Talk to Sales: 1. QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Self-Employed. QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program. QuickBooks Online Accountant. QuickBooks Desktop Account. QuickBooks Online Payroll. QuickBooks Payments. Other Intuit Services. QuickBooks Time. Try it Free. QuickBooks Time Pricing. Time Pricing. Time Tracking. Mobile App. Time Kiosk. GPS Time Tracker. Project tracker. Who's Working. Time Card Options. PTO Tracker. Employee Scheduling. Job Scheduling. Shift Scheduling. Scheduling App. Keep this in mind when choosing a payroll template to use for your employees.
Personnel files often contain much of the documentation listed above. Therefore, a simple way to remain compliant is to box personnel files after an employee leaves the company and save those files for three years. In most cases, you have three storage options for payroll records that you need to keep. You can keep the files yourself, box and store the paper files off-site, or maintain the documents and data electronically. Here are some considerations for paper versus electronic payroll file storage.
There are companies like DocuSign that store electronic data for you. Most HR and Payroll software have document storage capabilities, allowing you to upload scanned copies of employee documents like the W-4 and I-9 forms. You can typically also input employee data directly into the system. Other agencies, like the EEOC, are more specific and govern record retention for documents it uses exclusively to serve its mission.
Most of this information can be found on hiring docs, pay stubs, and timecards, including:. In addition, the ERISA requires that you retain retirement plan documents like premium payments and k plans for six years. These records include enrollment documents, payment documents, and payroll deductions taken. Since you need to keep payroll tax deductions for four years, you may want to hold on to paper pay stubs for four years rather than three unless you have the data stored electronically.
The EEOC requires employers to keep payroll information from one to three years and includes information such as pay scales, merit increases, and rationale for pay rate changes to prevent discrimination.
For example, job evaluations you need to keep for two years, which is the length of time a current or former employee has to review their personnel folder and dispute a salary increase, according to the Fair Pay Act. Some documents that may be subject to the two-year requirement under the FLSA may be subject to a three-year—or lengthier—requirement under applicable state law. While federal law does not require the employer to provide employees with pay stubs, many states do—whether the pay stub is printed or electronic, Sokolow noted.
In California, employers must maintain accurate information for each employee in English in ink or another unalterable form, Orr said. The information must be dated and kept on file for at least three years at the place of employment or a central location within the state.
Employers must record additional information for California nonexempt employees, such as meal periods and split-shift intervals. When applicable, piece rates or an explanation of an incentive plan formula must be recorded and provided to California employees. Employers should work with counsel to ensure compliance with the state-specific requirements for each location in which they operate—to the extent that such laws impose more stringent requirements than the FLSA, Rice said. Orr noted that most attorneys maintain charts on the various jurisdictions' record-retention requirements to determine how long government agencies and various laws require specific payroll records to be retained.
Employers of all sizes should develop a records-management program that addresses who has access to the records and the form in which they are kept—including guidance on both paper and electronic documentation, she added. This was the first in a three-part series of articles on wage and hour compliance. The next installment will examine the differences between federal and state overtime requirements. The final segment will discuss federal and state laws that apply to tipped employees.
Was this article useful? SHRM offers thousands of tools, templates and other exclusive member benefits, including compliance updates, sample policies, HR expert advice, education discounts, a growing online member community and much more.
You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. As the years pass and you hire more hourly employees, those payroll records can quickly become a lot to keep track of. So, the question is, what are the specific recordkeeping requirements? And which records can you take off your hands and out of your office? Federal, state, and local laws require you to keep your payroll records.
Clearly, payroll record retention is a must for protecting your business. But again, the question is—how long do you need to retain those records? Different types of payroll records have different retention requirements—or, in other words, you can get rid of some of your payroll records sooner than others. But the very soonest you can get rid of any payroll records? Two years—and even at the two-year mark, there are very few payroll records you can get rid of:. The first type of payroll record you can get rid of after two years are any records concerning pay grade increases.
According to the US Department of Labor DOL Wage and Hour Division, you can also offload records on which wage computations are based at the two-year mark, including timecards, work and time schedules, and wage rate tables. Just make sure to keep payroll records with all the required identifying information for each employee on hand for at least three years to comply with the FLSA record retention requirements. When you have a lot of employees, keeping track of payroll records—and how long to keep them—can feel overwhelming.
And while the time companies keep records on file varies between two and four years depending on the record , the Small Business Association SBA recommends businesses keep their payroll records for six years. Here's a payroll records checklist you can use to stay compliant:. Manually managing and maintaining your payroll records on your own can take a lot of time, energy, and resources.
0コメント