From pamella.johnson at state.or.us Wed Jan 10 08:10:35 2018 From: pamella.johnson at state.or.us (Pamella Johnson) Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2018 16:10:35 +0000 Subject: [OSSSA218] ACCUWAGE Application From the SSA Message-ID: <36932244a7f54dd9a78c7f94575686ae@v-exchdb01.a4590.pers.state.or.us> Good morning Section 218 Employers: In this very busy season of W-2s, 1099s, reports, and more reporting there is help! AccuWage Online is a free application from Social Security Administration that enables you to check W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) and W-2c (Corrected Wage and Tax Statement) Wage reports for correctness before uploading them to Business Services Online. If you need assistance with AccuWage, you can call them directly at 1-800-772-6270, or you can reach them by email at accuwage.help at ssa.gov. Have a good day. Pamella Pamella Johnson Oregon State Social Security Administration *****CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE***** All information in this email, including attachments, is approved solely for delivery to and authorized use by its intended recipients. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message and/or any of its attachments by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful. If you are not an intended recipient of this message or an authorized assistant to an intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete it from your system. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pamella.johnson at state.or.us Thu Jan 11 13:24:27 2018 From: pamella.johnson at state.or.us (Pamella Johnson) Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2018 21:24:27 +0000 Subject: [OSSSA218] 2018 Withholding Tables Announced By the IRS - 01/11/2018 Message-ID: <19c205556778470ea02a5eaf0e7fc6fb@v-exchdb01.a4590.pers.state.or.us> Good afternoon: Below you will find an announcement from the IRS. Thank you. Pamella Pamella Johnson Oregon State Social Security Administration Updated 2018 Withholding Tables Now Available; Taxpayers Could See Paycheck Changes by February WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service today released Notice 1036, which updates the income-tax withholding tables for 2018 reflecting changes made by the tax reform legislation enacted last month. This is the first in a series of steps that IRS will take to help improve the accuracy of withholding following major changes made by the new tax law. The updated withholding information, posted today on IRS.gov, shows the new rates for employers to use during 2018. Employers should begin using the 2018 withholding tables as soon as possible, but not later than Feb. 15, 2018. They should continue to use the 2017 withholding tables until implementing the 2018 withholding tables. Many employees will begin to see increases in their paychecks to reflect the new law in February. The time it will take for employees to see the changes in their paychecks will vary depending on how quickly the new tables are implemented by their employers and how often they are paid - generally weekly, biweekly or monthly. The new withholding tables are designed to work with the Forms W-4 that workers have already filed with their employers to claim withholding allowances. This will minimize burden on taxpayers and employers. Employees do not have to do anything at this time. "The IRS appreciates the help from the payroll community working with us on these important changes," said Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter. "Payroll withholding can be complicated, and the needs of taxpayers vary based on their personal financial situation. In the weeks ahead, the IRS will be providing more information to help people understand and review these changes." The new law makes a number of changes for 2018 that affect individual taxpayers. The new tables reflect the increase in the standard deduction, repeal of personal exemptions and changes in tax rates and brackets. For people with simpler tax situations, the new tables are designed to produce the correct amount of tax withholding. The revisions are also aimed at avoiding over- and under-withholding of tax as much as possible. To help people determine their withholding, the IRS is revising the withholding tax calculator on IRS.gov. The IRS anticipates this calculator should be available by the end of February. Taxpayers are encouraged to use the calculator to adjust their withholding once it is released. The IRS is also working on revising the Form W-4. Form W-4 and the revised calculator will reflect additional changes in the new law, such as changes in available itemized deductions, increases in the child tax credit, the new dependent credit and repeal of dependent exemptions. The calculator and new Form W-4 can be used by employees who wish to update their withholding in response to the new law or changes in their personal circumstances in 2018, and by workers starting a new job. Until a new Form W-4 is issued, employees and employers should continue to use the 2017 Form W-4. In addition, the IRS will help educate taxpayers about the new withholding guidelines and the calculator. The effort will be designed to help workers ensure that they are not having too much or too little withholding taken out of their pay. For 2019, the IRS anticipates making further changes involving withholding. The IRS will work with the business and payroll community to encourage workers to file new Forms W-4 next year and share information on changes in the new tax law that impact withholding. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pamella.johnson at state.or.us Thu Jan 18 12:59:24 2018 From: pamella.johnson at state.or.us (Pamella Johnson) Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2018 20:59:24 +0000 Subject: [OSSSA218] Form W-2 Phishing Scheme Reminder From the IRS Message-ID: <8ea8b6e7732f4271a1bb91e069cacb34@v-exchdb01.a4590.pers.state.or.us> Good afternoon Section 218 Employers: Below is a timely reminder from the IRS related to Form W-2 scams which occur during the January tax season. Several Oregon public entities were victimized by this particular scam in 2017. Thank you. Pamella Pamella Johnson Oregon State Social Security Administration *****CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE***** All information in this email, including attachments, is approved solely for delivery to and authorized use by its intended recipients. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message and/or any of its attachments by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful. If you are not an intended recipient of this message or an authorized assistant to an intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete it from your system. IRS, States and Tax Industry Warn Employers to Beware of Form W-2 Scam; Tax Season Could Bring New Surge in Phishing Scheme WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service, state tax agencies and the tax industry today urged all employers to educate their payroll personnel about a Form W-2 phishing scam that made victims of hundreds of organizations and thousands of employees last year. The Form W-2 scam has emerged as one of the most dangerous phishing emails in the tax community. During the last two tax seasons, cybercriminals tricked payroll personnel or people with access to payroll information into disclosing sensitive information for entire workforces. The scam affected all types of employers, from small and large businesses to public schools and universities, hospitals, tribal governments and charities. Reports to phishing at irs.gov from victims and nonvictims about this scam jumped to approximately 900 in 2017, compared to slightly over 100 in 2016. Last year, more than 200 employers were victimized, which translated into hundreds of thousands of employees who had their identities compromised. By alerting employers now, the IRS and its partners in the Security Summit effort hope to limit the success of this scam in 2018. The IRS last year also created a new process by which employers should report these scams. There are steps the IRS can take to protect employees, but only if the agency is notified immediately by employers about the theft. Here's how the scam works: Cybercriminals do their homework, identifying chief operating officers, school executives or others in positions of authority. Using a technique known as business email compromise (BEC) or business email spoofing (BES), fraudsters posing as executives send emails to payroll personnel requesting copies of Forms W-2 for all employees. The Form W-2 contains the employee's name, address, Social Security number, income and withholdings. Criminals use that information to file fraudulent tax returns, or they post it for sale on the Dark Net. The initial email may be a friendly, "hi, are you working today" exchange before the fraudster asks for all Form W-2 information. In several reported cases, after the fraudsters acquired the workforce information, they immediately followed that up with a request for a wire transfer. In addition to educating payroll or finance personnel, the IRS and Security Summit partners also urge employers to consider creating a policy to limit the number of employees who have authority to handle Form W-2 requests and that they require additional verification procedures to validate the actual request before emailing sensitive data such as employee Form W-2s. If the business or organization victimized by these attacks notifies the IRS, the IRS can take steps to help prevent employees from being victims of tax-related identity theft. However, because of the nature of these scams, some businesses and organizations did not realize for days, weeks or months that they had been scammed. The IRS established a special email notification address specifically for employers to report Form W-2 data thefts. Here's how Form W-2 scam victims can notify the IRS: * Email dataloss at irs.gov to notify the IRS of a Form W-2 data loss and provide contact information, as listed below. * In the subject line, type "W2 Data Loss" so that the email can be routed properly. Do not attach any employee personally identifiable information data. * Include the following: * Business name * Business employer identification number (EIN) associated with the data loss * Contact name * Contact phone number * Summary of how the data loss occurred * Volume of employees impacted Businesses and organizations that fall victim to the scam and/or organizations that only receive a suspect email but do not fall victim to the scam should send the full email headers to phishing at irs.gov and use "W2 Scam" in the subject line. Employers can learn more at Form W-2/SSN Data Theft: Information for Businesses and Payroll Service Providers. Employers should be aware that cybercriminals' scams constantly evolve. Finance and payroll personnel should be alert to any unusual requests for employee data. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pamella.johnson at state.or.us Mon Jan 22 14:17:19 2018 From: pamella.johnson at state.or.us (Pamella Johnson) Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2018 22:17:19 +0000 Subject: [OSSSA218] Annual Request for W-2 Count for Section 218 Employers -- Oregon State Social Security Administration Message-ID: Dear Section 218 Employer: Attached please find the form requesting information on the total number of W-2s issued by your entity for employees for the year ending December 31, 2017. This should include all W-2s which reflect FICA withholdings. Annually this information is gathered for the computation of the yearly Oregon State Social Security administrative fee. The statistics supplied by you for the year ending 2017 will become the basis for the fee paid in 2019 - 2020 by your entity. Please return the completed form at your earliest convenience via email, fax or by mail. Don't forget to include contact details at the bottom of the form for update purposes. Thanking you in advance for your assistance. Sincerely, Pamella Pamella Johnson Oregon State Social Security Administration Oregon PERS *****CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE***** All information in this email, including attachments, is approved solely for delivery to and authorized use by its intended recipients. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message and/or any of its attachments by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful. If you are not an intended recipient of this message or an authorized assistant to an intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete it from your system. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Information Request 2019-2020.doc Type: application/msword Size: 49152 bytes Desc: Information Request 2019-2020.doc URL: From pamella.johnson at state.or.us Tue Jan 30 07:58:38 2018 From: pamella.johnson at state.or.us (Pamella Johnson) Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2018 15:58:38 +0000 Subject: [OSSSA218] IRS Publication 15 Employer Tax Guide for 2018 Message-ID: Good morning Section 218 Employers: The IRS has posted their Publication 15 for use in 2018. The link is: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf Thank you! Pamella Pamella Johnson Oregon State Social Security Administration *****CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE***** All information in this email, including attachments, is approved solely for delivery to and authorized use by its intended recipients. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message and/or any of its attachments by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful. If you are not an intended recipient of this message or an authorized assistant to an intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete it from your system. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: