet with all of the adjusted tax rates for 2007. You
can find a copy of the sheet on the SSA Web site at: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/factsheets/colafacts2007.htm IRS
Releases Form 944
The IRS
has introduced the new Form 944, Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return,
to be used by employers whose annual employment tax liability is $1,000 or
less. The use of the new Form 944 will be to report wages earned and tax
collected starting with tax year 2006 (due January 31, 2007). The new form
can be filed by eligible employers instead of the Form 941, Employer’s
Quarterly Federal Tax Return.
Employers
should not file the 944 unless they are informed by the IRS, in writing, that
they are eligible to do so. Employers that believe that they will be eligible
to file the 944 but have not yet received written permission should contact the
IRS at 1-800-829-0115. The new Form 944 and its instructions are available at
the IRS Web site at: http://www.irs.gov. Email
Scam Alert! The IRS
has issued several warnings about phony emails bearing the IRS name and/or
logo attempting to acquire personal information from taxpayers. Often times
these emails will offer tax refunds or threaten penalties unless personal
information is provided. This type of information mining is known as
“phishing” and is a major problem in the area of identity theft. The IRS has established an email address
that employers or individuals can contact if they feel that they have
received a suspicious email claiming to be from an official IRS source. If
you receive a suspicious e-mail that claims to come from the IRS, you can
relay that e-mail to a new IRS mailbox, phishing@irs.gov.
To learn more about phishing and how it can be prevented check out the IRS
Web page at: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=155682,00.html |
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APA Events |
APA's Annual Congress is
payroll's premier event, offering educational workshops, presentations by top
government officials and industry experts, peer networking opportunities, and
the world's largest payroll-related exhibit hall. The 25th Annual Congress will be held in Las Vegas, NV,
May 22-26, 2007. For more details go
to: http://www.americanpayroll.org/congress.html Submit Your Payroll Puzzlers for
the 2007 Federal Forum Answers
Will Be Provided at Congress and in Payroll Currently One of
the most popular and well-attended events at APA’s Annual Congress is always
the Forum on Federal Payroll Issues workshop. During this session, APA
members do their best to stump top experts with some of the trickiest payroll
questions possible. The answers are provided by a panel of high-level
representatives from federal agencies. The
questions come from you, our members. So, send us your most difficult payroll
question – this is your chance to solve that payroll mystery that’s been
nagging you for months. Or maybe there’s a topic that seems to be explained a
different way every time you read up on it, and you’d like to get an
authoritative answer. The
questions are provided to panelists about one month in advance to allow time
for research and to ensure a complete answer. Send your question by March
23 to smezistrano@americanpayroll.org You can
pose a payroll problem to any of the following agencies. But don’t worry if
you’re not sure which agency should address your scenario – we’ll take care
of that. *
Internal Revenue Service * Social
Security Administration * Office
of Child Support Enforcement *
Department of Labor * U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services *
Immigration and Customs Enforcement To be
there in person when your question is answered, register for the APA’s
25th Annual Congress, being held May 22-26 in glamorous Las Vegas. Go to www.americanpayroll.org/congress.html
for more information. But even
if you can’t come to Congress this year, you may still be able to get your
answer since some of the questions and answers are written up for our Payroll
Currently newsletter. Check out the links below to read last year’s Q
& A – there were so many questions and such in-depth answers, we couldn’t
fit them all! APA’s Audio Seminar Series: Sarbanes-Oxley When: Thursday, February 22, 2007
Where: Dial toll-free from your home or office APA’s Audio Seminar
Series: Cafeteria Plan When: Thursday, March 15, 2007
Registration and more details for these events can
be found on the APA’s web site: www.americanpayroll.org. |
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Change of Information |
Did you change jobs, title or e-mail address? If you have recently changed jobs,
title, or your email address, please fill out the attached form and send it
to our chapter email box. Chicago_chapter_apa@hotmail.com |
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2007 Officer Elections |
Positions Available The
following Officer positions will be up for election in 2007:
If
you have an interest in one of these positions please email Mary at Chicago_chapter_apa@hotmail.com Elections
will be at our August 3rd meeting. |
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Our Website For the
most current information on the Chapter please visit the chapter’s web site
at www.chicagopayroll.com When
reviewing the website be sure to check out the “In the News" section for detail information
regarding IRS topics and news. The IRS offers phone forums on various topics. Also, check out
the Job Postings. |
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Join Us
Membership Application
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1. Complete all required information on this form |
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2. Print it out |
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3. $40.00 check payable to "Chicago Chapter, American Payroll Association" |
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4. Mail to: |
Chicago Chapter,
American Payroll Association
P.O. Box 836
Chicago, IL 60690-0836
(Please allow 5 days for mail delivery)
Questions? (773)
631-8480
chicago_chapter_apa@hotmail.com
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Registration Form for CPP/FPC Class
TO REGISTER, PLEASE TYPE IN THE REQUIRED INFORMATION, PRINT OUT & MAIL WITH YOUR PAYMENT.
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