Intuit has launched a “Small Business Untied” program which provides Small Business Solutions to Help Entrepreneurs Thrive.
On the heels of announcements by other companies of massive layoffs, Intuit is doing it’s part to help stimulate the economy be offering over $350,000.00 in small business grants and free software.
Intuit’s Small Business United program is a multi-phase initiative that will bring a much needed stimulus package to more than 27 million small businesses in the country. This stimulus package includes more than $350,000.00 in small business grants and donations, plus free business tolls and products from Intuit.
For additional information about the Small Business United program, visit http://smallbusiness.intuit.com/
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact
Nancy Smyth
Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.
(888) 348-2877 phone
(866) 684-5157 fax
sales@sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com
http://www.sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com
SUNBURST SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, INC. RELEASES FEDERAL WH-347 COMPLIANCE UPDATE FOR “CERTIFIED PAYROLL SOLUTION” AND CONTRACTORS USING QUICKBOOKS.
“Certified Payroll Solution” Integrates with QuickBooks to Help Contractors Working on Government Funded Construction Projects Comply With Certified Payroll Reporting Requirements, Saving Them Time And Money.
West Charleston, VT – January 16, 2009
Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc., an Intuit Gold Developer, is pleased to announce the release of a compliance update, on January 14, 2009, for their flagship QuickBooks integrated application “Certified Payroll Solution.” This compliance update meets new Federal WH-347 certified payroll reporting requirements which become effective January 18, 2009, as mandated by the U.S. Department of Labor on December 18, 2008.
“Certified Payroll Solution” utilizes QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Enterprise Solutions timesheet, employee, job, and payroll data to automate the creation of Federal and/or State mandated certified payroll reports, statements of compliance, “No Work” performed payrolls, EEOC Reports and Union/Bona-fide Plan Fringe Benefit Reports. This exchange of critical data helps contractors working on prevailing wage construction projects to manage their compliance reporting more efficiently – saving them valuable time, money and resources.
“Manually creating certified payroll reports is simply a horrendous, time-consuming, error-prone process and if your reports aren’t accurate, you simply don’t get paid in a timely fashion. Before developing ‘Certified Payroll Solution,’ I created my certified payroll reports for years using an Excel spreadsheet and several reports from QuickBooks, and no matter how careful I was, there was always a mistake somewhere,” says Nancy Smyth, Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. President, also a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. ”I knew there had to be a better way and that way involved using data that I had already entered in QuickBooks.” She continues, “Essentially, without having to re-enter data manually into another program, errors were eliminated. Although this left the middleman – me – out of the picture, the savings to the small and mid-size business owner was tremendous!”
There are more than 12 million small businesses currently using computers in the United States (TowerGroup, 2001). Developing a QuickBooks integrated certified payroll program, and later an AIA type billing program, made sense to the husband and wife team, Ben & Nancy Smyth, principals of Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. Nearly three million small businesses (and almost 200,000 are contractors) use QuickBooks and 80 percent of those users want QuickBooks to integrate with other software and devises (QuickBooks 2000 User Study).
The “Certified Payroll Solution” updates provides compatibility with new WH-347 reporting requirements, which no longer require the reporting of full employee social security numbers and home address; but rather just a unique employee identification number, usually the last 4 digits of the employee social security number. Additionally, Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. has built in the ability for current users to easily change these reporting requirements on State specific reports and/or electronically filed reports as new requirements are announced.
About Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.
Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. has been providing contractors using QuickBooks Financial Software with a fully automated, integrated means to generate certified payroll reports and AIA type billings since October 2000. For more information, visit http://www.sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit, the Intuit logo, Quicken, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, Turbo Tax, ProSeries, and Lacert, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other parties’ trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners and should be treated as such.
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Important Note: As of January 16, 2009 there was no new or revised WH-347 form available from the U.S. Department of Labor, we will continue to monitor the site for the availability of a new form, if applicable.
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View this PRLog.org http://www.prlog.org/10168568-wh-347-compliance-update-for-certified-payroll-solution-and-contractors-using-quickbooks.html
From the AGC SmartBrief Newsletter dated 1/12/09.
Honolulu officials hope to start construction on an elevated commuter train in December of this year. The first of four contracts worth about $1 billion is expected to be awarded in February. Later this year, it will award a contract worth up to $600 million to a firm selected to design and build an elevated six-mile guideway, as well as one worth $120 million to build a maintenance storage facility.
From the AGC SmartBrief Newsletter dated 1/12/09.
Contracts worth $4 billion for levee and drainage projects in New Orleans will be offered by the Army Corps of Engineers. “The 113 contracts for the hurricane and storm-damage risk-reduction system will be the largest number we award in any given year,” said Col. Gregory Gunter, operations officer for Task Force Hope. “It’s going to be a huge year.” Projects involve bringing structures up to 100-year flood levels, improving drainage and adding a new pumping station. The Web site, http://www.FedBizOps.gov, will advertise the contracts.
Read the full article
IMPORTANT Revisions to U.S. Department of Labor/Federal WH-347 Reporting Mandates Regarding Protecting the Privacy of Workers.
January 9, 2009
Affected Audience:
All prime/general contractors and subcontractors required to file the Federal WH-347 Certified Payroll form on prevailing wage projects.
Background:
On October 20, 2008 the U.S. Department of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register (73 FR 62229) which invited comments until November 19, 2008, on proposed revisions to update current regulatory standards in order to better protect worker privacy for contracts covering federally financed and federally-assisted construction contracts. Specifically the proposed revisions affect the reporting of employee addresses and social security numbers on the Federal WH-347 certified payroll reports.
Effective Date:
According to recent information released in the Federal Register (73 FR 77504) published on 12/19/08, revised reporting requirements ONLY for the U.S. Department of Labor Form WH-347 begin on January 18, 2009.
What are the new reporting requirements and how do they protect worker privacy?
The bottom line, according to the Federal Register (73 FR 77504), is that beginning on January 18, 2009 you are no longer required to report your employees address and social security number on your weekly certified payroll reports when you file the Federal/U.S. Department of Labor WH-347 form.
HOWEVER, as with any government decisions there are always exceptions and “gray areas. ”
* These are the gray areas that we discovered and want to make you aware of:
- On 12/19/08, the Department of Labor published its final rule regarding the requirement of including employee home addresses and social security numbers on certified payrolls that are submitted to federal agencies in compliance with the Copeland “Anti-Kickback” and Davis-Bacon Acts.
- Effective 1/18/09, both contractors and subcontractors who are working on federally financed and/or assisted construction projects will no longer be required to list the home addresses and social security numbers on the certified payrolls. INSTEAD, the payrolls shall only need to include an individually identifiable number for each employee – it is suggested that this be the last four digits of the employee’s social security number.
- Contractors and subcontractors will still be required to submit weekly certified payrolls, along with a signed Statement of Compliance.
- The payrolls submitted shall include the following information:
- Name of each employee
- A unique individually identifiable number for each employee, or as it was suggested, the last 4 digits of the employee social security number
- His/her correct classification
- Hourly rates of pay, including any cash fringe benefits paid
- Daily and weekly number of hours worked
- Deductions made and actual wages paid
- The Prime/General Contractor is still responsible for the submission of copies of any/all payrolls submitted by subcontractors. Both contractors and subcontractors shall maintain the full social security number and current address for each of their covered workers AND shall provide that information, upon request to any applicable agency involved with the project for the purpose of an investigation or compliance audit.
- A Prime/General Contractor may require a subcontractor to provide employee addresses and social security numbers for their own records under separate cover, without submitting that information along with the required weekly certified payroll reports.
* These gray areas will cause this ruling to be open to interpretation by anyone reading them, causing you to be requested to continue to report employee addresses and social security numbers, not required to submit addresses and social security numbers, AND to report no address and the last 4 digits of the employees social security number.
What about state specific and electronic filing requirements?
At this time we have no information regarding any changes to either state specific or electronic filing requirements. We will keep you updated as we find out this information via our On-Line Support Forum at http://www.sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com/certified-payroll-solution-forum/119-u.s.-dol-proposed-rule-hopes-to-protect-worker-privacy.htm
How will Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. help us handle these changes?
Several months ago, we did release an updated version that would allow you to choose how you report employee social security numbers (see CPS System Setup -> System Preferences -> Settings tab -> SS # Format option initiated in version 5.0.278, August 2008) and we are currently working on a “forward thinking” update that will provide you with the ability to set “Job Defaults” for how you want to display the employee address and SS # on each form that you may be required to submit. You may, then, on a job-by-job (and form-by-form) basis further fine tune the settings for each individual job.
This update will provide you with full control and the means to easily change these printing preferences as any new state reporting mandates become available.
Full details will be provided separately from this notification by Tuesday January 13, 2009 in our Support Area – http://www.sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com/technical-support.htm , watch for updates.
Supporting Documentation:
Feel free to download the following additional documentation from our website for your review:
- Federal Register 73 FR 77504 – download from our website
