Tax updates supplementing the Q4 Product Update:

• Social Security Employee Withholding Rate Remains at 4.2% until 2/29/2012 due to Payroll Tax Holiday Extension
• FSOC Limit set to $110,000 Correction: $110,100
• Railroad Tier I Employee Withholding Rate Remains at 4.2% until 2/29/2012 due to Payroll Tax Holiday Extension
• Railroad Tier I, Tier II and UI Wage Base for 2012
• State Withholding Tax Changes, Effective January 1, 2012 for the following:
  • Delaware
  • Hawaii
  • Massachusetts
  • Missouri
  • Oklahoma
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont
• Tax Changes Effective January 1, 2012:
  • Hawaii Employment Training
  • Michigan Unemployment Taxable Wage Base Change
  • New Jersey Family Leave Insurance Employee Withholding Rate Change
  • New York State and Yonkers Withholding
  • Ohio Miami East 5504 SD, Ohio Earned Income Tax Based
  • Ohio Local Income
• Montana Administrative Fund Tax Wage set to $27,000
• Ohio Locals Municipality Code for Annual W2 Reporting to RITA for Tax Year 2011
• PA Local LST taxes updated to correct rate.
• Address field added. Versions 9.0 and 9.1 capture the address for each employment PSD NR code. (Sage Abra Suite version 7.x does not contain PA ACT32 mandated changes. Handle the reporting requirements manually by creating a multi-record custom detail to track the information.)

Electronic File Changes: (Apply the SR1 prior to creating the electronic file.)

• 1099 Electronic File Changes for Tax Year 2011
• Massachusetts W2 File Spec Changes for 2011
• Indiana EFW2 File Changes for Tax Year 2011
• Wisconsin EFW2 File Changes for Tax Year 2011

How to Download your Sage HRMS product update

1. Visit the Sage Customer Portal
2. Enter your Logon Id and Password (or sign up for a portal logon)
3. Select Payroll Tax Updates on the home page
4. Select the Product Update download specific to your Sage Abra Suite version
5. Right click and Save Target As to the appropriate file location
6. Unzip the files into a new directory

Note: It is necessary to access Abra Suite and run the ‘Apply Legislative Update’ from within System Tax Tables in order for Service Release 1 changes to take effect.

If you have any questions about this update or your Sage Abra HRMS solution, please contact your Socius Account Manager.

What is Online Benefits Enrollment?

Online benefits enrollment software allows employees to use the Internet (or their company network) to securely access information about benefit policies and prices.  Employees are guided step-by-step through the process of selecting the benefits they wish to participate in and enter the necessary information into online enrollment forms. 

Once the employee enters data online, the information is immediately available to HR for review & approval and can automatically update your HRMS system thus eliminating duplicate data entry.  Online Benefits Enrollment software also provides tracking and reporting features that allow HR personnel to monitor the progress of each employee through the open enrollment process.  You can even set up automatic email reminders that are sent to employees who have not completed the enrollment process in a timely manner. In addition, newly hired employees can enroll in benefit plans and current employees can update information from life events that impact their benefits.

Sounds Interesting but What are the Benefits?

Reduced HR Call Volume – because employees have direct online access to important details during the enrollment process, they are able to easily find answers to common questions on their own.

Shorter Cycle Times – Research suggests that a paper-based open enrollment process can take 6 to 8 weeks (from assembly & distribution of forms to manual completion and submission of those forms to HR).  Online benefits enrollment software can streamline that process down to 3 weeks or less.

Eliminate Duplicate Data Entry – you can completely eliminate duplicate data entry with an online benefits enrollment solution that integrates with your existing Sage Abra HRMS software.

Reduce Material Costs – paper, printing, and postage are essentially eliminated by removing paper from the process and directing employees to electronic resources for forms and benefit details.

Sage Abra Benefits Enrollment

Your Sage Abra system offers an integrated Benefits Enrollment module that will save your company countless hours and piles of paperwork.  Easy, step-by-step wizards guide administrators through the benefit plan set-up process, and walk employees through open enrollment. It even includes year-round life events management that allow employees to update information such as marital status and dependents.  Perhaps best of all, it’s completely integrated with your Sage Abra HRMS system which eliminates duplicate data entry.

Read the whitepaper “Paperless Benefits Management Strategies: Containing Costs and Complexity on a Budget” for more details of the benefits of Online Benefits Enrollment.

What is ESS?
ESS technology provides a central location for company personnel to view and update important personal data and company information. As the name suggests, ESS enables employees and managers to “self serve” (rather than contacting the HR department) for routine tasks or inquiries such as time-off requests, review of current benefits, updating dependents, review record of attendance, and more.  ESS access is typically delivered over the internet or company intranet.

The Benefits that ESS Offers
By automating employee activities such as time-off requests & approvals or dependent/beneficiary changes, companies can save considerable administrative time and expense associated with paper-based forms and manual processes.  Other benefits of ESS include:

• Elimination of Duplicate Data Entry and Better Accuracy – By allowing employees to enter routine record changes themselves, you eliminate the need to have HR staff re-enter the same information on a paper form or into an HR or payroll system.  This also helps to reduce errors.
• Reduced Transaction Costs - Partially or completely replacing paper-based processes reduces (or completely eliminates) the time and costs associated with copying, routing, printing, mailing, filing, and storing paper.
• Improved Focus – ESS technology allows HR staff to focus on more strategic initiatives, such as employee retention strategies or developing competitive benefits packages, rather than getting bogged down by routine administrative functions.

Introducing Sage Abra ESS
Sage Abra ESS will streamline your company’s HR processes and give employees ownership of their personal information.  Employees can request time-off, review benefits information, access performance reviews, update specific fields, and review payroll information.  Managers can view a direct reports’ personnel file, view and post employee notes, review attendance information, and approve time-off requests.  Companies can also post important documents and messages for employees to review.  Perhaps best of all, submitted and approved changes are automatically updated from ESS to the Sage Abra database which eliminates duplicate data entry and possible errors.

See Employee Self Service in action by viewing this 4 minute demo video.

HR Actions enables:

• Improved service delivery to the workforce
• Simplified transactional processes for managers and approvers
• The elimination of the clerical aspect of maintaining Abra
• Improved productivity of the entire organization

Version 10 of HR Actions is being released and brings with it automated performance appraisal forms.  View a demo of this new functionality here.

The integration of Sage MAS 500 with Sage Abra:

• Extends functionality to the HR back office
• Improves efficiency by automating HR and payroll tasks
• Makes it unnecessary for payroll and accounting professionals to manually prepare and enter payroll journal entries
• Automates the preparation and transfer of information between the two products
• Empowers users to quickly and easily assemble, review, and prepare employee payroll data and create reports

Read Sage’s complete Press Release here.

Sage MAS 500 is a highly reliable, robust series of business applications covering all areas of business management.  Ohio Sage MAS 500 software provides a flexible, scalable, and full-featured Microsoft SQL Server-based business management solution.  Learn more…

Sage Abra HRMS delivers tightly integrated functionality across HR, payroll, benefits, time-off, and training management with rich reporting and analysis, and a web workforce portal with employee self-service, company communications, benefits enrollment, and applicant tracking.  Sage Abra HRMS stays on top of government regulations with the Sage Compliance Center.  Learn more…

Socius is an Ohio Sage Software partner that works extensively with Ohio Sage MAS 500 software as well as Sage Abra HRMS.