On April 26, the IRS announced transition relief for employers that sponsored Health Savings Account (HSA) qualified plans for their employees in 2018. The maximum HSA contribution limit for individuals with a family high-deductible health plan (HDHP) remains at the original 2018 level of $6,900 instead of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) level of $6,850 [Rev. Proc. 2018-27].

On July 5, during the IRS’s payroll industry call, Scott Pederson, a Program Analyst in the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of Electronic Services and Technology, provided an overview of some of the changes that SSA has made to its Business Services Online (BSO) suite of services for the 2019 filing season.

As of August 31, 2018, employers should be using only the revised version of the standard child support withholding order, Income Withholding for Support(IWO), with an expiration date of August 31, 2020. The form is required to be used in all child support cases.

APA’s July 2018 edition of Compliance TV covers the IRS’s release of a draft of the 2019 Form W-4, news on a potential increase on E-filing returns, and the announcement that New Jersey will now require paid sick leave.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has updated its list of potential FUTA credit reduction states for 2018. While California and the Virgin Islands are both listed, the Virgin Islands might be the only state/territory subject to a FUTA credit reduction for 2018.

Employees who travel outside of their states of residence for business purposes are potentially subject to filing an income tax return in every other state into which they traveled, even if they were there for only one day.

The CaliforniaSupreme Court determined that the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA’s) de minimisdoctrine does not apply to claims for unpaid wages under California’s wage and hour statutes or regulations, including Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders.

On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed H.R. 1, also known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), into law (Pub. L. 115-97). The TJCA, which marks the most sweeping tax changes in 30 years, will impact payroll professionals in 2018 and beyond. Most of the changes in the TJCA took effect January 1, 2018, and will remain in effect through 2025.

The IRS has announced changes to some of the previously announced 2018 cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) [Rev. Proc. 2018-18, 2018-10 IRB 392]. The new COLA amounts reflect tax law changes created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs.

California Labor Law AB-168, which prohibits employers and its agents from inquiring salary history including benefits info from applicants went into effect January 1, 2018. Please see link below.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/fa…/billTextClient.xhtml…