2009 USPS PRELIMINARY PROCEDURES FOR FISCAL
YEAR-END
The following checklist outlines the steps to be followed PRIOR to closing out the payroll files
for fiscal year-end.
SEVERANCE PAY
______ 1. When entering large sums, for example - severance pay. If the amount exceeds
9,999.99 you will need to add two lines in UPDCAL_FUT or UPDCAL_CUR for severance pay.
Example- Total Severance pay is 15,000.00 your screen in _CUR or _FUT should look like:
Type
MIS
MIS
Units
1.00
1.00
Rate
9000.000
6000.000
Amount
Description
9000.00 Severance
6000.00 Severance
NC1 GROUP-TERM LIFE INSURANCE
______ 2. Be certain to pay non-cash earnings to retiring/terminating employees with greater
than $50,000 Life Insurance ANYTIME before their final pay. Add an NC1 pay type in
UPDCAL_CUR or UPDCAL_FUT.
From IRS Publication 15-B (2008)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15b.pdf
Figure the monthly cost of the insurance to include in the employee’s wages by
multiplying the number of thousands of dollars of insurance coverage over
$50,000 (figured to the nearest $100) by the cost shown in the following table.
Use the employee’s age on the last day of the tax year. You must prorate the cost
from the table if less than a full month of coverage is involved.
Cost per $1,000 of Protection
For 1 Month
Age
Cost
Under 25
.05
25 – 29
.06
30 – 34
.08
35 – 39
.09
40 – 44
.10
45 – 49
.15
50 – 54
.23
55 – 59
.43
60 – 64
.66
65 – 69
1.27
70 and older
2.06
You figure the total cost to include in the employee’s wages by multiplying the
monthly cost by the number of full month’s coverage at that cost.
1
EXAMPLE: District provides $100,000 group term life for the Superintendent. The
Superintendent is 54 years old on the last day of 2009 and is retiring effective July 1, 2008. The
non cash earnings would equal (.23 x 50 x 6) = $69.00.
FORMULA- (cost/1000 for 1 month X amount of coverage over 50,000/1000 X months of
coverage)= non cash earnings
Any NC1 amounts are taxed by Medicare and Social Security, as applicable. No Federal, State,
or OSDI tax is deducted from this amount. The software provides the ability to withhold city tax
on non-cash earnings. This can be activated by setting the "Tax non-cash earnings" flag to “Y”
on the city tax record in the USPSDAT/DEDNAM program. (See the screen shot below.)
The non-cash earnings amount will not be included in the gross pay amount, nor in the gross
totals found on PAYRPT or PAYSUM. However, the non-cash earnings amount is being
included in the adjusted gross figure because the amount is considered part of the taxable gross
even though no tax is being withheld on it. Both the PAYRPT and PAYSUM reports will
provide a total figure of all non-cash earnings in the totals section.
Important Note: This total of all non-cash earnings will be needed for quarter
balancing purposes. (QRTRPT)
2
During the CHKUPD program, the total payment showing for NC1 will be added to the total and
taxable gross figures on all the tax records including those for which no tax was withheld. The
JOBSCN to-date figures (screen 3 of 3) will also be updated in the Non-cash earnings fields.
STRS ADVANCE Preliminary and SERS SURCHG
______ 3. Go into USPSDAT/USPCON and verify that your last year advance amount is zero
and no asterisk “*” appears in the advance field (2nd screen). If the amount is not zero, please
contact Fiscal Services.
Payroll Processing:
STRS Advance Mode
: *
STRS Advance Amount
: .01
______ 4. SERS SURCHG - Process the USPS_RPT/SURCHG program as the report will be
useful to review. Changes in the surcharge minimum level ($35,800) have been incorporated in
the software. However, SURCHARGE will not recalculate the 2% district SERS payroll
maximum. The SURCHG includes part-time employees as well as full-time employees. For
more clarification, we encourage you to contact SERS.
______ 5. The STRSAD program can be executed now as a PROJECTION only so you may
begin balancing and verify the correct certified staff is being included in the advance. Please
note the reports below will show 2008 as the year even though it is FY 2009 data you are
reviewing.
Select Option ‘1’ which provides the following reports:






STRSAD.TXT
STRSAD.RPT
NONADV.TXT
Review the NONADV.TXT to identify employees who should be advancing but
are not. Correct these issues first. Contact Fiscal Services if assistance is needed.
Next, review the STRSAD.RPT for the STRS days credit for each employee.
Any warnings/errors will need to be reviewed as well.
Review the STRSAD.TXT to be sure all employees who should be advanced are
advancing and check the percentage of credit (should not be zero). The STRSAD
advance amount will not be correct until all June pays have been completed, but
any $0 would need to be reviewed.
The review of the above reports now will give you a head start on balancing the advance once
you are actually closing the fiscal year.
Please note the following:
o The STRSAD program will project days through the end of the fiscal year
to determine the jobs to advance and the calculation of credit.
o Future earnings will be included on the report.
3
o Advance amount will be too large until all June pays are completed.
STRS RECAP REPORT ON-LINE
______ 6. STRS will allow districts to complete the STRS Recap sheets on-line. It is our
understanding that the district must register with STRS in advance to utilize this option. Log
onto your STRS on-line employer account for more information regarding the registration
process.
CREATE JOB CALENDARS
______
7. Create calendars for the 2009-2010 school year with USPSDAT/CALMNT.
TIP: Create your most basic calendar that would work for majority of your employees
and use the COPY command (F20). Then, use the modify option to tweak the new
calendar for specific changes. (See the screen shot below.)
4
EMIS STAFF REPORTING
______ 8. Communicate with your EMIS Coordinator to be sure of who is responsible for
what parts of the EMIS Staff Period N reporting and EMIS Year-End Period H reporting.
Instructions for Staff Period N reporting will be provided in a separate handout entitled June
2009 ‘N’ EMIS Staff Reporting.
The instructions for the Year-End Period H reporting will be provided as part of the 2009 USAS
Fiscal Year-end procedures.
NEW CONTRACTS
______ 9. New contracts can be entered for those positions with a July 1 start date. Users
have a couple options for creating new contracts in the NEWCNT program.
o Existing spreadsheets the district has created for new contract information could be used
to “load” information directly to the NEWCNT program.
o Use UDMS or SafariODBC to build a spreadsheet from existing job data, update the new
contract amounts on the spreadsheet and use the IMPORT option of NEWCNT to load
new contracts.
o Use the NEWCNT/BUILD option to build new contract records from existing job records
by pay group
You may contact Fiscal Services if you have questions on how to build new
contracts.
Please note the 2009 USPS Fiscal-Year End Closing procedures will be
available at our Fiscal Year-End meeting on June 11, 2009 or on the Fiscal
Services web page under the tab entitled Fiscal Year-End on June 12,
2009.
5