California, Wisconsin and Indiana locals have new tax tables that need to be applied in October.
Updated SSN database also available.

You can apply these patches yourself by going to Utilities/ Apply SQL Patches and select Internet /Check for SQL Patches. It should download at the minimum these four patches. Read the description and see which ones apply to your situation and then check off those and apply to all companies. If you need help wit this feel free to call support 9-5 EST.

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validSSN_Oct012009.sql

Updated SSN database as of Oct 1 2009
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Oct312009_tax_CA.sql

10% tax increase in the state of California.
Tables should be used for the months of November and December
So expect new tables again at the beginning of the year!

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Oct012009_tax_WI.sql

New witholding tables for WI to be used no later than Oct 1,2009.
New upper level tax bracket (200K+) and increases across the board.

Based on Method B

http://www.dor.state.wi.us/pubs/pb166h.pdf

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Oct012009_taxIN.sql

New local tax rates for the state of Indiana effective Oct 1 2009
10 Countries updated:
Bartholomew, Carroll, Grant, Hancock, Lawrence, Monroe, Parke, Posey, St Joseph, Wabash

New tax tables will be available once the official tables are released…

More info on this increase

CA.gov EDD page

This is the second time this year that CA has issued tax tables and increased withholding.

A new tax law raises California’s personal income tax rates by .25 percent.  The law also reduces the dependent exemption credit to the same amount of the personal exemption credit—a $210 difference per dependent using 2008 amounts. Some taxpayers may need to increase their wage withholding now to avoid owing taxes next April.

The Employment Development Department (EDD) made new withholding tables available to employers in April, but taxpayers may be under withheld at least from January through April 2009.

The updated tax tables were issued to Paymaster users in April but you still may be underwitheld as the increase was retro active.

The new withholding tables factor in the changes for the tax rate increase only, so taxpayers claiming dependent exemption credits may still need to modify their wage withholding on Form DE 4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, to make any needed changes to the number of allowances they claim.

As of April 20th , these tax tables are available to all Paymaster customers through the Apply SQL Patch menu itm in the program. The new tax tables are easily installed, directly from the PayMaster program by going to Utilities / Apply SQL Patches and selecting Internet/Check for SQL updates. The program should then download a file called 2009-taxCA.sql, 2009-taxNY.sql and 2009-taxAZ.sql. Select the appropriate file for your withholding states and apply to all active companies by checking them off.  Of course if you have any questions or concerns feel free to call the support line.

From CA EDD web site

California and Minnesota have both inflation adjusted their tax tables. Nothing too exciting here.

New Mexico actually has lowered the top rate to 4.9% from 5.3% for single taxpayers making over 18050
and married taxpayers making over 31750.

PayMaster Hospitality will update these and the other 47 states as they report in.  You will be able to get the latest tax updates by going to Utilities/Apply SQL Patches and checking for new updates.  See the web based manual for full instructions.

Reminder: Do not update your tax tables until you are ready to run your first 2009 payroll.

Democratic state Controller John Chiang said Monday it would take at least six months to reconfigure the state’s payroll system to issue blanket checks at the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour, though Schwarzenegger insists such a change should occur this month.

Experts say Chiang isn’t joking when he describes the state’s payroll system as a computing relic on par with vacuum tubes and floppy disks.

“It’s an example of a number of computer systems in which the state made a large investment decades ago and has been keeping it going the last few years with duct tape,” said Michael Cohen, director of state administration with the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

The Republican governor signed an executive order last week recommending the cut to minimum wage for most permanent state workers and terminating 10,133 temporary and part-time employees. He believes the state must take drastic steps to preserve cash over the next two months as the state continues to operate without a budget 36 days into the new fiscal year.

Chiang reiterated Monday that he will ignore the order and issue full paychecks to state workers. He disputes Schwarzenegger’s legal interpretation of a 2003 California Supreme Court decision, which the governor said mandates that the state pay only minimum wage to employees until a budget is passed.

But even if the governor’s legal reasoning proves to be sound, Chiang said, the state cannot logistically retool its payroll system in a matter of weeks as the governor has asked. And if the change eventually were made, Chiang said it would take an additional nine to 10 months to issue back pay to employees when the budget is approved.

“Pragmatically, we just can’t get the system to work in a timely manner for us to implement payment of minimum wage,” Chiang said.

Fred Klass, chief operating officer for Schwarzenegger’s Department of Finance, testifying Monday in a Senate hearing, challenged Chiang’s description of his logistical hurdles.

“We have not been provided with the evidence that would show us that this is an impossibility, nor does it answer the question of why aren’t we working on this for next time,” Klass said.

“To some degree, it’s not the point,” he added. “The point is the law needs to be adhered to, and the governor is saying we need to follow the law. And if the controller is saying it’s inconvenient, I think the controller needs to explain why inconvenience is a reason to ignore the law.”

The state payroll system is based on the COBOL, or Common Business Oriented Language, programming language – a code first introduced in 1959 and popularized in the 1960s and 1970s.

“COBOL programmers are hard to come by these days,” said Fred Forrer, the Sacramento-based CEO of MGT of America, a public-sector consulting firm. “It’s certainly not a language that is taught. Oftentimes, you have to rely on retired annuitants to come back and help maintain the system until you’re able to find a replacement.”

Forrer said the system has tens of thousands of lines of code, so it is time-consuming to find and replace salaries for each job classification on an individual basis.

Cohen said other states have moved faster to modernize their payroll systems, though it’s also common for states to cling to their antiquated computers well beyond their scheduled life.

California became the first state to require restaurants to cook without artery-clogging trans fats, such as those in many oils and margarine, under restrictions signed into law Friday by the health-conscious governor. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a physical-fitness advocate and crusader against obesity, sided with legislators who said the measure would help get the fat out of Californians who are too dependent on fast food.

“California is a leader in promoting health and nutrition, and I am pleased to continue that tradition by being the first state in the nation to phase out trans fats,” Schwarzenegger said. “Consuming trans fat is linked to coronary heart disease, and today we are taking a strong step toward creating a healthier future for California.”

New York City has a similar ban, which began July 1 with a three-month grace period. Those who violate the California law could face fines of $25 to $1,000.

The legislation was vigorously opposed by the California Restaurant Assn., which argued that it would not substantially affect public health because people eat 75% of their meals at home.

The decision on what restaurants use in cooking should be based on the desires of customers, not government officials, said association spokesman Daniel Conway.

Even so, he said, “given the fact that our industry is already phasing out trans fat in response to customers and that there is a delayed time line for implementation, we are confident our members will be able to meet the mandate of the law.”

Indeed, the law follows steps already taken by such institutions as McDonald’s and Spago Beverly Hills to meet customer demand.

The fats can be found in vegetable shortenings, margarines, crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods and other processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Carl’s Jr. chain plans to stop cooking with trans fats by the beginning of the year, said company spokeswoman Beth Mansfield. “We saw where the industry was going,” she said.

Other chains that have fully or partly eliminated trans fat or had previously committed to doing so include Wendy’s, El Pollo Loco, Mimis Cafe, KFC, Burger King, IHOP, Applebee’s, Starbucks, Subway, Taco Bell, Denny’s, Panera Bread, Red Lobster and the Olive Garden, according to the restaurant association.

The group said ethnic restaurants and bakeries would be hardest hit by the ban, because many ethnic dishes are more difficult to prepare with trans fat-free substitutes.

Rod White, the owner of Bertha’s Soul Food in Los Angeles, estimated that it would cost him $30 more a week to buy cooking oil without trans fat, and he was angry.

“The government is infringing too much on the rights of people to even eat what they want,” he said. “Are they going to outlaw salt next because it causes hypertension?”

Compliance will be checked by state health inspectors on their periodic restaurant visits.

Scientific studies have established that trans fats increase so-called bad cholesterol in the body and decrease good cholesterol, contributing to the buildup of plaque in arteries, according to Dr. P.K. Shah, director of cardiology at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles.

“This law will address the health issue of cardiovascular disease, which is the No. 1 killer in the nation and the state of California,” Shah said.

Eliminating artificial trans fats from the food supply could prevent 6% to 19% of heart attacks and related deaths each year, according to an estimate published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The new regulations could mean real savings, not only in lives but also in health costs, according to Mendoza.