Your Go-to Resource for Year End Management

We know that year end can be a confusing time with managing payroll, tax, and ACA obligations. That’s why we are keeping it simple… Toast Central is your one stop for all items related to year end and employee management! Below are some helpful reminders to get you ready for the new year.


Setting up Company Holidays

If you have the Time Away from Work module as part of your package offering, please remember to review and set up all your Company Holidays by navigating to Dashboard > Calendar > New Holiday. You can view the list of 2021 Federal banking holidays here. You can setup holiday rules by navigating to Company > Setup > Setup > Timekeeping and selecting Holiday Rules.


Printed W-2 Fees & Opt-In Functionality 

As a reminder, Toast Payroll & Team Management charges $5 for each printed W-2, however employees can easily opt into electronic W-2s by logging into the system. There is no fee for electronic filings. 

Don’t forget to export your payroll calendar from your Standard Report Library > Payroll Calendar Audit Report. This lists all your pay periods and check dates for the date range defined.


TAFW Reset

If you track employees' Time Away From Work (TAFW) through Toast Payroll & Team Management, below is an overview for what to expect on January 1st, 2021. Additionally, find the Toast Central help article here. If your TAFW balances reset on the calendar year, the reset occurs on January 1st. If they reset on a date other than the calendar year, this does not apply. If you allow balances (or portions) to carryover, those carryover buckets will display on the employee’s TAFW page in addition to their regular buckets. Note: If employees have negative balances, they do not carry over.

Tip: Use the Employee TAFW Balances by Date Range Report* to view your 'Point in Time' balances. Reach out to our Support Team for further questions about Time Away balances and Year-End.


Double Check SSN for Employees in the Database 

In order to report wages correctly,  Social Security Numbers for all employees must be documented. Many states will not accept returns that contain missing, invalid, or placeholder SSNs. Some states may accept invalid SSNs but may charge penalties and require corrections. To avoid this,  check periodically to ensure all employees have valid SSNs. For more information on how to check for valid SSNs, view the Social Security Administration’s Social Security Number Verification System found here.


Earning & Deductions for Year-End 

As the new calendar year approaches, we'd like to communicate our plan for transitioning the Earning and Deduction records for your employees.

After you post your last payroll of 2020, your next payroll will not automatically appear on the Pay Cycle Dashboard. This is because the system has automatically prepared all of your calendars for 2021. After you post your last cycle in 2020, the system will create new 2021 earnings, deduction, and tax buckets. Once this takes place, your first 2021 calendar will automatically appear on your Pay Cycle Dashboard.

You can review your 2021 calendar set up by downloading the Payroll Calendar Audit report from the Standard Report Library. End dates determine if earning/deduction codes are carried into the 2021 year.


Manual & Voided Checks for Q4 

To avoid fees that come with amended tax returns, all voids, manual checks, and any other lingering Q4 checks must be recorded and posted by 3pm CST, January 4th, 2021. For on-time tax payments to the IRS, all Q4 payrolls (regular, manual and voids) that create positive taxes must be posted by 3pm CST on Monday, January 4th. After that date, IRS penalties will apply.

Wednesday, January 4st, 2021 is the deadline for any 2020 recording items you might have missed. After this date, any amendments will require a newly issued W2 to employees whose records have been changed.


Office Closures & Upcoming Bank Holidays  

Toast Payroll & Team Management will have modified hours over the holiday:

Thursday, December 24th: Banking activity ceases at 12:30 pm CST. Offices close at 5:30 pm CST.

Friday, December 25th: Offices closed.

Wednesday, January 1st: Offices closed. Email will be monitored for emergency purposes. 

Bank Holidays: Additionally, there are also several bank holidays during the holiday season. If your Pay Date falls on one of the dates below, you will need to update the Pay Date to accommodate for the Banking Holiday. 

ACA Filing 

If your services include Toast Payroll's ACA module and Filing and you would like Toast to file the ACA 1095-C/1094-C forms on your behalf for 2020, you can fill out the ACA Questionnaire in the system starting November 1, 2020. This must be completed no later than December 20, 2020. To complete the questionnaire, log in to Toast Payroll, navigate to the Company tab and click on ACA. Under the Checklist tab, answer the questions in the Filing Checklist Questionnaire to build your company's personalized ACA Checklist.

This list will have all the inputs that we need in order to submit your filing by February 12, 2021. Once the questionnaire has been completed, you will be able to review the checklist early and begin preparing all data required.*

For assistance navigating Toast’s ACA Module and the Filing process, please visit our ACA Resource Center here. The ACA Resource Center will be updated periodically with new articles and guides.

*Please note: Imports included on the checklist cannot be imported into the system until January 1, 2021, but they will be available soon for you to prepare for upload.