MinistryCPA - Corey A. Pfaffe, CPA, LLC

Forms 941 and 944 are both used to report payroll expenses and taxes to the IRS. The forms include information such as total wages paid, number of employees, income taxes withheld, group term life insurance, sick pay, tips, Social Security taxes (employer and employee portions), and Medicare taxes (employer and employee portions). These forms report the total liability that the employer owes to the IRS. Both forms have the same purpose, but there are a few differences.  Even though the forms are used for the same purpose, there is one main difference. Form 941 is filed quarterly and is the standard payroll reporting form that employers use. Form 944 is filed annually and can only be filed by employers who have less than $1,000 in payroll tax liabilities.  If your organization... Has employees Has more than $1,000 in Federal Tax liability (Federal income withholdings, Medicare, and Social Security) Has not received permission from the IRS to file Form 944 Then you should file F...

This is another posting in the MinistryCPA Top 10 series:  Understanding payroll can be a difficult task in any business. Knowing how to onboard new employees, pay them, file tax documents, and deal with other benefits is a daunting task. We have created a list of some of the top payroll compliance issues that we see here at MinistryCPA. 1.       Employee vs Independent Contractor Understanding the difference between an employee and an independent contractor is essential to the payroll process. If a person is classified as an employee, then the business is responsible for employment taxes such as social security, Medicare, unemployment, and income tax withholding. If the person is classified as an independent contractor, the business is not responsible for any of these taxes.  There are three factors that help a business determine whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor. These three factors are the degree of behavioral...

Patrick Lencioni (Len-chō’-nē), author of The Ideal Team Player , and two other books we’ve used at MinistryCPA— The Advantage and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team —purports to have identified the three essential virtues of the ideal team player. He says that he found that the ideal team player is 1) hungry, 2) smart, and 3) humble. The Bible prophet Micah confronted his rebellious listeners. He taught them the virtues that would truly bring pleasure to God (chapter 6, verse 8): “ He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to 1) do justly, and to 2) love mercy, and to 3) walk humbly with thy God?” Carefully studied, these characteristics are identical—they are not Lencioni’s sole 21 st Century discovery. Nevertheless, Lencioni does offer much that is helpful in practical application to recruit and select ideal team players and to assist current team members with flaws (and we all have them) so that we might overcome them. Micah ins...