Payroll

You've met Mr. or Mrs. Right and fallen in love, set the date and picked out the dress, but have you talked about your finances? Before taking the vow of “for richer or poorer,” it is important to discuss your current financial situations and determine how finances will be handled during marriage.

The Seattle City Council Monday unanimously approved a $15 minimum wage, creating a path over the next seven years to provide the city's lowest-paid workers the nation's highest minimum wage.

The IRS isn’t backing off on its tough stance involving the “once-a-year-IRA rollover” rule. In the aftermath of a new case tightening the restriction for IRA owners (Bobrow, TC Memo 2014-21), it recently announced it intends the follow the Tax Court’s lead on this issue. However, showing some leniency, the IRS now says it won’t implement the new rule until 2015, providing clients with leeway for the rest of this year (Announcement 2014-15)

When a worker changes jobs, what do they do with their 401(k) or other employer-based retirement savings? That's a question of increasing interest and concern to policymakers and employers alike.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has voted unanimously to approve two Exposure Drafts proposing significant improvements to financial reporting by state and local governments of other postemployment benefits (OPEB), such as retiree health insurance. The GASB also approved a third Exposure Draft that would establish requirements for pensions and pension plans that are outside the scope of the pension standards the GASB released in 2012.

Employers can’t get around the Obamacare “shared responsibility” provision simply by giving employees tax-free cash to pay for health insurance from a state-run exchange. In effect, this would pump up a worker’s pay and dump them in the marketplace. According to a new question and answer (Q&A) posted on the IRS website, as initially reported by the New York Times on May 25, the agency authoritatively states that the scheme won’t be allowed.

Jake Branson earns $7.25 an hour making sandwiches at a Subway in Leander, Texas, a suburb of Austin. Those wages used to come in the form of a paper check. Starting last month, though, he began receiving his pay on a prepaid Visa card. Most of it, that is.

At $10.74 an hour, San Francisco already has the nation's highest big city minimum wage. But it could soon have company, as labor and community activists in cities from Richmond to Sunnyvale push wage increases that could turn the Bay Area into a high-wage hub.