There are several actions you should take in November or early December in preparation for the new year. For example:
Update Payroll parameters to accept next year’s payroll.
Review and correct employee information.
Review Pay Calculations or HR Benefits for Annual and YTD maximums.
Review or add Employee Pay Calculations.
Review Tax Authority Configuration for rate or wage limit changes and correct Tax ID numbers.
Review changes to this year’s W-2 form.
Create and review a test W-2 batch.
All these items are discussed in this section.
Update Payroll Parameters
In Coins ERP+, you update a payroll parameter to indicate to the system that you are ready to process in a new year. This parameter controls what years are available to accept timesheets for processing. You may have one or several years open at one time. This allows payroll to be processed in the current year and corrections to be made in a prior year simultaneously.
The global Payroll parameter PRYEARS contains a comma-separated list of years that are valid for entry of timesheets. In addition to the current year (2025), you will need to enter the next year (2026) to that parameter to be able to process your first payroll of 2026. To adjust a previous year, add that year to the PRYEARS parameter prior to starting the payroll period for the corrections. Be sure to remove last year (2024) from the list to avoid errors.
Review Employee Maintenance
Review the information on file for each employee. The more changes you make to the permanent records in Employee Maintenance, the fewer changes you will need to make for the individual W-2s. If you make changes to Employee Maintenance record information after creating the W-2s, you will need to make the changes in the W-2 File as well.
Pay particular attention to the information printed on the W-2, such as:
Social Security Number.
If an employee does not have a Social Security Number, use 000-00-0000.
Name
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has issued some regulations with respect to reporting employee names. Please see the following website’s Question and Answer section for more information: www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/critical.htm.
Address.
Retirement, Statutory Employee, and Third-Party Sick Pay fields
The Retirement and Statutory Employee fields default from the Employee Maintenance record onto the W-2 file. The Third-Party Sick Pay field must be manually marked in W-2 File Maintenance. These relate to the check marks that appear in Box 13 of the W-2 form.
You may also update other employee information at this time. Remember, changes made to exemptions, extra withholding amounts, etc., only affect subsequent payments. Past payroll history is not affected.
Review Global Earning Categories
Review the Global Earning Category file in Coins ERP+ Payroll in December. Pay particular attention to:
Taxable Information. This can only be updated after the final payroll of the current year and prior to calculating the first payroll of the new year.
W-2 Info Defaults. These fields can be updated anytime during the year, prior to creating W-2s.
Review Global Pay Calculations and State Calculations
Review the Global Pay Calculations file and State Calculations in Coins ERP+ Payroll in December. Pay particular attention to:
Annual and Total Maximums.
W-2 Info defaults. These fields can be updated any time during the year, prior to creating W-2s.
Taxable Information. This can only be updated after the final payroll of the current year and prior to the first payroll calculation of the new year.
Other setup information can be reviewed as well, such as Excluded Earnings Categories and Required Deductions.
Review Employee Pay Calculation File
The Employee Pay Calculation file should be reviewed in December in preparation for the first payroll of the new year. Coins ERP+ uses the effective date of a pay calculation to determine whether it is appropriate for a particular employee pay calculation to be included in the payroll cycle. The Period Ending Date is used to evaluate flat amount calculations, while the Timecard Date is used to evaluate calculations based on percentage, rate per hour, or rate per day.
Pay calculations may be entered into Coins ERP+ payroll well in advance of the effective date. Calculations you should review or add include:
Existing pay calculations that do not expire this year. Review these records for the correct Annual Maximum and Total Maximum values. You can do this by using the Employee Pay Calculations view of the pay calculation records in the Global Pay Calculations file. You should correct any pay calculations in error by adding new pay calculations with the appropriate effective date (immediately or the first day of the first payroll of next year).
Add new pay calculations for any fringes or deductions that expire at the end of the year, such as a flexible spending account or medical insurance. You may enter the new calculations at any time. The effective date of the pay calculations should be the first day of your first payroll period of the new year (i.e., use an effective date of 12/24/23 for week ending 12/30/23, check date 01/03/24).
Refer to the HR End of Year processing for additional instructions on updating pay calculations when using benefit plans as the source of the calculation.
Review Tax Authority Configuration
Prior to the end of the year, review the Tax Authority Configuration files to ensure that the correct Tax ID numbers have been entered for Federal, State, and Local jurisdictions. These ID numbers are used on W-2s when they are printed, and in the W-2 File export routines that are ultimately sent to the taxing authorities.
Tax Authority Configuration should be reviewed throughout December for changes to tax rates or limits on the following:
Social Security.
Medicare.
Medicare Tax Rate for High Wage Earners.
FUTA.
SUTA.
DBL.
Workers Comp and General Liability.
Enter changes to any rates entered in Tax Authority Configuration as soon as you become aware of them by simply copying the previous record. Enter a new Effective Date, update the rates that have changed, and save your changes.
Coins ERP+ payroll uses the Effective Date of Tax Authority Configuration and the Check Date of the payroll cycle to determine which rates and limits to use in calculations.
Locality Reporting
Update fields in Localities under Global Setup for Electronic W-2 Filing:
W-2 Mag Locality Code.
Locality Group Code.
Update fields in Localities under Global Setup for W-2 Reporting to Employees (i.e., OH School District Reporting):
W-2 Resident Description.
W-2 Non-Resident Description.
Review Changes to W-2 Form for 2025
For detailed instructions on completing the W-2 form, see W-2 and W-3 Instructions in the Forms and Publications area of the IRS website (www.irs.gov).
No changes were made to the W-2 Form for Tax Year 2025.
Initial Test of W-2s
Test the printing of the W-2s in early December to uncover and resolve potential printing problems. Please do not wait until the end of the month. Factors such as age and condition of printer and print drivers can affect alignment.
Although the W-2s do not need to be printed until January, you should create a test W-2 batch now. Performing W-2 testing now has many advantages, such as:
Becoming familiar with the W-2 programs and ensuring they work properly on your system.
Ensuring that the forms print correctly and the data is aligned properly.
Discovering potential earnings/W-2 discrepancies in time to fix them in the current payroll year. By discovering inaccuracies early, you can make the necessary corrections in the permanent files rather than just on the W-2s. For example, you can run an adjusting payroll and adjust amounts both on the W-2 and in payroll history.
Pay particular attention to negative earnings and negative deduction amounts. The IRS and SSA do not accept negative values. These negative values appear as zero on W-2s and on the W-2 Report.