Easing The Process—New Enhancements to AAP Supported Services
In an ongoing effort to increase the functionality of our services, AAP has some new features for you to benefit from!
AAP EZ Time and Time Plus Users—Please click on the Feedback button located in the top right of most any screen to send us an email request for assistance. This delivers directly to our Support team who will address your issue with the same promptness that you are accustomed to.
Employee Self Serve Users–Avoid employee confusion! An easily, identified Employee Self Serve button is now available on the home page of our website. Located on the left information column, you can now quickly go straight to your log in screen!
HR Answerlink and HR On Demand —For those of you taking advantage of this great web resource, there will be even more assistance available soon. With the rising forces of governmental compliance auditors hitting businesses every day, HR Answerlink has upped their ability to keep you compliant! By adding new HR Compliance Services and a new feature called the Handbook Wizard, you will have access to a comprehensive and easy to use system to protect your assets and keep your business successful!
E-Verify Proposed As Mandatory For All
On June 24, 2011 The Legal Workforce Act of 2011 proposed that Congress would require that all employers, regardless of size and type, use E-Verify for validating work eligibility.
Louisianna has already passed legislation requiring E-Verify, effective August 15, 2011. South Carolina businesses have a compliance date of January 1, 2012.
For more information on your state requirement, you can visit www.irs.gov. You may also contact an AAP representative for further details or to enlist us as your authorized E-Verify agent!
Background Screenings Made Easy
Find out who you are hiring with a quick, reliable and affordable screening option. National Criminal Search has been providing quality research options to AAP clients of all sizes and demands. Packages range from single search options to comprehensive solutions, in a price range that beats almost any competitor!
Plus! They offer easy to understand tools and live support to assist you when questionable information appears in an employee screening.
If you need a custom solution or would like more information on how to enroll, contact us at Support@aappayroll.com to see how we can help!
Make Audits Easy -Pay As You Go Workers Compensation
No one likes it when the auditor comes knocking, but AAP can make at least one audit a seamless affair! With Pay As You Go Workers Compensation, you pay per payroll and premiums are based on actual wages. We submit the reports after each payroll is processed, and you rest easy knowing that you have not underpaid at audit time! Call today to find out if your company qualifies and how easy it is to get started!
Mileage Rates Increased
Rising gas prices are a primary influence to the July 1st increase to mileage rate increases. The Optional Standard Mileage rate will increase from 51 cents to 55.5 cents per mile. Taxpayers can use the rate to calculate the deductible costs for operating an automobile for business or other purposes. As well, the Medical/Moving rate has risen from 19 cents to 23.5 cents per mile. The rate for providing Charitable services is not set by the IRS and remains the same at 14 cents a mile.
Submit Your Way
Did you know that AAP has multiple ways for you to submit your payroll to us? Business needs change, and we want to change with you! See below and let us know if you think that one of these options would better suit you. We are happy to work with you and make suggestions.
Import via Time clock export, Point of Sale Systems, or an AAP Esheet (Excel time sheet)
Fax
Email
Express Online Payroll—Supports Basic Payroll Submission, Functions and Reporting
Evolution Remote Client User—Supports More Robust Functionality, Reporting,
Feature Client of the Month
Our feature client for the month of August is Prism Publishing, Inc, publishers of Job Finder bi-weekly papers in 9 separate geographical markets. Triangle, Triad and Charlotte in North Carolina, Orlando and Tampa in Florida, San Antonio and Austin in Texas, Las Vegas and Baltimore.
Job Finder Publications assists companies of all sizes with their recruiting needs through classified advertising solutions involving print and the web. All publications are produced bi-weekly and are distributed free at hundreds of convenient locations in each market.
Prism was founded in 1995 with the introduction of Carolina Job Finder in September of that year in the Triangle of North Carolina. Since then, Job Finder has been introduced into 8 additional markets, with future expansion plans in the works. Prism maintains offices in several cities and currently has more than 30 employees in 7 states.
Prism recently joined us as part of our Raleigh acquisition. If you are interested in contacting them about their services, please phone them at 919-459-8060 or visit their website at www.triangle.nc@jobfinderusacom for additional information.
Employee of the Month
May
Dorie McLaughlin
June
Lynn Marshall
AAP and Merrill Lynch Join Forces
AAP has proudly provided its clients with varying levels of support for tracking and properly reporting your retirement plan deductions, but now we would like to take our services to the next level! We are confident that we have formed a valuable partnership with the team at Merrill Lynch. With over 14,000 advisors nationwide, they can offer the same personal and local support almost anywhere!
Merrill Lynch has access to multiple record keeping platforms, a broad array of investment options, along with local service and plan sponsor guidance. They have over 100 retirement plans with assets ranging from $500,000 to $100,000,000+ per plan.
One of the biggest compliance violations for employers, untimely reporting of contributions, is one of the easiest to avoid. Through this partnership, we at AAP have secured options to report your employees 401K deductions seamlessly resulting in funds being invested immediately.
Whether you have an existing plan or you are looking to begin a retirement benefit for your employees, allow AAP and one of Merrill Lynch’s experienced Financial Advisors to perform a free plan analysis.
July To Bring Federal Tax Reduction
Since 1976, the FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) rate has been set at 6.2% for employers. This rate is actually made up of two parts, the permanent 6% FUTA rate plus the .2% temporary surtax that was added in 1976. After June 30, 2011 the surtax is due to expire.
Beginning July 1, 2011 you will see your FUTA tax calculations reflect the change accordingly.
Currently, there is no legislation in place to extend it; however it is proposed that the .2% may be reinstated as a permanent rate modification. AAP will be sure to keep you informed of this and any rate changes. For now…enjoy a small tax break!!
Quarterly State Unemployment Draft Reminder
Do not get caught unprepared for your quarterly tax payment draft. It is not only our commitment to our clients to report and pay all payroll taxes timely and accurately, but it is our guarantee!
SUTA tax payments are due on or before January 31st, April 30th, July31st and October 31st.
Avoid fees and penalties for overdraft fees by being ready for your draft and making certain that funds are available. If you have any questions on your rate or amounts due, please contact your Customer Service Representative!
Free Payroll!
We are proud that our clients not only trust and rely on AAP to effectively handle their payroll obligations but also that you trust us enough refer your friends and colleagues!
In appreciation for any referral business that you send our way, AAP would like to say thank you in the best way we know how….free payroll to you!
For each new payroll account that you refer and who begins processing with AAP, we will extend a credit to you equal to the amount of the payroll account you refer.
Contact your Business Development Manager or Customer Service Representative if you know someone who could benefit from the same payroll company you depend on!
Florida Imposes An Increase To The Minimum Wage Rate
On June 1, 2011 Florida will raise its minimum wage rate from $7.25 per hour to $7.31. For Tip Compensated employees, the rate will increase from $4.23 per hour to $4.29.
Buried In HR Binders? AAP Has A Solution!
AAP would like to liberate you from the multiple binders and files that we know you use to track your employee information. Compile all of your benefits, attendance and performance reviews, issued property, vehicle information, credential renewals, and other employee information through our HR Module. You can even scan and store employee documents safe and securely within our system.
HR Module is a feature accessible through Evolution, which allows your HR and Payroll information to be shared bi-directionally. Customizable fields let you track and report information in a format that is unique to your business processes, codes and inventory. Make quick and easy updates if your information tracking needs change.
A host of available reports are ready to use, including OSHA Injury Reports and EEO Reports that populate and print format ready. As well, benefit reports are available that allow you to reconcile collections and payments as well as any short falls from insufficient wages versus deductions.
Would having all of your HR and Payroll information in one universal system help increase the efficiency and productivity within your business? Then ditch digging through files of papers and find out how AAP can help! Call your Business Development Manager or email us at sales@aappayroll.com to schedule a demo or answer any questions you may have about getting started!
New To The AAP Family!!!
Add another baby to the AAP family! Sommer gave birth to her second son! Baby Bryson joined the Judy family on May 18th. Mom and Baby are both healthy and enjoying some quality time together!
We would also like to take this time to announce that we are expanding our Raleigh team! Welcome Tanisha Reed to AAP! She will be joining Dorie as a Customer Service Representative. Tanisha was a payroll processor previously, so we are looking forward to adding another knowledgeable and valuable representative to better serve our clients!
Employee of the Month
April
Ashley Bond
Manual time card preparation has become a significant contributor to additional, yet avoidable expenses for employers. Today, automated timekeeping allows an employer to not only avoid the cost and time associated with manually totaling, verifying, and handling the time cards, but it also reduces large amounts of overhead costs, which remain typically overlooked.
AAP has integrated, flexible and affordable time management solutions that help to curb these extra costs and more affectively manage your employees time. Additional time saver….it imports directly into Evolution!
What can a time clock do for you??
Increase accuracy both in payroll hours collected and paid.
Monitor and reduce overtime hours effectively.
Join multiple systems into one bi-directional resource: Time Management, Scheduling Features, Extra Pay Options (i.e Mileage/Receipt Reimbursement), PTO Tracking and Requesting
Spend your time building your business, not chasing down time cards! From simply clocking in and out to a robust multi-functional solution, we can fit your business needs….and budget! Please contact sales@aappayroll.com for more information on how to get this cost saving feature started for your company today!
With the enactment of E-verify and other measures to ensure proper employee work eligibility over the last couple of years, employers are now being held to the test by various government agencies. We have seen Social Security Administration audits validating social security numbers versus reported names as well as Homeland Security validating consistent and acceptable hiring practices.
Minor mistakes, such as reporting a person’s nickname instead of their formal name (i.e. Bobby instead of Robert), can trigger an audit for a person’s social security wages reported. Larger mistakes include what can be viewed as discriminant validation, such as E-verifying or background processing for some employees and not for others.
Your best bet is to maintain solid, consistent policies and procedures when hiring. Offer the same application. Collect the same required personal information. Develop a standard screening process, which should include E-verifying or some other form of work eligibility validation. Most importantly, have a good record keeping process in place. You never know when someone may come knocking for information!
AAP offers E-verify services or can provide information on certifying yourself to submit to E-verify. As well, HR On Demand is a great service to give you hands on communication and up to date guidance on staying compliant, and for far less than a governmental penalty! Let us know if we can help you!
Direct Deposit services allows direct delivery of payroll funds to your employees, eliminates time taken to distribute checks, and time out of the office to allow employee to make deposits, but getting everyone on board is not always an easy task.
While it is recommended to give the choice of direct deposit to maintain good employee morale, this legislation varies state to state, with about 7 states being in support of or have no legislation on the right to mandate.
For those who practice mandatory direct deposit, just remember:
How AAP Can Assist With Direct Deposit:
For more details on direct deposit policies and benefits, please contact your Customer Service Representative!
In efforts to make our Employee Self Serve portal easier to access, we have placed a direct link on the home page of our website. The new “button” is located in the left directory column just below our HR Login.
We hope that this will make it more convenient for your employees. They will still have ability to open the log in page through the User Log In button as well.
Banking Institutions and AAP will be closing on Monday, May 30th in observance of Memorial day. Ensure that your payroll is processed and delivered in a timely manor by making any submission or check date changes with your Customer Service Representative in advance . If you have any questions regarding this holiday closing, please call your Customer Service Representative, and they will be glad to help!
Gina DeGeorge
It is with great pleasure and excitement we would like to announce the further expansion of AAP into the North Carolina payroll market. As of April 1st, we will have purchased an established, payroll company in the Raleigh area by the name of Complete Payroll Services. The owner and operator of 25 years, Rich Kirk, has gracefully entered into retirement and entrusted AAP with the continued success of his business. AAP and CPS have been in communication with each other over the past 6 years in anticipation of this event. We as payroll companies share the same customer service values and hope to extend those values to the acquired 125+ clients that will now be a welcomed part of the AAP teams daily process.
Rich’s Office Manager of 8 years, Dorie McLaughlin, will also be joining the AAP family. She will play a large part in helping to merge AAP and CPS into a well established business in both North and South Carolina. She has been a valued and dedicated member of CPS for almost a decade, and will continue to be a valued member of the AAP family moving forward. Her friendly personality and all-over smile will be a perfect fit for the AAP team.
We at AAP welcome this expansion and are ready for the challenges to take our business to new heights!
Correct names and SSNs on W-2’s are the keys to successful and smoother processing of your annual wage report submission. It saves you additional processing costs and allows us to properly credit the information to your employees’ earnings record. The penalty for incorrectly reporting social security numbers on W-2s is $50 for each incorrect social security number. In a large organization, incorrect reporting of social security numbers could lead to substantial penalties. The correct entry of new hire social security numbers is essential to protecting against incorrect numbers on W-2s.
When setting-up a new employee’s payroll record, ensure accuracy by making a copy of the social security card and using that to enter the employee’s name, (exactly as shown on the card) and social security number. For example, you may hire an employee who calls himself Bud Jones. However, if the name on his social security card is Robert Stephen Jones, you should set up payroll records as Robert Stephen Jones, not Bud Jones. At work everyone may call him Bud, but his payroll records must reflect his legal name on record with the Social Security Administration.
You can now even easily verify social security numbers with E-Verify. The South Carolina Immigration Reform act that was passed July 1 of 2010 requires employers to use E-Verify for all new hires or employ workers who posses a valid driver’s license or identification card issued by South Carolina or other state approved by the SC Department of Motor Vehicles. E-Verify reduces unauthorized employment, minimizes verification– related discrimination, is quick and non-burdensome to employers. Legislation pertaining to this requirement does vary from state to state so give us a call for any additional information. In order to be able to E-verify your employees you would need to become a certified E-Verify user, or you could just a simply let AAP do the work for you as our certification is already in place. Call your Customer Service Representative or contact our Customer support department for more information on how we can make this a very simple process for you!
Employee Self Serve allows a safe and effective way to deliver your company’s pay information via the web. Employees simply log into their password protected link, through the AAP website, and have any time accessibility to present and previous pay history, as well as W-2 information. A much appreciated bonus for employers is that employees can make changes to their name, address, withholding elections and may even re-quest time off through the E.S.S. service. The change requests are delivered to their supervisors for approval and updates are then made to our payroll software.
What’s the biggest benefit for employers?? A massive time reduction on researching and redistributing past payroll information, no charges for W-2 reprints, and less paperwork for employee change requests. The cost per month is often comparable to standard monthly delivery fees. Call your Customer Service Rep to get more information!
Our partnership with National Criminal Search provides you with secure and instant access to a web-based national criminal and sex offender directory. NCS is committed to providing a high quality, low cost, complete solution tailored to meet your criminal background search needs. The system is fast and easy to use allowing for immediate results. Contact our Customer Support department at support@aappayroll.com for more information!
1. Make the process as transparent and open as possible.
2. Be impressed with good performance, and balance constructive criticism with positive feedback.
3. Help employees brainstorm ways to address their areas of improvement.
4. Follow-up with employees to keep the lines of communication open and support their efforts to improve.
5. Help your employees see the link between their performance goals and overall company success
We would like to welcome some new additions to the support team; Colleen O’Connell and Lynn Marshall. They will be taking care of all your tax audits and questions, employment verification, new client conversions and all other payroll support needs. They have joined the team at a great time for AAP, and we are delighted to have them aboard. Our dedicated support team will continue to provide the best customer care and support around!
As we welcome some new additions we also have to say a bitter sweet good bye to a valued member of the team, Traci Cutler. She returned to the team in November of last year after a short sabbatical to take care of some family affairs. We would like to thank her for all her hard work and dedication while keeping a positive attitude and an infectious smile on her face. She will be greatly missed, and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors.
Lisa Burnett
Dear Valued Client,
In a continuing effort to provide added value to our clients we have attached for your use, at no charge, the most recent employment notices/posters. Every employer of employees that are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage provisions must post, and keep posted, a notice explaining the Act in a conspicuous place in all of their establishments so as to permit employees to readily read it. The other federal and state posters that are attached are also required to be posted. All of the included printouts meet the requirement to be in compliance with Federal and State labor laws, and we are happy to place a printed package in the mail to you today!
If you would like to receive the larger versions of these posters please contact your Customer Service Representative or our support department by calling 843-851-2289 or emailing to support@aappayroll.com.
I would also like to personally thank-you for your business and let you know that we are continually adding new services to better serve you. Through our website at www.aapayroll.net you can now conduct criminal background checks on prospective or newly hired employees. Additionally, we have trusted partners we work with for Major Medical, Pay-As-You-Go Workers Comp and
Retirement Planning and Administration. If you would like any detailed information concerning these partners, please let your Customer Service Representative know.
Thanks again,
William Streyffeler, President
FREE WAGE & LABOR POSTERS
Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law
Employee Rights and Responsibilities Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law
Safety and Health Protection on the Job
For specific posters or available Spanish versions, please call or forward a request to support@aappayroll.com . These are also now available on our website on the Links Page.
Corporate Payroll Office
703 N. Main St., Ste. C
Summerville, SC 29483
sales@aappayroll.com
Columbia Payroll Office
795 Greenlawn Drive
Columbia, SC 29209
sales@aappayroll.com
North Carolina Payroll Office
148 Wind Chime Ct.
Raleigh, NC 27615
sales@aappayroll.com
