PeopleSoft Payroll for North America Newsletter – December 2020

Tax Update 20-E Has Posted:  See the 20-E Posting Doc for links.  Our 20-E Advisor Webcast was broadcast on December 8.  You can stream the recording from Doc ID 2718535.1 or download the slides here.

PRP-101:  As customary for our ‘E’ tax update each year, this Tax Update came as a PeopleSoft Release Patch (PRP).  If you’re not familiar with the PRP process, check Doc ID 2542285.1 – When to Apply a PRP to the PUM Image and Doc ID 1623248.1 – How to Apply a PeopleSoft Release Patchset (PRP) to a PeopleSoft Update Manager (PUM) Image.  Documentation for 9.2 Tax Updates is always posted on Doc ID 1917096.2, but may be a little hard to find this time.  Click on the Payroll for North America tab, then click the link for Tax Update documentation, but this time, click on the link for HCM PRP Patchsets

Note – there is a LOT of supplemental documentation provided with this Tax Update, including YE guides for U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, setup and implementation instructions for Connecticut Paid Family & Medical Leave, instructions for reporting FFCRA earnings on the W-2, masking SSN on the W-2 and the new Community Safety Payroll Tax for Eugene OR.

Please be sure you review all.

Speaking of FFCRA Reporting: We have noticed some specific problems with Box 14 reporting of FFCRA leave earnings for our E&G customers.  We are tracking on Bug 32253622 and expect a solution as soon as possible.  This patch will also correct a unique constraint abend in PY_FFCRA_LD.30LDERN_STEP01 reported after Tax Update 20-E.  Please watch our Hot Topics Document for information and links to patches when available.

Connecticut Paid Family & Medical Leave: The State of Connecticut has enacted legislation implementing a paid family and medical leave program, funded through an employee-paid payroll tax of 0.5%. Wages subject to the paid-leave tax are to be tied to the amount of annual earnings subject to Social Security tax. Employee contributions are to start January 1, 2021, with employee benefits to be paid starting January 1, 2022.

We delivered Patchset 30897428 on December 9.  Patches for the following Bugs are delivered in the Patchset. Heads up, there are a couple of patches included that are not part of the Connecticut PFML.

• Bug 30897428 – CONNECTICUT PAID FAMILY & MEDICAL LEAVE PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS JAN 1 2021
• Bug 32153157 – CONNECTICUT PFML PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS: HR OBJECTS
• Bug 32153167 – CONNECTICUT PFML PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS: E&G OBJECTS
• Bug 32153174 – CONNECTICUT PFML PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS: COMPONENT INTERFACE
• Bug 32153181 – CONNECTICUT PFML PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS: PAY MESSAGE
• Bug 32153189 – CONNECTICUT PFML PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS: PAYSLIP AND ADVICE
• Bug 32153208 – CONNECTICUT PFML PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS: MAKEFILE PSY.WIN
• Bug 32153217 – CONNECTICUT PFML PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS: MAKEFILE PSHR.WIN
• Bug 32247835 – CONNECTICUT PFML PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS: ADDITION OF SCRIPTS
• Bug 28710188 – NJ TAXES NOT TAKEN ON SPECIFIED EARNINGS WHEN USING DIFFERENT PAY FREQUENCIES
• Bug 31536227 – BYPASS SELF-ADJUST ON OASDI & MEDICARE TIP BALANCES WHEN EE IS NOT PAID TIPS

For details on the functionality and delivered payroll modifications, see the documentation here.

Here is a link to our Video Highlights for HCM 9.2 Image #36.

In Case You Missed It:  We had an Advisor Webcast on December 15 to introduce new functionality for minimum wage by jurisdiction.  Look for a link to Q&A and recording here, when available.

As always, if you miss any of our Advisor Webcasts, you can find archives of our recorded webcasts on Document ID 1456265.1.

Canadian Payroll Tax & Legislation Too Late for 20-E:  Every year, we get notifications of last minute tax rate and other changes that are announced too late for us to get into the development life-cycle for the last tax update of the year.  Historically, we’ve posted ‘one last patch’ at the end of the year for any updates that could affect paychecks for the next year.  Patchset 32085668 was posted on December 8 for Canada.  This PRP contains patches for these two Bugs:

• Bug 32085668 – 2021 Canadian tax rates and WCB maximum assessable earnings for NWT, Nunavut and the Yukon that were too late for delivery with Tax Update 20-E
• Bug 32196200 – modifies PSPCNTAX.CBL with the 2021 Quebec rate for Variable H (Deduction for Employment). The deduction increased to $1205 from $1190.

U.S. Payroll Tax & Legislation Too Late for 20-E:  It is 2020, so we expect last minute changes from the IRS and the states.  We are tracking Federal changes on Bug 32259330 and other Payroll Tax, Garnishment and Legislative items on Bug 32085636 and will post on or before December 23.

You can help – if you receive word of a new tax or change to an existing tax, log a Service Request and send us a link to the legislation so we can investigate.

Remember, Support for Pre-Printed W-2 and W-2c forms for U.S., American Samoa, Guam, and Virgin Islands will be discontinued as of tax year 2021.

For tax year 2021, employers who previously used the forms listed above should plan on using BI Publisher to create and print W-2s and W-2cs.  For more information see our PeopleSoft BI Publisher Information Center.

We welcome feedback on this decision.  Please contact me directly with any concerns.

New T4 Reporting Requirements: The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is implementing new Other Information codes for reporting employment income and retroactive payments in the following periods. This is to validate payments made under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

• Code 57: Employment income paid between – March 15 to May 9
• Code 58: Employment income paid between – May 10 to July 4
• Code 59: Employment income paid between – July 5 to August 29
• Code 60: Employment income paid between – August 30 to September 26

 We delivered modifications to meet these reporting requirements in Tax Update 20-E under Bug 31435608.  Be sure and read the Special Note for Canadian Year-End Reporting in the Tax Update Notes.

Seattle WA Local Employer Tax Effective January 1, 2020:  We are tracking this on Bug 31879450, and expect delivery ASAP.  The changes necessary for this will include COBOL and stored statement updates, PeopleCode modifications, and scripts to update various tables.  We intend to post supplemental documentation on Doc ID 1917096.2 when the posting is available.

More Canada: The Federal Basic Personal Amount (BPAF) Dynamic Calculation, was introduced by the Ministry of Finance back in December of 2019.  Due to COVID-19 priorities, legislation has not been passed at this time.  The CRA has extended the administrative relief on the implementation of the Federal BPA to 2021. We continue to monitor progress on this.  Watch our Hot Topics Document for details when they are available.

Oracle’s commitment to PeopleSoft customers during this time of pandemic, see our PeopleSoft COVID-19 Updates page on peoplesoftinfo.com.

If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the HCM Strategy Team members.

2021 HCM Maintenance Schedule Is Posted:  See Document 2715524.1.  Note that customers on 9.2 will receive Tax Updates with the HCM Images on a slightly different schedule than the lower releases.

Here’s our schedule for 2021 (note that dates are always subject to change).  Watch the Schedule Document for the latest updates.

The Quest Oracle Community PeopleSoft Payroll for North America Special Interest Group meets the second Tuesday of each month.  Please join us, this is an informative meeting, with lots of lively conversation.  We always welcome your participation and contributions.

Thanks to Nicole for leading these.  For info, click here.

Helpful Links

• PeopleSoft Payroll for North America Hot Topics
• PeopleSoft Payroll for North America Tax Update Information Center
• PeopleSoft Legislative and Regulatory Blog
• PeopleSoft Payroll for North America Community
• PeopleSoft Payroll for North America Idea Spaces
• PeopleSoft HCM 9.2 Update Image Documentation
• PeopleSoft COVID-19 Information Center

Your feedback on our newsletter is always appreciated.  If you have suggestions for improving this newsletter, please let me know.

Please feel free to forward the newsletter to your colleagues using PeopleSoft Payroll for North America.   If you received this newsletter from a friend or colleague and would like to receive it, send me an email at [email protected] with NEWSLETTER in the subject and you will be added to our distribution list.  If you’d like to discontinue your subscription, send me an email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject.

Would you like to have a voice in our roadmap and help guide our future?  If interested, reply back to me at [email protected] and let’s discuss.  Interested in other PeopleSoft Focus Groups?  See the entire list here.

The PeopleSoft HCM Strategy team wish you all the very best for 2021.

Peace, Love, & PeopleSoft.  Wear your mask.

Rick DeLaney, Product Evangelist
Oracle PeopleSoft Payroll for North America