Payroll

Payroll Policies and Procedures

What's New ???

	New Time Reporting System
	Payroll has moved to the Virginia Campus Click Here for more details!
	Time Reporting for 2003-2004 Work Study Students.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Payroll Services is responsible for the timely and accurate payment of salaries and wages and tax withholdings for all University employees. Payroll Accounting ensures that the payroll transactions comply with generally accepted accounting principles and that all transactions are correctly posted to the general ledger. Specific responsibilities include:

Issuing earning/benefit statements to accompany paychecks and direct deposit advices;
Withholding proper taxes and establishing authorized deductions;
Collecting and disbursing garnishments, tax liens, and child support;
Issuing W-2's and W-2C's;
Calculating and depositing all taxes;
Administering the University's Payroll, Time Reporting and Check/Deposit Advice Systems;
Scheduling, monitoring and auditing system schedules and jobs related to payroll functions;
Reconciling federal and state taxes to the University's General Ledger System;
Preparation of State Unemployment reports;
Distribution of detailed labor reports to departments; and
Tracking retirement contributions and calculating employees' maximum pretax contributions.

Payroll Services has developed procedures to assist departments in understanding their payroll and fiscal responsibilities. Included is an overview of University systems related to payroll matters, including GW's Human Resource System, which includes payroll processing, the Time Reporting System, the BottomLine check printing system and the reporting of payroll data in the financial systems.

All University paychecks and direct deposit notices contain a statement reporting pay period and year-to-date earnings, deductions and benefit information. Explanations of the data reported on the earning statement are covered in these procedures. Also included are policies for check distribution, recovery of overpayments, requesting stop payments and reissuing checks and correction of errors. Employees may have their pay directly deposited to their financial institutions. These procedures include instructions for establishing and changing direct deposit requests.

All employees are required to complete tax withholding forms. Withholding allowances determine how much tax is withheld from an employee's paycheck. Information on obtaining tax withholding certificates and for requesting changes in withholdings is contained in these procedures.

The Payroll Procedures also address payroll accounting, including an explanation of labor charges defined in University systems, understanding monthly labor reports and requesting redistributions of labor charges.

Last Update : December 2003