JANUARY
1st
- Federal contractor minimum rate increases to $10.95 per hour.
- Standard IRS mileage rate for business use in 2021 changes to 56₵.
- Begin paying non-exempt employees any new/revised state minimum wage rates that become effective January 1.
- Begin using new Summary of Benefits Coverage (SBC) template.
- Provide Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) notifications to your employees (if applicable) and ask anyone who wants to claim EITC to complete a new Form W-4 before February 16, 2021.
FEBRUARY
1st
- OSHA 300-A (Summary for the previous year) must be posted February 1 through April 30
- Distribute W-2s/1099s to employees/contractors for the previous year.
- Form W-3 (Transmittal of Wage & Tax Statements) along with Copy A of all Forms W-2 issued in the previous year must be submitted to the Social Security Administration
- Form 941 for the fourth quarter of the previous year is due. This report includes information about Secial Security, Medicare, and income tax withheld.
- Form 940 – Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return is due.
- Deposit Federal Unemployment Tax owed through December if more than $500.
16th
Begin withholding income tax from the pay of any employee who claimed exemption from withholding in the previous year but didn’t give you a new Form W-4 to continue the exemption for this year.
MARCH
1st
- ALEs must file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C with the IRS. (March 31st if filing electronically)
2nd
- Employers with 250+ employees or employers with 20-249 employees in certain industries must electronically submit information from their OSHA 300-A log from the previous year to OSHA.
- Health Care reporting – Applicable Large Employers (ALE) must provide Form 1095-C (Employer Provided Health Insurance Offer & Coverage) to employees. For all other providers of minimum essential coverage, provide Form 1095-B to individuals.
APRIL
30th
- File Form 941 for the first quarter of the year.
- Deposit Federal Unemployment Tax owed through March if more than $500.
Date TBD
EEO-1 Report must be filed by employers with 100+ employees and employers with 50+ employees and a prime contract or first-tier subcontract amounting to $50,000 or more. (Demographic data only for 2019 and 2020.)
JULY
31st
- PCORI fees are due for non-calendar year plans ending between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021.
AUGUST
2nd
- File Form 941 for the second quarter of the year.
- Deposit Federal Unemployment Tax owed through June if more than $500.
- Form 5500 or Form 5500-EZ must be filed if you maintain an employee benefit plan, such as a group health insurance, pension plan, profit sharing plan, or stock bonus plan. If you use a fiscal year as your plan year, file the form by the last day of the seventh month after the plan year ends.
SEPTEMBER
30th
- Vets-4212 must be submitted by all nonexempt Federal contractors and subcontractors with a contract or subcontract in the amount of $150,000 or more with any department or agency of the United States for the procurement of personal property or non-personal services.
- Plan Administrators must distribute Summary Annual Reports (SAR) to plan participants if Form 5500 was filed July 31. SAR must be furnished within 2 months after Form 5500 is filed.
OCTOBER
15th
Notices of creditable coverage disclosures for Medicare Part D must be provided to eligible individuals before October 15.
NOVEMBER
1st
- File Form 941 for the third quarter of the year.
- Deposit Federal Unemployment Tax owed through September if more than $500.
- Order new compliance poster for next year to ensure delivery before January 1.
- Open enrollment begins in the Health Insurance Marketplace (Exchange). Eligible individuals can enroll or renew enrollment for next year. Open enrollment in the federal Marketplace (www.healthcare.gov) is November 1 – December 15. State-run marketplaces may have longer enrollment periods.
30th
Review state minimum wage changes to ensure payrolls are ready to make adjustments to new minimum wage rates that become effective January 1.
DECEMBER
- It is generally recommended that employers ask employees whose withholding allowances may change in the new year to complete a new Form W-4, which should be available on the IRS website in mid-December.
- Ask employees to update contact information.
- Distribute holiday schedule for next year.
- Distribute timetables for next year’s performance reviews.
31st
- Download E-verify historic records no later than the 31st. E-veriy only maintains records for the previous 10 years. Any records more than 10 years old will be deleted from the E-verify system.
- Employers should have gathered all the information necessary to determine whether or not they are an “applicable large employer” (ALE) in 2022. 2022 status is based on the number of employees each month in 2021.
- For employers with Section 125 plans, nondiscrimination testing must be completed on the last day of the plan year, which is December 31 for calendar-year plans. It’s recommended you do a pre-test by October 31 so that necessary adjustments can be made.
- ERISA plan sponsors who received MLR rebates on September 30 must pay the plan’s portion of the rebate amount (“plan assets”) to participants or use it for benefit improvements, or employer must establish a trust to hold the rebate as a plan asset.
- Make necessary updates to FSA, HAS, HRA, 401k contributions, etc. as IRS contribution limits may change from year to year.
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