Deferral of Employee Portion of Social Security Tax from September 1 to December 31

 

Source: Bloomberg Tax

Employee Social Security Tax Deferred from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31

• The relief is in addition to the deferral of the employer portion of Social Security tax with respect to March 27 to Dec. 31.

• Employees generally must have biweekly pay of less than $4,000 to be eligible for the new deferral.

Withholding, deposits, and payments of the employee portion of Social Security tax are to be deferred with respect to the period from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2020, under a presidential memorandum signed Aug. 8 by President Donald Trump.

This relief for employees is separate from, and in addition to, the deferral of deposits and payments of the employer portion of Social Security tax with respect to the period from March 27 to Dec. 31, 2020, which was authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The deferral provisions pertaining to the employee portion of Social Security tax are to apply only to compensation paid to employees whose biweekly pretax compensation generally is less than $4,000. The employee portion of Medicare tax is not affected by the memorandum, as the memorandum specifies its applicability to the employee portion of Social Security tax imposed by Internal Revenue Code Section 3101(a) without also identifying applicability to the employee portion of Medicare tax imposed by IRC Section 3101(b).

Although the memorandum indicates that deferrals of the employee portion of Social Security tax are available with regard to compensation paid during the period from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, the memorandum does not indicate that the employee relief would extend to deposit deadlines from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 for assessments on compensation paid before that period. By contrast, deferrals of the employer portion of Social Security tax are available both with respect to deposit deadlines that occur within the period from March 27 to Dec. 31, even if those deposit deadlines are for assessments on compensation paid before that period, and deposit deadlines after that period but that are based on compensation paid during that period.

While the CARES Act did not require employers to defer their portion of Social Security tax and instead merely provided them with the option to do so, Sections 1 and 2 of the memorandum appear to have the combined effect of requiring the deferral of the employee portion of Social Security tax for eligible employees. It is likely that Treasury Department guidance issued pursuant to Section 3 of the memorandum will clarify whether deferral of the employee portion of Social Security tax indeed is required.

Although the CARES Act specified that half of the deferred employer portion of Social Security tax would be due Dec. 31, 2021, with the other half due Dec. 31, 2022, the memorandum does not specify when the deferred employee portion of Social Security tax would be due. Instead, Section 3 of the memorandum authorizes the Treasury Department to issue guidance that would clarify when the deferred employee portion would be due.

However, the memorandum identified that there is a possibility that the deferral of the employee portion of Social Security tax with respect to the period from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 will be transformed into an elimination of the liability to pay that amount. Section 4 of the memorandum specifies in this regard that the Treasury Department “shall explore avenues, including legislation, to eliminate the obligation to pay the taxes deferred pursuant to the implementation of this memorandum.”

As it is uncertain whether the liability to pay the deferred amounts of the employee portion of Social Security is to eventually be eliminated, the deferrals of the employee portion of Social Security tax are for now, like the deferrals of the employer portion of Social Security tax, not to be treated as deferrals of liability.

Therefore, for now, the employee portion of Social Security tax, even with deferrals, that normally would be due with respect to the period from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 would need to continue to be included in Lines 12 and 16 of Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, and in applicable boxes for Form 941’s Schedule B for semiweekly depositors, with respect to the returns reporting data for the period from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31. Amounts of the employee portion of Social Security tax, regardless of deferral, also would continue to be factored into determinations during the period from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 of whether an employer must perform a next-day deposit because it accumulated employment tax liability of at least $100,000.

In light of the new line 13b that was added to Form 941, upon the release of its finalized revision June 19, to report deferrals of the employer portion of Social Security tax, it remains to be seen whether Form 941 will be further modified to accommodate reporting of deferrals of the employee portion of Social Security tax.

Attention: For more information, refer to the Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-deferring-payroll-tax-obligations-light-ongoing-covid-19-disaster/?fbclid=IwAR19mUMFDE3Sr62xogkuwOM9kHtg17Rw3vaancO78WBacuDqlrO445uof3w

Costpoint Solution

Based on the information provided in the memorandum, here are the required steps you will need to take to be compliant with the federal requirement:

Warning: Before computing payroll for your first paycheck in September 2020, you must complete steps 1 and 2 even if you have not yet downloaded this MR.

1. Identify the employees that are eligible for deferral from their portion of Social Security taxes by identifying employees that generally have biweekly pay of less than $4,000.

2. Clear the Subject to Social Security check box on the Manage Employee Taxes screen for the identified employees. This will impede the calculation of both the employee’s portion of Social Security taxes and the employer’s portion of Social Security taxes when Compute Payroll is processed. This step MUST be done before the first paycheck with a date that falls within the 9/1/2020 to 12/31/2020 period of deferral.

3. The presidential memorandum states that only the employee’s portion of Social Security taxes will be deferred. Therefore, after you post payroll and before you generate the Quarterly Federal Tax Report for 941 reporting, you will need to download this MR in order to obtain the updates that will allow you to calculate the employer portion of the Social Security tax and the employee’s Social Security taxable wages.

4. Once this MR is loaded, query the employees that were identified for deferral from the employee portion of Social Security taxes and select the new Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box for each of the employees. Selecting this check box indicates that the employer is still liable for their portion of the Social Security taxes while the employee’s Social Security Withholding is in a deferred status from 09/01/2020 through 12/31/2020.

5. In order to update the employer’s Social Security tax liability and the employee’s Social Security taxable wages, you will need to run the Recompute Taxable Wages application. If an employee’s Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box is selected in Manage Employee Taxes and the check date falls within the 9/1/2020 to 12/31/2020 deferral period, the Recompute Taxable Wages application will perform the following:

• Calculate and populate the Manage Employee Earnings History record with the employer’s Social Security taxable wages.

• Calculate and populate the Manage Employee Earnings History record with the employer’s Social Security tax accrual amount.

• Calculate and populate the Manage Employee Earnings History record with the employee’s Social Security taxable wages.

Manage Employee Taxes (PRMETAX)

Note: The updates in this section also apply to the Taxes subtask on the Manage Employee Information screen.

The screen provides the following new field:

Field

Description

Employer Subject to Social Security Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages

Use this check box in conjunction with the Social Security check box in the Subject to group box to comply with the presidential memorandum signed 8/8/2020 which mandates a deferral of the employee portion of Social Security tax for compensation paid to employees whose biweekly pretax compensation generally is less than $4,000. If an employee is subject to deferral of their Social Security withholding under the memorandum, but the employer is still responsible for their portion of the Social Security tax, this screen should be set up as follows: 1. Clear the Social Security check box in the Subject To group box. This suspends the computation of both the employee Social Security withholding tax and the employer Social Security tax liability on the Compute Payroll screen. 2. Select the Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box. This indicates that the employer is still liable for their portion of the Social Security taxes while the employee’s Social Security Withholding is in a deferred status from 09/01/2020 through 12/31/2020. If an employee’s Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box is selected on Manage Employee Taxes screen and the check date falls within the 9/1/2020 to 12/31/2020 deferral period, Recompute Taxable Wages application will perform the following: Calculate and populate the Manage Employee Earnings History record with the employer’s Social Security taxable wages Calculate and populate the Manage Employee Earnings History record with the employer’s Social Security tax accrual amount. Calculate and populate the Manage Employee Earnings History record with the employee’s Social Security taxable wages. This check box will only be visible if the Social Security check box in the Subject to group box is not selected. Note: This check box will have no effect on calculations done on the Compute Payroll application. Since the employee's Subject to Social Security check box is not selected, Compute Payroll will calculate an Employee Social Security Withholding and Employer Social Security Accrual of 0.00. If the Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box is selected, the employer Social Security accrual will be calculated after posting payroll when Recompute Taxable Wages is run.

This release applies the following changes to the screen layout:

• The Subject to group box is no longer in the Federal group box.

• The SUTA group box is now displayed above the Withholding State group box

• The AEIC group box and its fields are no longer available.

Manage Employee Earnings History (PRMERF)

The Employee Tax Setup tab provides a new Social Security Deferral group box. This contains fields related to the presidential memorandum signed 8/8/2020 which mandates a deferral of the employee portion of Social Security tax for compensation paid to employees whose biweekly pretax compensation generally is less than $4,000. Withholding, deposits, and payments of the employee portion of Social Security tax are to be deferred with respect to the period from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2020. Due to the temporary nature of this deferral and the fact that the IRS may ultimately require employers to report what the employee’s Social Security taxable wages and withholding would have been had they not been deferred, Costpoint stores these values as information-only.

The contents of this group box will be populated by the Recompute Taxable Wages screen and will only be populated for records that have already been posted to payroll.

If the employee’s Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box is selected on the Manage Employee Taxes screen, the Recompute Taxable Wages application will recognize the employee as one that is eligible for Social Security withholding deferral under the presidential memorandum signed on 8/8/2020. Under this scenario, the Recompute Taxable Wages application will take the following actions on the Employee Earnings History records that fall within the specified date range:

• The Employee Social Security Withholding Deferred check box will become selected to indicate the record was processed for the Social Security withholding deferral.

• The application will calculate what the Employee Social Security Taxable Wages would have been had withholding not been deferred and store that amount as information-only in the Deferred Employee Social Security Taxable Wages field.

• The application will calculate what the Employee Social Security withholding amount would have been had withholding not been deferred and store that amount as information-only in the Deferred Employee Social Security Withholding field.

Note: The Social Security Deferral group box and its fields will only be visible if the record was processed through Recompute Taxable Wages and the employee’s, but not the employer’s, portion of the Social Security tax liability was deferred. The following is the setup for this scenario:

• The employee’s Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box is selected on the Manage Employee Taxes screen.

• The Employee Earnings History record was processed by the Recompute Taxable Wages screen where the Recompute - Social Security Taxable and Accrual check box and Apply Employee’s Current Taxability - Social Security check box were both selected.

The Social Security Deferral group box contains the following fields:

Field	Description
Employee Social Security Withholding Deferred	This check box indicates whether or not the employee’s Social Security withholding was deferred under the presidential memorandum signed on 8/8/2020.
Deferred Employee Social Security Withholding	This field displays what the employee’s portion of the Social Security tax liability would have been if it had not been deferred under the presidential memorandum signed on 8/8/2020.
Deferred Employee Social Security Taxable Wages	This field displays what the employee’s Social Security taxable wages would have been if it had not been deferred under the presidential memorandum signed on 8/8/2020.

 

Recompute Taxable Wages (PRPRCOMP)

The screen now has the ability to compute the Employer Social Security Accrual, but not the Employee Social Security Withholding, for employees that have the Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box selected on the Manage Employee Taxes screen.

 

Print Data Dictionary Report (SYRDD)

The report now provides information for the following fields that were added for this enhancement:

Table	Field
EMPL_TAX	Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages (ER_SS_ACCRUAL_FL)
EMPL_TAX_ADT	Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages (ER_SS_ACCRUAL_FL)

 

Updated Federal Tax Report for Social Security Deferral Based on CARES Act Memorandum

A presidential memorandum was signed last 8/8/2020 which mandates a deferral of the employee portion of Social Security tax for compensation paid to employees whose biweekly pretax compensation generally is less than $4,000. In addition to other Costpoint features released to comply with the memorandum, the Quarterly Federal Payroll Tax Report now provides information on employees who had deferred social security withholding between 9/1/2020 and 12/31/2020.

The Print Quarterly Federal Payroll Tax Report screen features the following changes:

• When Costpoint determines the Employee Social Security Taxable Wages in order to compute the Calculated Employee Social Security Withholding, Costpoint only includes gross wages from Employee Earnings (EMPL_EARNINGS) records that were subject to social security.

Due to the latest CARES Act Memorandum, which defers Social Security withholding for employees generally making less than $4,000 biweekly, Costpoint Payroll users had to clear the Subject to - Social Security check box on the Manage Employee Taxes screen for the affected employees so that social security would not be withheld for them. The Compute Payroll process then set the Employee Social Security Taxable Wages to 0.00.

For this scenario, Costpoint now performs the following actions:

• Track the social security taxable wages for employees and employers.

• Calculate and include social security taxable wages from Employee Earnings records that were flagged for social security deferral even though the Subject to - Social Security check box was not selected for each of those records.

• The FICA Summary section now includes the total deferred Social Security employee withholding in order to show how the deferral impacts the expected FICA liability.

• A new Deferred Employee Social Security Withholding report lists employees that had deferred Social Security withholding during the 9/1/2020 to 12/31/2020 period. The report provides the following fields/information:

• Employee

• Name

• Deferred Social Security Taxable Wages

• Deferred Social Security Withholding

2020 Guam Tax Table Update/Income Tax Withholding and the Ability to Use 2020 W-4 Logic for Other Territories

Costpoint will now support Guam tax table updates and income tax withholding beginning tax year 2020 and the ability to use the 2020 W-4 logic for other territories. The enhancement features the following updates:

• The Manage State Taxes (PRMSTI) screen provides a new check box that indicates whether or not the U.S. territory’s income tax calculations are the same as the federal income tax calculations.

• This release adds Guam tax records effective 01/01/2020 on the following screens:

• Manage State Taxes

• Manage State Standard Deductions

• Manage State Tax Withholding Adjustments

• Manage State Tax Tables

• All applications which calculate Guam taxable wages and tax withholding will be updated to accommodate Guam’s requirements.

• Costpoint ESS will allow employees to provide their state W-4 data for Guam and any other territory with income tax calculations that are the same as the federal income tax calculations.

Filing Status Updates

Costpoint provides new filing statuses for Guam to indicate if the withholding method will be based on the 2020 Form W-4. This enhancement includes the following changes:

• Six filing statuses were added.

• Descriptions of existing filing statuses were updated.

• The length of the S_ST_FIL_STAT_NAME column in the STATE_FILING_STATUS table increased from 50 to 80 characters.

The following are the filing status codes for Guam:

Filing Status Code	Filing Status Description
EXEMPT	Exempt from state taxes
SINGLE	Single, 2019 W4 or earlier
MARRIED FILING SEPARATELY	Married filing separately, 2019 W4 or earlier
MARRIED FILING JOINTLY	Married filing jointly, 2019 W4 or earlier
HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD	Head of household, 2019 W4 or earlier
QUALIFYING WIDOW(ER)	Qualifying widow(er), 2019 W4 or earlier
SINGLE 2020 W4 STEP 2	Single/Married Filing Separately, 2020 W4 Step 2 Checked
MARRIED 2020 W4 STEP 2	Married filing jointly/Qualifying Widow(er), 2020 W4 Step 2 Checked
HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD W4 STEP 2	Head of household, 2020 W4 Step 2 Checked
SINGLE 2020 W4	Single/Married Filing Separately, 2020 W4 Step 2 Unchecked
MARRIED 2020 W4	Married filing jointly/Qualifying Widow(er), 2020 W4 Step 2 Unchecked
HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD 2020 W4	Head of household, 2020 W4 Step 2 Unchecked

Manage State Taxes (PRMSTI)

The screen provides the following new field:

Field	Description
Territory Tax based on Federal Tax	The screen selects this check box if the U.S. territory income tax system mirrors the federal income tax system. Currently, the screen selects this check box if the state is Guam or Virgin Islands. This check box is not editable.

Compute Payroll (PRPCPR)

The application now has the ability to process the income tax withholding of U.S. territories based on federal income tax withholding calculation. Currently, this is applicable to both Virgin Islands and Guam.

Manage Payroll Records (PRMPTF)

The application now has the ability to process the income tax withholding of U.S. territories based on federal income tax withholding calculation. Currently, this is applicable to both Virgin Islands and Guam.

Manage Employee Taxes (PRMETAX)

The screen now allows employees to provide their state W-4 data for Guam and any other territory with income tax calculations that are the same as the federal income tax calculations.

Federal Withholding (ESMFEDWH)

The screen now allows employees to provide their state W-4 data for Guam and any other territory with income tax calculations that are the same as the federal income tax calculations.

State Withholding (ESMSTATEWH)

The screen now allows employees to provide their state W-4 data for Guam and any other territory with income tax calculations that are the same as the federal income tax calculations.

Life Events/New Hires (ESMLIFEEVENT)

The screen now allows employees to provide their state W-4 data for Guam and any other territory with income tax calculations that are the same as the federal income tax calculations.

Configure State Tax Settings (AOMESSST)

The screen provides the following changes:

• The Equal to Federal functionality will not be available for territories flagged as having income tax calculation based on federal income tax calculation.

• The length of Filing Status Description increased from 50 to 80 characters.

Print Data Dictionary Report (SYRDD)

The report was updated to reflect the following field changes:

Field	Table	Change
S_ST_FIL_STAT_NAME	STATE_FILING_STATUS	The length increased from 50 to 80 characters.
FIL_ST_DESC	ESS_STATE_TAX_LN	The length increased from 50 to 80 characters.
TERRITORY_TAX_FL	STATE_TAX_HS	This is a new field.

Manage Employee Information (LDMEINFO)

The Taxes subtask now allows employees to provide their state W-4 data for Guam and any other territory with income tax calculations that are the same as the federal income tax calculations.

Manage Employee Earnings History (PRMERF)

A new column (STATE_TAX_HS.TERRITORY_TAX_FL) was added to the work table(s) used by the application.

Print Soc Sec and Medicare Reconciliation Report (PRRFICA)

A new column (STATE_TAX_HS.TERRITORY_TAX_FL) was added to the work table(s) used by the application.

Print Quarterly Federal Payroll Tax Report (PRRFDTAX)

A new column (STATE_TAX_HS.TERRITORY_TAX_FL) was added to the work table(s) used by the application.

Recompute Taxable Wages (PRPRCOMP)

The application now recomputes Guam’s taxable wages based on the new code for processing of U.S. Territories income tax withholding, which is based on federal income tax withholding calculation.

2020 Maryland SUTA Electronic Filing

 

The Maryland Division of Unemployment Insurance announced that its new system, BEACON, goes live late September 2020. The filing of the quarterly wage reports will still be done using the current method and format until late September 2020. The third quarter 2020 wage reports will be the first quarter that will be filed in the new BEACON system.

Attention: For more information, refer to the FAQs for Tax Filing Employers and Third Party Agents - Unemployment Insurance Modernization: http://www.dllr.maryland.gov/uim/employer/uimempfaqs.shtml.

This Costpoint release updates the Manage SUTA Tax File Data screen and the Create Quarterly SUTA Tax File screen to support Maryland’s new EFW2 format for the BEACON system.

Manage SUTA Tax File Data (PRMSMM)

If you enter MD (Maryland) as the SUTA State field, the application now enables the Employee Count Method field. The Contact Name field is now required for Maryland.

Create Quarterly SUTA Tax File (PRPSMM)

If you create a tax file for Maryland, the application uses the EFW2 format for the new BEACON system.

Colorado State Filing Status

The 2020 Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate, was revamped to reflect the elimination of withholding allowances under the tax code overhaul. The new form relies on dollar-amount adjustments reported by employees to calculate income tax withholding.

Revisions to the federal form created a wave of changes in states that used the federal withholding certificate for state income tax withholding purposes and states that used allowances in withholding formulas.

Colorado was among the states that did not develop state withholding certificates and continued to use federal Form W-4 for state withholding. Head of household is a newly added filing status in the federal 2020 Form W-4, and before this release, Colorado did have the Head of Household filing status in Costpoint. This release adds the Head of Household filing status for Colorado in Costpoint for any employee who selected this filing status in the 2020 Form W-4.

Note: Colorado has a flat income tax rate of 4.63% regardless of filing status.

Costpoint PATCH3790 adds the Head of Household filing status records for Colorado on the following screens:

• Manage State Tax Withholding Adjustments

• Manage State Standard Deductions

• Manage State Tax Tables

The patch also applies the following updates to the State Filing Status (STATE_FILING_STATUS) table:

• The new HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD filing status was added.

• The descriptions of MARRIED and SINGLE OR MARRIED filing statuses were updated.

Idaho Income Tax Withholding

The Idaho State Tax Commission released the 2020 withholding methods with the following updates to the highest tax brackets:

• For married individuals, the highest tax bracket now starts at the annual income of $48,320, up from $47,508.

• For other individuals, the highest tax bracket now starts at the annual income of $24,160, up from $23,754.

This release updates the income tax bracket thresholds on the Manage State Tax Tables screen, effective 01/01/2020, to reflect the state tax changes. In addition, the effective date of all Idaho tax tables on the following screens will be updated to 01/01/2020:

• Manage State Taxes

• Manage State Standard Deductions

• Manage State Tax Withholding Adjustments

New Jersey SUTA Electronic Filing

New Jersey’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development phased out all types of magnetic media and replaced them with the Employer Report of Wages Paid (WR-30) form. All employers must file their quarterly wage reporting information (Form WR-30) electronically either online via the New Jersey Payroll Taxes and Wage Withholding-Filing, Payment, and Reporting Service or by Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).

The most recent file layout for New Jersey SUTA electronic filing added the Record Terminus Character field in position 160 of both M and B records. In addition to this change, amended files should also report X in position 159 of the M record.

The following tables show the updated file layouts for M and B Records in the fixed length file format.

Fixed Length File Format

M Record

Record Location	Field Name	Field Length	Type	Description & Remarks
1	Record ID	1	A/N	Always "M"
2	FEIN	12	N	Federal Employer Identification Number
14	Filler	2	A/N	Spaces
16	Employer Name	36	A/N	From Authorization Letter
52	Street Address	35	A/N
87	City	20	A/N
107	State	5	A/N
112	Zip Code	9	A/N	Left justified, followed by spaces if less than 9 numbers
121	Quarter & Year or Report	2	N	Quarter number 1,2,3,4, then last digit of filing tax year
123	Number of Employees Reported	6	N	Right justified, "0" zero fill, must equal the number of employees "B" record lists for this employer
129	Total Wages paid this Quarter	14	N	Right justified, "0" zero fill, dollars & cents no decimal
143	FEIN	9	N	Federal Employer Identification Number
152	Magnetic Authorization Number	4	N	From Authorization Letter
156	Filler	4	A/N	Spaces
159				If “Amended,” enter “X” in position 159.
160	Record Terminus Character	1	A/N

B Record

Location	Field Name	Field Length	Type	Description & Remarks
1	Record ID	1	A/N	Always "B"
2	Employee SSN	9	N	9 numeric characters
11	Employee Name	30	A/N	Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial, no punctuation
41	Employee Wages Paid this Quarter	12	N	Right justified, "0" zero fill, dollars & cents no decimal
53	Employee Base Weeks	2	N	Right justified, "0" zero fill, range 00-14
55	Filler	105	A/N	Spaces
160	Record Terminus Character	1	A/N	Record Terminus Character (End of record) Content: “#”

Texas SUTA Electronic Filing

This Costpoint release updates the ICESA file format generated for the State of Texas for compliance with state requirements. The following fields in the corresponding records will now be blank in the report:

• Record A

• Position 220: Allocation List Indicator

• Position 221-229: Service Agent ID

• Position 230-242: Total Remittance Amount

• Record B

• Position 15-22: Computer

• Position 23-24: Internal Label

• Position 26-27: Density

• Position 28-30: Recording Code (EBCDIC or ASCII Character Set)

• Position 31-32: Number of Tracks

• Position 33-34: Blocking Factor

• Position 147-190: Organization Name

• Position 191-225: Street Address

• Position 226-245: City

• Position 246-247: State

• Position 253-257: Zip Code

• Position 258-262: Zip Code Extension

• Record T

• Position 186-198: Allocation Amount

This regulatory update requires Costpoint PATCH3786.

Application Updates

Manage SUTA Tax File Data (PRMSMM)

The screen contains the following new field:

Field	Description
NAICS Code	Enter the 6-digit North American Industry Classification System code that best classifies your company.

Fields and validations that are no longer applicable for Texas were also removed from the Manage SUTA Tax File Data screen.

Create Quarterly SUTA Tax File (PRPSMM)

The Create Quarterly SUTA Tax File screen now generates a SUTA tax file for Texas in the updated ICESA file format required by the state.

This release also applies the following changes for Texas:

• The values in the following fields were updated:

• Record E Position 182-187 NAICS Code field reports the value entered in the NAICS Code field on the Manage SUTA Tax File Data screen.

• Record T Position 248-250 County Code field now reports the value entered in the Industry/County Code/Location Code/Branch field on the Manage SUTA Tax File Data screen.

• Record T Position 251-257 Outside County Employees now reports the value entered in the Remitter Number/Employee Outside County field on the Manage SUTA Tax File Data screen.

• The application no longer displays the message: "Warning: This file should be named 'TWCWAGES' before submitting to the government agency. Continue?"

• The application now provides validations on fields that are related to the Configure Company Information screen.

• The Computer Manufacturer field is now disabled.

Print Data Dictionary Report (SYRDD)

The report now provides information for the NAICS Code column on the State SUTA Reporting database table.

Defect 1336840: "Unexpected Script error, your session will be closed." was an error message you might have received in various Costpoint applications when you used the Microsoft Edge browser on iPads or iPhones after the IOS 13.5.1 upgrade. As a workaround, you can use the Safari browser on IOS devices.

Defect 1342592: When you deleted rows from the Assign PO subtask, you encountered an error.

Defect 1342589: When you created the purchase order (PO), the PO line cost amount was not equal to the PO line transaction cost amount.

Defect 1342583: When you updated/modified the Alt part, Costpoint did not update the corresponding Manufacturer ID.

Defect 1347780: When you entered the part you created, the QC inspection required and certificate of conformance required options were set to None instead of Yes or No.

Defect 1342579: When you created a new Subcontractor Agreement type purchase order (PO) and saved the changes, you were unable to edit the vendor even though there was no activity (receipts/vouchers) on the PO.

Defect 1342581: When you printed the purchase order (PO) change order and the PO Ship ID was not tax exempt, the Tax Exempt Cert Number was still printed on the report.

Defect 1342586: When you entered a receipt on a Subcontract Agreement type purchase order (POs) that referenced Misc Type line items with a charge type of Labor or Expense, the Accepted Qty and Accepted Amt (which are locked fields on the receipt) did not default values correctly from the Received Qty and Received Amt, respectively. For a charge type of Other, the Accepted Qty and Accepted Amt were editable.

Defect 1342623: The Auto-Receive and Auto-Accept buttons were not functioning properly when you worked with amount driven purchase order (PO) lines for standard POs as well as Subcontract Agreement POs.

Defect 1347688: The status text of the Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box had a missing period.

Defect 1347679: The application did not set the Form W-4 Version field to 2019 for some of the filing statuses applicable for 2019.

This issue affects you if your company has employees in Guam.

Defect 1347682: The Form W-4 Version field was disabled even if the employee's withholding state was not a territory. This means that the payroll administrator will not be able to change the Form W-4 Version to 2020 for those employees with existing 2019 Form W-4.

This issue affects you if your company has employees that are still using the 2019 Form W-4.

As a workaround, if you have Costpoint Employee Self Service, then the Form W-4 Version will be automatically changed to 2020 if the employee will submit a 2020 Form W-4. Otherwise, a new record needs to be created on the Manage Employee Taxes screen.

This issue was introduced when changes were made for Virgin Islands 2020 withholding and tax table updates.

Defect 1347686: The status text of the Employer Subject to Accrual via Recompute Taxable Wages check box had a missing period.

Defect 1347689: When the withholding state's Territory Tax based on Federal Tax check box was selected, the application cleared and disabled the following fields:

• Subject to Social Security

• Subject to Medicare

• Subject to FUTA

This issue affects you if your company has employees that are employed in US territories.

Defect 1356648: The Manage Employee Taxes screen did not display or retrieve employee tax records when the record had no assigned withholding state.

Defect 1345467: The setting of the Variable Hours Employee check box was incorrect on the View Salary Information and History screen when you updated employee records through the Update Employees for Manager Change process.

Defect 1347683: The application did not allow you to select Guam's new filing status, which exceeded 50 characters.

This issue affects you if your company has employees in Guam. As a workaround, you can update the employee's filing status on the Manage Employee Taxes screen.

Defect 1347652: A system error displayed when you opened the W-2s screen in Costpoint ESS. This issue occurred if an employee had records on the Manage W-2s screen for two different taxable entities.

Defect 1335605: The application did not calculate local tax correctly when there was a reduction in the rate mid-year.

If checks were processed at a higher tax rate, after the tax rate was lowered, the taxable amount was being set to zero for some employees. You should recalculate the taxable amounts on the Manage Employee Earnings History screen before you run the next payroll.

Defect 1347677: When you did not select the Enable SUTA Reciprocity Functionality check box on the Configure Payroll Settings screen, the Compute Payroll process incorrectly calculated the SUTA Taxable details.

Defect 1331755: The quarterly SUTA file did not include employee records that had an effective date after the quarter start date. This issue occurred whether the employee had 1 or 2 Salary Information records.

Defect 1331759: When you queried a saved parameter, the screen enabled the Month 1, Month 2, and Month 3 fields in the Employee Count group box even if you selected System as the Employee Count Method on the Manage SUTA Tax File Data screen.

As a workaround, complete the following steps:

1. Query a saved parameter.

2. Enter another SUTA state.

3. Re-enter the correct SUTA state to refresh the screen.

Defect 1347658: The implementation of SUTA Reciprocity function was incorrect. When you select the Enable SUTA Reciprocity Functionality check box on the Configure Payroll Settings screen, the application should apply the following: 

• The SUTA Taxable Amount field should display the sum of SUTA Taxable Amounts for all states.

• The Excess Wage field should display the sum of Excess Wages for the reporting state only.

This hot fix applies to only the following states:

• VA

• PA

• DC

• CT

• AK

As a workaround, you can edit the output file.

Defect 1329458: The application cleared the Federal Filing Status field when an error occurred upon recalculation.

Defect 1329461: A system error occurred when you used the Recalculate function on a record that did not have an assigned check number.

As a workaround, save the record before you use the Recalculate function.

Defect 1347680: The patch needed to be reprocessed to update the state withholding allowances for Guam when the Step 2 of W-4 check box was selected.

Defect 1347681: The patch needed to be reprocessed to update the state withholding allowances for the Virgin Islands when the Step 2 of W-4 check box was selected.

Defect 1331756: This update corrects the posting of payroll so that union contributions do not post to both the employee's home organization and the balance sheet level of the employee's home organization.

Defect 1329462: The screen displayed an incomplete status message for the Nonrefundable credits already used against the employer social security field.

Defect 1347555: As an administrator, you could not modify a new business budget that you did not own.

Defect 1347452: When you modified a Pool Org ID, duplicate splits displayed in Labor Utilization.

Defect 1342596: PLC rates for a project were calculated on the PC level instead of the PEC/PVC level.

Defect 1346305: When the revenue calculation method was configured as Project Plus Org Revenue Adjustment and Override Revenue Adjustments from Accounting System was selected on the Revenue Setup/Ceilings subtask in Project Budgets/EACs, amounts entered in Revenue Adjustments were not recognized for actuals nor were they reflected correctly in the Revenue Breakdown report.

Defect 1346306: Based on burden ceiling configuration, the burden calculation on the Cost Burden subtask was calculated incorrectly.

Defect 1346307: When you selected Override Settings on the Revenue Setup/Ceilings subtask, the default settings were incorrect for the following revenue types:

• Fee on Hours Plus Cost Incurred (CPFH)

• Loaded Labor Plus Non-labor Plus Burden on Non-labor (LLRCINLB)

Defect 1346303: When you tried to run revenue breakdown, the over ceiling Other Direct Costs were not calculating correctly.

Defect 1342595: When you cloned a top-level project linked to an approval process, the newly created top-level project was automatically linked to the approval process.