Posts Tagged: Payroll

Important year-end tax and payroll reminders

 

As you begin holiday celebrations and look forward to the new year, the UCPath Center has some important year-end and new-year reminders to share. Please read closely and mark your calendar for upcoming deadlines.

2020 payroll notices

• Employees paid monthly will receive payment for December 2019 earnings on January 2, 2020. View the 2020 monthly payroll calendar.
• Employees paid biweekly will receive the first paycheck of 2020 on January 8. View the 2020 biweekly payroll calendar.

New year, new benefit enrollments
It is important to make sure that the benefits you enrolled in during Open Enrollment are reflected correctly in your paycheck. Here's a checklist to compare against. 

The following table illustrates the coverage begin date for Open Enrollment changes and the paycheck on which new benefit rates take effect.

Pay Schedule	Open Enrollment Coverage Begin Date	Paycheck Deduction begin date	Paycheck date
Bi-Weekly	1/1/2020	11/17/2019	12/11/2019*
Monthly	1/1/2020	12/1/2019	1/2/2020**

*2020 Disability premiums for January and Flexible Spending Account contributions deduct from the 1/8/2020 paycheck for bi-weekly employees.

** 2020 Flexible Spending Account contributions deduct from the 1/2/2020 paycheck for monthly employees. 2020 Disability premiums for January deduct from the 2/1/2020 paycheck for monthly employees.

Jan. 18, 2020: Tax information deadline

The UCPath Center will begin processing W-2s in late January. In order to ensure that the information on your W-2 is complete, accurate and reaches you, please take the following steps by January 18.

• Verify your home mailing and personal email address in UCPath online. Even if you plan to opt for a digital W-2, it's important that UC can reach you.
• Verify your dependents. UC needs the social security numbers of your spouse/domestic partner and any dependents. To review and update, log into UCPath online and go to Employee Actions > Health and Welfare > Dependent Coverage.
• International workers: Verify your GLACIER account information. International persons receiving UC wages may receive either a W-2 or 1042-S. Verify that your email and home mailing addresses match exactly in UCPath online and in the GLACIER database to ensure that your tax information is sent correctly. You can also opt for an electronic 1042-S through GLACIER.

W-2s for the 2019 tax year

For the 2019 tax year, UCANR employees will receive two W-2 statements:

• W-2 statement from AYSO will cover your January – September 2019 paychecks.
• W-2 statement from UCPath will cover your October - December 2019 paychecks. 
• If your first paycheck was after September 30, 2019, you will only receive one W-2 from UCPath.
• Opt-in to receive your W-2 electronically. It's easy, safe and convenient! Sign up today at UCPath online and click on Employee Actions >Income and Taxes> Enroll to Receive Online W-2.

Other Information

• Box C of the 1095 Affordable Care Act form will display the UCPath address as your employer.

Federal and State Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

• All W-2 notifications include IRS Notice 797, alerting you that you may be eligible for the federal EITC, a benefit for working people with low to moderate income. To qualify, you must meet certain requirements and file a tax return, even if you do not owe any tax or are not required to file. The federal EITC reduces the amount of tax you owe and may give you a refund. For more information, visit the IRS website or contact the IRS at (800) 829-3676.
• Similarly, you may be eligible for the California EITC. To claim this credit, you must file a CA income tax return, and complete and attach the CA EITC form (FTB 3514). For more information visit the Franchise Tax Board website or call (800) 852-5711.

Claiming exemption from withholding

The IRS requires you to complete a new W-4 form each year if you are claiming exemption from tax withholding. If you wish to claim exemption from withholding in 2020, you must make this choice on UCPath online before Feb. 15, 2020.

Have questions or need help?

Please visit UCPath and click on “Ask UCPath Center” to submit an inquiry. You can also speak with an associate by calling the UCPath Center at (855) 982-7284 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

 

 

 

Monthly paid employees must submit August timesheets Sept. 9-13

In preparation for UCPath, a new version of the time reporting system (TRS) will be deployed in early September for August monthly timesheets.  

• Monthly paid employees will use the new TRS to report August vacation and sick leave 
• Wait until Monday, Sept. 9, to log into TRS (trs.ucdavis.edu) to enter your August leave usage
• Submit your August timesheet by Friday, Sept. 13
• Supervisors approve by Tuesday, Sept 17, 10 a.m.

If monthly paid employees submit their time before Sept. 9 in the old TRS, the timesheet WILL NOT be saved or processed!

Bi-weekly timesheets will process as normal during this time. Send questions to ucpath@ucanr.edu.

 

Final position proposals due Sept. 15 for 2018 Call for Cooperative Extension positions

On Aug. 1, phase 2 of the Cooperative Extension Positions Call process ended and phase 3 began. During phase 2, the Program Teams reviewed the 40 phase 1 proposals and submitted six additional proposals. All submitted proposals are posted on the 2018 Call for Position web page: http://ucanr.edu/2018callforpositions.

Phase 3:

• The statewide programs and institutes are now reviewing all 46 proposed positions to determine if there are any positions they feel are of higher priority.
• If so, they can propose up to two additional CE advisor positions and two additional CE specialist positions by Sept. 15 – keeping in mind that the more proposals there are at the end, the lower the probability of being approved for recruitment.
• The proposals that did not make the phase 1 final 40 can be picked up during these subsequent phases. They can be found on the proposal ideas web page. New proposals are not limited to these ideas.

After Sept. 15, Program Council will review all the feedback and make recommendations to the vice president.

“We thank the ANR network for actively engaging in this participatory process to strengthen and rebuild CE positions statewide,” said Wendy Powers, associate vice president.

ANR to join UCPath next spring

Preparations are underway for UC ANR to join UCPath in the spring. To ensure a successful transition to new systems and new processes, John Fox, executive director of Human Resources, recently hosted the first in a series of monthly meetings with business officers and administrative staff located in UC Cooperative Extension offices, at Research and Extension Centers and in administrative units.

UCPath is a systemwide initiative launched by the University of California to modernize its current payroll system, which is nearly 40 years old. Using new technology, UCPath will unify and standardize payroll, benefits and human resource systems for all UC employees.

Employees at Office of the President, UC Merced and UC Riverside have already made the transition. UCLA and UC Santa Barbara are scheduled to join UCPath this fall. UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine and UC ANR are scheduled to join in April 2019.

This initiative involves a single payroll and HR technology system, a shared services center in Riverside, and the formation of UC ANR as a distinct business unit within UC. The formation of UC ANR as a stand-alone business unit, rather than as part of UCOP or a campus, is one of the strategic initiatives supported by President Napolitano, and provides an opportunity to improve efficiency and strengthen compliance and accountability.

“UC Path will transform the way we do business,” said Fox. “Our fiscal silos will be unified, hugely improving the accuracy of our fiscal data and the speed with which we can access it. It will also give all of us better access to information and improved tools for hiring and transaction approvals.”

Business officers and administrative staff will be key to the success of UCPath for ANR.

“They are the people who know how to get things done in ANR today,” Fox said. “We want to support them in becoming UCPath experts to help ANR employees navigate the new systems and processes.”

Business officers and administrative staff who missed the UCPath Network kick-off Zoom meeting with Fox can view a recording of the Aug 24 session at https://ucdavis.app.box.com/v/ucpathnetwork. The next monthly session will be on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 11 a.m. to noon.

Highlights of UCPath when it goes live in spring 2019:

• User-friendly, mobile-enabled portal to view and update personal data and manage benefits
• The UCPath Center in Riverside will help with benefits, payroll and personnel services
• Direct deposit in up to three accounts 
• New recruitment tools and enhanced candidate experience
• Manager self-service access to reports and employee data
• Improved security for payroll and personnel data
• Automated routing for approval of personnel and certain pay transactions
• Improved online employee appraisal system
• Standard set of reports provided to all UC business units

Academics who are affiliated with a campus should refer to their respective campus UCPath websites. More information is on UC ANR's UCPath website at http://ucanr.edu/UCPath and it will continue to be updated as we approach the launch.

An email account has been set up to receive questions and comments about UCPath: ucpath@ucanr.edu.

 

Names in the News

Delk joins Development Services

Emily Delk joined the Development Services team in August as the director of Annual Giving and Donor Stewardship Programs.

She brings fundraising and event planning experience from a broad background of nonprofit organizations including the Crocker Art Museum, Sutter Health, and Fairytale Town. Earlier this year, Delk was selected as one of 10 development professionals to compete for cash and in-kind support through a public-speaking program called Fast Pitch, where she earned high praise and won top prizes.

She holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in communications from Chapman University in Orange.

Delk is based at the ANR building in Davis and can be reached at (530) 750-1346 and eddelk@ucanr.edu. 

Eskalen moves to UC Davis

Akif Eskalen, a UC Cooperative Extension specialist whose research focuses on plant pathology at UC Riverside, has accepted a new position at UC Davis. He will be filling the position of his late mentor, Doug Gubler. From now on, he will work on grapes, strawberries, caneberries, blueberries and other tree fruits.

“Akif has been instrumental in bringing new light to the understanding of such basic disease problems as citrus twig and shoot dieback, citrus botryosphaeria branch canker, citrus dry root rot and ‘Fukumoto' foamy bark (http://eskalenlab.ucr.edu/citrusdiseases.html),” wrote Ben Faber, UCCE advisor in Ventura County, in the Topics for Subtropics blog. “He has cleared up the mysteries surrounding avocado black streak, dothiorella branch canker and avocado stem and leaf blight. His studies have also covered oak diseases that are exacerbated by invasive pests (http://eskalenlab.ucr.edu/handouts/oakwoodlandsdiseasesmanagement.pdf).”

Eskalen and John Kabashima, UCCE advisor emeritus, recently received the Award of Arboricultural Research from the Western Chapter International Society of Arboriculture, recognizing their research on the polyphagous shot hole borer, a beetle that is causing severe fusarium dieback damage to avocado and landscape trees in Southern California (http://eskalenlab.ucr.edu/pshb.html).

Eskalen can be reached at 267 Hutchison Hall at UC Davis and aeskalen@ucdavis.edu.

Hoddle and Stouthamer elected ESA fellows

Mark Hoddle and Richard Stouthamer have been elected 2018 fellows of the Entomological Society of America, the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and individuals in related disciplines.

Hoddle and Stouthamer are among 10 new fellows elected by the Governing Board of the ESA, an honor that acknowledges outstanding contributions to entomology in research, teaching, extension and outreach, administration or the military.

Hoddle, a UC Cooperative Extension specialist and director of UC Riverside's Center for Invasive Species Research, is known for his work on the biological control of invasive arthropods that adversely affect agricultural, urban and wilderness areas.

Stouthamer, a UC Riverside professor of entomology, is known for his research on wolbachia, invasive species and insect-transmitted plant pathogens.

The fellows will be recognized during Entomology 2018, the Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of America, Canada and British Columbia, Nov. 11-14, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Six communicators affiliated with UC Davis and UC ANR received a total of 10 awards for excellence from the international Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Life and Human Sciences (ACE).

They brought home five gold or first-place awards: three silver or second-place awards; and two bronze or third-place awards. “That was quite a haul!” commented an ACE member on Facebook.

Diane Nelson, communication specialist with the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, won two golds. One was for promotional writing, “Weighing Pig Personality,” (https://bit.ly/2KDdYmQ), featuring animal science professor Kristina Horback's pioneering research examining the role personality plays in the welfare and sustainable production of pigs. The second gold was for web writing, “The Last Stop: When There's Nowhere Colder to Go,” (https://bit.ly/2M6iOOR), spotlighting research by animal science professor Anne Todgham, who studies how climate change affects polar species. Both of Nelson's submissions drew perfect scores from the judges.

Kathy Keatley Garvey, communication specialist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won gold for best newswriting, “Why These Youngsters Want to Become Entomologists” (https://bit.ly/2sYwhye), about children of California migratory workers touring the Bohart Museum of Entomology and then staging a press conference to interview director Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis professor of entomology. Judges awarded the news story a perfect score. Garvey also received a silver in the writing-for-the-web category for her Bug Squad blog post, “Once Upon a Monarch” (https://bit.ly/2BrePU5). She writes the blog, launched in 2008, every night, Monday through Friday, on the UC ANR website.

Jim Downing, executive editor of California Agriculture, the peer-reviewed journal of UC ANR, won gold in the magazine division (http://calag.ucanr.edu). California Agriculture is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal reporting research, reviews and news on California's agricultural, natural and human resources. First published in December 1946, it is one of the country's oldest, continuously published, land-grant university research publications.

David Slipher, director of marketing and communications for the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences, won gold for best picture story for his piece on “Pigeon Parenting” (https://bit.ly/2KCfCoN), focusing on research from the Rebecca Calisi Rodríguez lab. Calisi Rodríguez is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior.

Steve Elliot, communication coordinator for the Western Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Center, won two silvers and a bronze: a silver for his photo essay, “America's Arctic Agriculture: Growing Crops, Managing Pests and Monitoring Invasives in Alaska” (https://bit.ly/2OS2Vtc); silver for the diversity awards video category, “Gold Spotted Oak Borer: A Threat to California's Oaks” (https://youtu.be/In2e5atd3ZY); and a bronze for the Western IPM Center's monthly newsletter, “The Western Front” (https://bit.ly/2M5mL6s). The center, a USDA-funded program, aims to promote smart, safe and sustainable pest management to protect the people, environment and economy of the American West, encompassing 17 western states and territories.

Gregory Watry, science writer for the College of Biological Sciences, won a bronze award in the “Writing for Diverse Audiences” (https://bit.ly/2M4Nq3o) in a diversity awards category. The story described undergraduate research opportunities in Calisi Rodriguez's lab.

ACE is a worldwide association of communicators, educators and information technologists, offers professional development and networking for individuals who extend knowledge about agriculture, natural resources, and life and human sciences. The awards were presented Aug. 7 at the 2018 Ag Media Summit held in Scottsdale, Ariz., where ACE members joined forces with U.S. crop and livestock news media professionals. – Kathy Keatley Garvey

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