In response to questions that HR and USNH Payroll are receiving from benefits eligible employees regarding January 4th and January 11th paychecks, we wanted to share the following information:

For employees receiving a salary increase that is effective on January 1, 2013, payment will be received January 4th or January 11th. Employee paychecks include pay for time worked December 23rd through January 4th. This translates to 6 days’ pay at an employee’s previous rate and 4 days’ pay at the new rate for those who received a base salary increase. If an employee received a one-time bonus in lieu of salary increase, the entire bonus amount is included in the January 4 paycheck.

Please note that the FICA-OASDI* tax increased from 4.2% to 6.2% effective January 1, 2013.   Wages earned from December 23rd through January 4th under the IRS regulations are considered 2013 earnings, therefore  the 6.2% tax applies to the entire paycheck. This tax is applied to gross earnings less pretax benefits plus the value of group term life insurance income.

As a reminder,  the 2013 USNH benefit rates and/or any benefit changes selected during open enrollment  effective for the new year are also reflected in this check.  As a result, it is possible that an employee’s net pay is less than it was for the prior pay period.

Finally, the new IRS federal tax withholding tables were released by the IRS on Dec 31st and revised on January 1st. The revisions have not yet been released.  We expect that these upgrades will be available in a couple of weeks.

*FICA-OASDI is federal payroll taxes collected under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). These taxes are used to support Social Security and Medicare. USNH denotes this withholding as FICA-OASDI (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance).

For Further Questions:

• For questions regarding salary or merit increases being reflected in the pay periods for the new tax year, please contact Joyce Cleary, HR at 862-0513.
• For questions regarding your USNH core benefits elections for 2013, and the rate changes affecting your paycheck please contact Susan Nolan, HR Benefits Manager, at 862-0504.
• For questions regarding any taxation issues that pertain to your paycheck please contact USNH Central Payroll at 862-1400.

Thank you,
Human Resources