2008 Payroll Taxes Every year, we send our clients a letter summarizing the payroll tax provisions that may affect their business. We welcome you to download  our  2008 Payroll Tax Letter.  It highlights important tax law changes and provides an overview of the complicated filing and reporting requirements. Please review the information it provides then please call us with any questions you may have about these or other tax matters. Also, please feel free to download these frequently used forms as needed: 2008 Form W-4                                                          2008 Form IT-4                                                              2008 Form W-9    2008 Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification - Updated  2008 Form I-9 Handbook for Employers   BWC - $15,000 Medical Only Program As you may or may not be aware, the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation has allowed employers the opportunity to participate in a plan for several years now in which they were allowed to pay expenses related to Workers Compensation claims directly to help control their BWC rates. When the program originally started, BWC allowed employers to pay up to $1,000 in medical expenses for each claim.  On June 30, 2006, this limit was increased to $5,000.  Effective September 10, 2007, the limit has been increased to $15,000 per claim.   If an employer has already enrolled in this program, there is no need to do anything more.  The employer will automatically be a participant of the $15,000 Medical Only Program.  Eligible claims are all “medical-only” claims (claims with seven or fewer lost days from work) with injury dates after the enrollment effective date.  (Lost wages cannot be calculated as part of the $15,000 plan.) Employers wishing to participate in this plan must call 1-800-OHIOBWC to enroll.  Press option 2 and then 0 to speak to an employer representative.  Employers participating in this program need to remember that they are still limited to the $1,000 cap for any dates of injury prior to June 30, 2006, and $5,000 for any dates of injury between June 30, 2006 and September 10, 2007.  Dates of injury after September 10, 2007 can be processed with the $15,000 cap.    Additionally, an employer can only process these claims as listed above for the periods of time in which they have actually been participants in this program.  Specifically, an employer joining the plan today cannot choose to pay claims directly for any dates of injury prior to their actual date of participation in the plan. It does not cost the employer anything to participate in this plan, but it may save them a few dollars down the road in workers compensation expenses. If you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact Jackie Roberts at ext. 113. For your convenience, we've added a direct link to the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation for additional information. www.ohiobwc.com/basics/guidedtour/generalinfo/empgeneralinfo26.asp      FICA WAGE BASE   To better serve you, we have added the table below for the Social Security Taxable Wage Base.  If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact Jackie Roberts at ext. 113.   Social Security Information - Revised December 2007 Year Taxable Social Security Wage Base (OASDI) Rate of W/H Maximum Social Security (OASDI) W/H Taxable Medicare Wage Base (HI) Rate of W/H Maximum Medicare (HI) W/H Self Employment Rate Under Full Retirement Age Full Retirement Age 2004 87,900.00 6.2 5,449.80 None 1.45 Unlimited 15.30 11,640.00 Unlimited 2005 90,000.00 6.2 5,580.00 None 1.45 Unlimited 15.30 12,000.00 Unlimited 2006 94,200.00 6.2 5,840.40 None 1.45 Unlimited 15.30 12,480.00 Unlimited 2007 97,500.00 6.2 6,045.00 None 1.45 Unlimited 15.30 12,960.00 Unlimited 2008 102,000.00 6.2 6,324.00 None 1.45 Unlimited 15.30 13,560.00 Unlimited