1099 Updates: June 2017

Regulatory and legislative updates to 1099 form requirements that took place in recent weeks.

Individual states and the IRS introduce new 1099 form requirements and changes to existing legislation on a frequent basis. The Sovos Regulatory Analysis team continually monitors and documents each of these updates in our Regulatory Feed.

Here are several recently updated requirements:

Maine Releases 2018 File Formatting Specifications for Quarterly Withholding Transmittals

Maine Revenue Services has made available the draft versions of the 2018 MEETRS File Formatting Specifications for Electronic Transmittal of Quarterly Income Tax Withholding. There are sets of specifications for both original filings and amended filings – which will become effective the first quarter of 2018. To read more, check out the full post on the Sovos Regulatory Feed.

Rhode Island Removes Annual Reporting Frequency for Employer Withholding Tax

Rhode Island recently updated its reporting frequency schedule to exclude the annual reporting frequency. The update to the 2017 Employer’s Income Tax Withholding Tables and the removal of Form RI-941A from the Department of Revenue website confirm that filers previously on an annual reporting schedule must switch to one of the remaining reporting schedules – daily, quarter-monthly, monthly, or quarterly. Each reporting schedule has its own withholding thresholds which employers must abide by, which the Withholding Tables reference on page 4-5.

Similarly, payments to the Department of Revenue for employer withholding must follow one of the four previously mentioned schedules, and should be made in a timely manner in accordance with the thresholds set out in the Withholding Tables.

California Publishes Updated Electronic Funds Transfer Bulk Filer Setup Guide

California recently released an updated version of Publication DE-154, Electronic Funds Transfer Bulk Filer Setup Guide. The purpose of this guide is to provide instruction for payroll agents who use the ACH Debit method to electronically pay the Payroll Tax Deposit using Form DE-88. This publication also provides detailed information on formatting files to submit bulk payments.
Head over to the Sovos Regulatory Feed for the full details. 

California Releases Updated Version of Quarterly Contribution Return and Report of Wages (Form DE-9)

California also released an updated version of Form DE-9, the Quarterly Contribution Return and Report of Wages. This form is issued by the Employment Development Department, and is used by employers in California to report wages and withholdings on a quarterly basis.

This new version makes no changes to the form itself. However, the instructions were edited to provide better instruction for filers: mainly, references to forms and publications were changed to list the form or publication’s abbreviated name. Additionally, Third-Party Sick Pay references were updated to the proper information sheets (DE-231R and DE-231T).