Issue/Symptom/Question

"We have several employees that need their FICA earnings increased by the amount detailed in this ticket. Two employees also need their medicare earnings; taxable medicare earnings and medi w/h, also adjusted. These adjustments need to be completed before W2s are issued."

There are two separate issues here:

Request One: Fica Earnings, Medi Earnings, Medi Taxable Earnings, and Medi Withholding all need to be adjusted. The FICA and Medi Withholding adjustment are different values than the Medi Earnings and Medi Taxable Earnings adjustments.

Example of Request one:Please adjust the following values in the following amounts for Employee A

Request Two: Only FICA Earnings need adjusting. 

Example of Request two: Please adjust FICA Earnings in the following amount for Employee B

Environment

Employee Payroll Information Screen (Withholding tab)
Payroll> Employees> Employee Payroll Information

Employee Earnings History Query
Payroll>  Inquiries> Employee Earnings History Query

Manual Checks Entry Screen
Payroll> Exception Checks> Manual Checks

EMPLOYEE_AUD table
Note: An SQL Query software is needed to view this table. An example of applicable software is Golden. Please contact your Penta Representative if you do not have access to run the query.

Resolution/Fix/Answer

Due to there being two separate requests in this ticket,I will provide two different sets of instructions.

Resolution to Request One:

Pre Requisites:

• The Exempt From FICA flag in the Employee Master is set to “N”
• A reimbursement should be set up with:
  • Calc Base of 1
  • Frequency of 1
  • Account is irrelevant
  • On the Reimbursement's “Taxable/Non-Taxable” withholding tab
    • The “As a default, add (B)efore or (A)fter taxes are calculated (B/A)?:” flag should be set to “A”
    • There should be a Federal Exception for Tax Type “FICA” with a “Before/After Code” set to “B”

Steps to Adjust FICA Earnings, Medi Earnings, Medi Taxable Earnings, and Medi Withholding:

1. Create the 1st Manual Check Adjustment
   1. Document Tab 
      
      1. Set Check number to 0
      2. Check Date should be 12/30/2017
      3. Net Pay Should =
         The Desired FICA Earnings Adjustment 
         LESS: The Medi Withholding 
      4. The bottom 3 fields on this  tab should be set to "N"
   2. Distribution Tab:
      1. Work Date should be 12/30/2017
      2. OU Should be the Employee's LEOU
      3. Account # is irrelevant, it will be used as a wash account
      4. Hours and Gross Pay Should be 0
      5. Everything else can be left default on this page
   3. Withholding Tab: 
      1. Enter the desired Medi Withholding in the "Medi Withheld" field 
   4. Reimbursement Tab:
      1. Use the reimbursement set up above
      2. The "Reimbursement Amount" should be the desired FICA adjustment
         Note: This should not be the same value as the net pay amount on the Document Tab.
      3. OU should be the Employee's LEOU
      4. Account should be the same as was set on the distribution tab
      5. Everything else can be left default on this page.
2. Exit out of the Manual Check Screen to process the Adjustment 
3. Switch the "Exempt from FICA" flag on the Employee Master from "N" to "M"
4. Create the 2nd Manual Check Adjustment
   1. Document Tab:
      1. Set the Check number to 0
      2. Check Date should be 12/31/2017
      3. Net Pay Should =
         The Desired Medi Earnings adjustment (should be same as taxable earnings) 
         LESS: The desired FICA Adjustment
         Note: If the FICA amount is more than the MEDI amount, this number should be negative.
      4. The Bottom 3 fields on this tab should be set to "N"
   2. Distribution Tab:
      
      1. Work date should be 12/31/2017
      2. OU Should be the Employee's LEOU
      3. Account # is irrelevant, it will be used as a wash account
      4. Hours and Gross Pay Should be 0
      5. Everything else can be left default on this tab
   3. Reimbursement Tab:
      1. Use the reimbursement that was used in the 1st manual check
      2. The "Reimbursement Amount" should be the same as the Net Pay set on the Document Tab
      3. OU should be the Employee's LEOU
      4. Account should be the same as was set on the Distribution
5. Navigate to the Employee Earnings History Query 
   1. Query back the Employee using the appropriate fiscal year as a date range
6. Change the "Exempt From FICA" flag from M to N on the Employee Master

Resolution to Request Two:

1. Create the 1st Manual Check Adjustment
   
   1. Document Tab:
      
      1. Set check number to 0
      2. Check date should be 12/30/2017
      3. Net Pay Should be the desired FICA Earnings Adj
      4. The bottom 3 fields on this tab should be set to "N"
   2. Distribution Tab:
      
      1. Work Date should be 12/30/2017
      2. OU Should be the Employee's LEOU
      3. Account # is irrelevant, it will be used as a wash account
      4. Hours and Gross Pay Should be 0
      5. Everything else can be left default on this tab
   3. Reimbursement Tab:
      1. Use the Reimbursement set up in the "Pre Requisite" section of this article
      2.  The "Reimbursement Amount" should be the same as the Net Pay set on the Document Tab (I.e the amount you want FICA Earnings adjusted by)
      3. OU should be the Employee's LEOU
      4. Account should be the same as was set on the Distribution tab
2. Exit out of the Manual Check Screen to process the Adjustment
3. Switch the "Exempt From FICA" Flag on the employee master from "N" to "M"
4. Run the 2nd manual check.  The 1st and 2nd checks should be the same with 2 exceptions:
   1. All dates on the 2nd check should be 12/31/2017
   2. All amounts should be Negative
5. Navigate to the Employee Earnings History Query
   1. Query back the Employee Using FY 2017 as a date range
      1. The Manual Check should have adjusted FICA Earnings only
6. Switch the "Exempt from FICA" Flag from M to N on the Employee Master

Cause

The situation was caused by payroll being ran for the affected employees while they had their Exempt from FICA flag (found on the withholding tab in the Employee Master) set to M (Process Medicare Only).