Payroll News

Five states increased their minimum wages effective July 1, 2008.

In Illinois, the state minimum wage increased from $7.50 to $7.75 per hour.  Credit for tips may not exceed 40% of the applicable minimum wage.

Michigan’s minimum wage also increased from $7.15 to $7.40.   Tipped employees make $2.65 making the state tip credit $4.75.

The West Virginia minimum wage increased 70 cents from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour.

In Kentucky the minimum wage increased 70 cents from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour.  Tipped employees make $2.13 making the state tip credit $4.42.

The Nevada minimum wage increased 52 cents from $6.33 to $6.85 per hour.

Filed under: Payroll News, State News - - - Tags: DOL, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minimum Wage, Nevada, Tip Credit, West Virginia
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The World’s Priciest Burger: Sold Out

Money can’t buy you good taste, but it has bought about 100 hungry people the most expensive hamburger in the world.

Named simply, The Burger, it was being sold for 95 pounds ($185.00) at none other than a branch of Burger King in the exclusive London district of South Kensington.

The limited edition burger, which sold out after two days of availability–June 18 and 26–is now challenging the current Guinness World Record for the most expensive burger, currently held by the American Double Truffle Burger, which cost 65 pounds ($127), in 1994.

Some argue that a restaurant in Las Vegas sells the most expensive burger: the $777 Kobe Beef and Maine Lobster Burger, which is served with a bottle of Rose Dom Perignon champagne. But the use of lobster, not to mention the bubbly, seems to remove that offering from the realm of true burgers.

Because of its success, organizers are now considering opening a hotline dedicated to selling The Burger for several more days.

Mark Dowding, a chef with Burger King and the creator of the burger, told Forbes.com the location of London had been chosen because there were “different pockets for different tastes. And we are sure this is an area of a lot of burger aficionados.”

And the secret to the meat’s delectable taste? “Its massaged Japanese Wagyu beef,” Dowding said.

The burger, which looks similar to a regular whopper, is made out of ingredients from seven countries, from Japan to France.

Some restaurateurs dismissed the burger, spiced with organic white wine and pink Himalayan rock salt, as a “marketing stunt,” comparing it with similar products launched by department stores like Selfridges and its 85 pound ($168.84) sandwich and Peter Jones’s 50 pound ($99.31) cup of coffee, pre-digested by a Civet cat.

But David Kisilevsky, vice president of marketing at Burger King, said “the burger is aimed at aficionados looking for the ultimate burger taste experience.”

Filed under: Restaurant News - - - Tags: hamburger, Marketing your restaurant
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National Payroll Week (September 1-5, 2008) will be here before you know it, but why wait until fall to commemorate the payroll profession. Visit the APA Song Collection to download or listen to MP3s to celebrate the payroll industry each and every day!

NPW celebrates the unique partnership among America’s workers, their companies, the payroll professionals who pay them and critical government programs such as, social security, Medicare, fair labor standards and child support. Together, through payroll withholding, they contribute and collect 64.2% of U.S. Treasury revenue.

Filed under: Payroll News - - - Tags: APA
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National Taxpayer Advocate testimony discusses status of economic stimulus payments:  The administration of the economic stimulus payment program has been marred by “glitches and frustration, but they have been minor and relatively few,” Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, testified before a joint hearing of the oversight and Social Security panels of the House Ways and Means Committee on June 19. The glitches Olson referred to included the following: in about 350,000 cases, taxpayers have not received additional stimulus payments of $300 per child to which they are entitled; approximately 1,500 stimulus payments were sent to the wrong bank accounts and personally identifiable information was compromised; as many as 22,000 taxpayers may have received a notice containing information about a different taxpayer’s stimulus payment; more than 20 million taxpayers who purchased refund anticipation loans or refund anticipation checks must wait up to 10 weeks longer than other taxpayers to receive their stimulus payments; and the “Where’s My Stimulus Payment” feature on the IRS Web site may have limited usefulness and may be contributing to the heavy telephone traffic the agency is experiencing.  The text of the written statement can be viewed at: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/ntatestimony_wm_oversight_econstim_061908.pdf

Filed under: Federal News - - - Tags: IRS, Stimulus Payment
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The IRS has issued a revenue ruling that provides nine examples on the supplemental wage withholding rules.

The topics covered are as follows: (1) commissions paid at fixed intervals with no regular wages paid to the employee; (2) commissions paid at fixed intervals in addition to regular wages paid at different intervals; (3) draws paid in connection with commissions; (4) commissions paid to the employee only when the accumulated commission credit of the employee reaches a specific numerical threshold; (5) a signing bonus paid prior to the commencement of employment; (6) severance pay paid after the termination of employment; (7) accumulated annual leave paid in a lump sum payment; (8) vacation and sick leave paid annually; and (9) sick pay paid at a different rate than regular pay.

The revenue ruling is based on final supplemental wage withholding rules that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2007. Under the final regs, supplemental wages include any wages paid by an employer that are not regular wages. Regular wages are defined as amounts that are paid at a regular hourly, daily, or similar periodic rate, or in a predetermined fixed amount. Wages that vary from payroll period to payroll period based on factors other than the amount of time worked (such as commissions, tips, bonuses, and back pay) are supplemental wages.

Under the final regs, if an employee has not received cumulatively more than $1 million of supplemental wages during the calendar year, the amount of withholding can be determined by (1) adding the supplemental and regular wages for the most recent payroll period in the current year, then figuring the income tax withholding as if the total were a single payment (aggregate method); or (2) withholding on the supplemental wages at a flat rate specified in the regulations (optional flat rate withholding method — currently 25%). There are certain conditions that an employer must meet in order to use the optional flat rate withholding method on supplemental wages.

The examples in the revenue ruling include discussion on: (i) whether a payment is a regular or supplemental wage payment, (ii) the payroll period that should be used in computing withholding, and (iii) whether an employer can use the aggregate method or the optional flat rate withholding method. One example (Situation 5) explains how to compute withholding when an employee is paid more than $1 million of supplemental wages during the calendar year.

For more details visit the IRS.GOV for the full text of this bulletin.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb08-24.pdf

Filed under: Federal News - - - Tags: Additional Incomes, IRS, Withholding
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