CenterPoint Fund Accounting - Reporting Wages for H-2A Employees on W-2s

W-2 Forms Prepare & Print - Duration: 53 min 36 sec

 

Document #: 3199 Product: CenterPoint® Payroll

 

The Federal government requires wages for H-2A employees to be reported on W-2s. This document explains the steps necessary to report H-2A wages on W-2s.

Edit H-2A Employee Setup

H-2A employees must be setup to have their wages reported on a W-2. Most employers do not withhold taxes from H-2A employee pay checks. However, in order for the wages to display in Box 1 of the W-2, the wages must be setup as subject to the Federal Withholding Tax, even if no tax is actually withheld.

If your state requires wages to be reported in Box 16, see the steps in the note after step 6.

  1. Select Setup > Employees. Highlight the first H-2A employee and click Edit. Select the Payroll tab.

  1. Select the H-2A check box.
  2. Change Wages Report On to W-2.
  3. Select the Taxes tab. Check Federal in the box at the bottom of the screen.

  1. Highlight the Federal line in the box on the upper left side. Below, uncheck all taxes besides the Federal Withholding. When it asks if you want to delete the tax, select Yes.
  2. Highlight the Federal Withholding line in the upper box. To the right, change the Filing Status to Exempt.

  1. Click Save. Repeat steps 1 - 6 for each H-2A employee.

If your state requires wages to be reported in Box 16 on the W-2, follow the steps below:

  • Add the State Withholding tax (as you did for the Federal tax in step 3 above).
  • Highlight the State Withholding tax in the upper-left, and then to the right, select Use Alternate Flat Tax and verify the Flat Tax Percent is 0%.
  • Click Save.

Enter a Totals Pay Run

If you have paid the H-2A employees without having the Federal Withholding setup, their wages will not pull into the W-2s. This can be corrected by entering a totals pay run for the H-2A employees. IMPORTANT: Once the W-2s are complete, the totals pay run should be deleted or wages on pay reports will be incorrect.

  1. Select Reports > Reports > Payroll Data Reports > Payroll Register and run the Payroll Register Summary for last year. This will show each employees gross earnings.
  2. Go to Setup > Payroll Details > Start-up Pay. Start-up pay creates a totals pay run that is not posted and does not print checks, but is included in reports such as W-2s. The process is the same as a standard pay run only without a post or print step.
    • Click New.
    • On the Select tab, enter the pay period dates as last year. Select the H-2A employees and move them to the right.
    • Select the Enter Pay tab. For each employee, enter the total wages for last year.
    • Click Save.

Process W-2s

To process W-2s, go to Reports > Federal & State Payroll Forms & Reports > Federal Tax Forms. For detailed instructions please see the topic Processing and Printing W-2s.

Delete the Totals Pay Run

  1. Select Setup > Payroll Details > Start-up Pay.
  2. Select the totals pay run entered above and click Delete.

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