Dariako Valko Business News

Archive for February, 2011

The Alabama State Agency that oversees the collection and reporting of State income taxes deducted from payroll checks is:

Department of Revenue
Income Tax Division
Withholding Tax Section
50 North Ripley St.
P.O. Box 327480
Montgomery, Alabama 36132-7480
334-242-1300
www.ador.state.al.us/withholding/index.html

Alabama requires that you use Alabama form “A-4, Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate” instead of a Federal W-4 Form for Alabama State Income Tax Withholding.

Not all states allow salary reductions made under Section 125 cafeteria plans or 401(k) to be treated in the same manner as the IRS code allows. In Alabama cafeteria plans: are not taxable for income tax calculation; are taxable for unemployment insurance purposes. 401(k) plan deferrals are: not taxable for income taxes; are not taxable for unemployment purposes.

In Alabama supplemental wages are taxed at a 5% flat rate.

You may file your Alabama State W-2s by magnetic media if you choose to.

The Alabama State Unemployment Insurance Agency is:

The Department of Industrial Relations
649 Monroe Street
Montgomery, Alabama 36131
334-242-8990
www.dir.state.al.us/

The State of Alabama taxable wage base for unemployment purposes is wages up to $8000.00.

Alabama requires Magnetic media reporting of quarterly wage reporting if the employer has at least 250 employees that they are reporting that quarter.

Unemployment records must be retained in Alabama for a minimum period of five years. This information generally includes: name; social security number; dates of hire, rehire and termination; wages by period; payroll pay periods and pay dates; date and circumstances of termination.

The Alabama State Agency charged with enforcing the state wage and hour laws is:

The Department of Industrial Relations
649 Monroe Street
Montgomery, Alabama 36131
334-242-8990
www.dir.state.al.us/

There is no provision for minimum wage in the State of Alabama.

There is also no general provision in Alabama State Law covering paying overtime in a non-FLSA covered employer.

Alabama State new hire reporting requirements are that every employer must report every new hire, rehire and recall. The employer must report the federally required elements of:

• Employee’s name
• Employee’s address
• Employee’s social security number
• Employer’s name
• Employers address
• Employer’s Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)

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In the beginning, I thought it was going to be a breeze when my husband, Terry, joined me working full-time in my business. If anyone could do it, we could! We already had a healthy relationship built on trust and respect. We communicated well. We both strongly believed in what we were doing. We understood the need to help each other with the children, keeping the house, and with the business. We planned to allow for fluctuations in income to keep stresses over money to a minimum. Yet I still wasn’t prepared.

For anyone considering working with your spouse, here are 3 Essential Boundaries for Entrepreneurial Couples to help to ease your transition:

1. Clarify expectations for work/home.
Nothing can prepare you for the blurring of boundaries and turf that occur as you transition into working together. When you join together with your spouse, most likely, both of you have experienced success throughout your careers, and have developed your own working style. Suddenly you have a whole new dynamic in your relationship with your spouse you must learn to work through. I always knew that we had different gifts and talents: Terry is very techie and he loves to write, and I am a people person who is an administrative whiz. Even though I should have probably seen it coming, I was still surprised at the difference in our work styles. I multi-task all day long, and he prefers to work on one project at a time. Just like being newlyweds all over again, we had to put some effort into getting to know each other on a whole new level to be able to work well together.

Beth Butler, creator of the Boca Beth Program has some helpful tips for clarifying expectations with your spouse. “I make us lunch each day and we try to talk about BOCA BETH items that are pressing. It’s our time to reconnect – he works from home for the wine company he represents and I work from home sharing my passion for second language learning with young children. A funny mix, but it works! We talk about what each of us has planned the next day so there are no surprises – and I use that time to ask for his help. I can’t expect him to guess what I need so I have learned to be very specific.”
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