Definition of Employer

Employer

A person or entity that directs and controls the work of individuals in
exchange for compensation.

Federal Employer Identification Number

A unique identification number issued
by the federal government used for payroll purposes to identify the company
when it deals with the Internal Revenue Service.

Tax-deferred retirement plans

employer-sponsored and other plans that allow contributions and earnings to
be made and accumulate tax-free until they are paid out as benefits.

Payroll tax expense

The amount of tax associated with salaries that an employer pays to governments (federal, state, and local).

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)

a profit-sharing compensation program in which investments are made in
the securities of the employer

perk

a fringe benefit provided by the employer

Implicit Contract

An unwritten understanding between two groups, such as an understanding between an employer and employees that employees will receive a stable wage despite business cycle activity.

401k Plan

A retirement plan set up by an employer, into which employees can
contribute the lesser of $13,000 or 15 percent of their pay (as of 2004), which
is excluded from taxation until such time as they remove the funds from the account.

Benefit Ratio Method

The proportion of unemployment benefits paid to a company’s
former employees during the measurement period, divided by the total
payroll during the period. This calculation is used by states to determine the unemployment
contribution rate to charge employers.

Benefit Wage Ratio Method

The proportion of total taxable wages for laid off
employees during the measurement period divided by the total payroll during
the period. This calculation is used by states to determine the unemployment
contribution rate to charge employers.

Contribution Rate

The percentage tax charged by a state to an employer to
cover its share of the state unemployment insurance fund.

Current Tax Payment Act of 1943

A federal Act requiring employers to withhold income taxes from employee pay.

Defined Contribution Plan

A qualified retirement plan under which the employer
is liable for a payment into the plan of a specific size, but not for the size
of the resulting payments from the plan to participants.

Educational Assistance Plan

A plan that an employer creates on behalf of its
employees covering a variety of educational expenses incurred on behalf of
employees, for which they can avoid recognizing some income.

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)

A fund containing company stock and owned by employees, paid for by ongoing contributions by the employer.

Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)

A federal Act requiring employers to pay a tax on the wages paid to their employees, which is then used to create a
pool of funds to be used for unemployment benefits.

Form 4070

A form used by employees to report to an employer the amount of
their tip income.

Form 8027

The form used by employers to report tip income by their employees
to the government.

Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA)

A federal Act shielding employers from liability if they have made
a good-faith effort to verify a new employee’s identity and employment eligibility.

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

A federal Act requiring all employers having at least four employees to verify the identity and employment
eligibility of all regular, temporary, casual, and student employees.

Payroll Stabilization

This calculation is used by states to determine the unemployment
contribution rate to charge employers and links the contribution rate
to fluctuations in a company’s total payroll over time.

Qualified Retirement Plan

A retirement plan designed to observe all of the requirements
of the Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which allows an
employer to immediately deduct allowable contributions to the plan on behalf
of plan participants.

Reserve Ratio

This calculation is used by states to determine the unemployment contribution rate to charge employers. The ongoing balance of a firm’s unclaimed
contributions from previous years is reduced by unemployment claims for the past year and then divided by the average annual payroll, resulting in a "reserve ratio".

Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE)

An IRA set up by an employer with no other retirement plan and employing fewer than 100 employees,
into which they can contribute up to $9,000 per year (as of 2004).

Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA)

A federal Act requiring self-employed business owners to pay the same total tax rates for Social Security and
Medicare taxes that are split between employees and employers under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act.

Target Benefit Plan

A defined benefit plan under which the employer makes
annual contributions into the plan based on the actuarial assumption at that time
regarding the amount of funding needed to achieve a targeted benefit level.

Workers' Compensation Benefits

employer-paid insurance that provides their employees with wage compensation if they are injured on the job.

Group Life Insurance

This is a very common form of life insurance which is found in employee benefit plans and bank mortgage insurance. In employee benefit plans the form of this insurance is usually one year renewable term insurance. The cost of this coverage is based on the average age of everyone in the group. Therefore a group of young people would have inexpensive rates and an older group would have more expensive rates.
Some people rely on this kind of insurance as their primary coverage forgetting that group life insurance is a condition of employment with their employer. The coverage is not portable and cannot be taken with you if you change jobs. If you have a change in health, you may not qualify for new coverage at your new place of employment.
Bank mortgage insurance is also usually group insurance and you can tell this by virtue of the fact that you only receive a certificate of insurance, and not a complete policy. The only form in which bank mortgage insurance is sold is reducing term insurance, matching the declining mortgage balance. The only beneficiary that can be chosen for this kind of insurance is the bank. In both cases, employee benefit plan group insurance and bank mortgage insurance, the coverage is not guaranteed. This means that coverage can be cancelled by the insurance company underwriting that particular plan, if they are experiencing excessive claims.

Registered Pension Plan

Commonly referred to as an RPP this is a tax sheltered employee group plan approved by Federal and Provincial governments allowing employees to have deductions made directly from their wages by their employer with a resulting reduction of income taxes at source. These plans are easy to implement but difficult to dissolve should the group have a change of heart. employer contributions are usually a percentage of the employee's salary, typically from 3% to 5%, with a maximum of the lessor of 20% or $3,500 per annum. The employee has the same right of contribution. Vesting is generally set at 2 years, which means that the employee has right of ownership of both his/her and his/her employers contributions to the plan after 2 years. It also means that all contributions are locked in after 2 years and cannot be cashed in for use by the employee in a low income year. Should the employee change jobs, these funds can only be transferred to the RPP of a new employer or the funds can be transferred to an individual RRSP (or any number of RRSPs) but in either scenario, the funds are locked in and cannot be accessed until at least age 60. The only choices available to access locked in RPP funds after age 60 are the conversion to a Life Income Fund or a Unisex Annuity.
To further define an RPP, Registered Pension Plans take two forms; Defined Benefit or Defined Contribution (also known as money purchase plans). The Defined Benefit plan establishes the amount of money in advance that is to be paid out at retirement based usually on number of years of employee service and various formulae involving percentages of average employee earnings. The Defined Benefit plan is subject to constant government scrutiny to make certain that sufficient contributions are being made to provide for the predetermined pension payout. On the other hand, the Defined Contribution plan is considerably easier to manage. The employer simply determines the percentage to be contributed within the prescribed limits. Whatever amount has grown in the employee's reserve by retirement determines how much the pension payout will be by virtue of the amount of LIF or Annuity payout it will purchase.
The most simple group RRSP plan is a group billed RRSP. This means that each employee has his own RRSP plan and the employer deducts the contributions directly from the employee's wages and sends them directly to the RRSP plan administrator. Regular RRSP rules apply in that maximum contribution in the current year is the lessor of 18% or $13,500. Generally, to encourage this kind of plan, the employer also agrees to make a regular contribution to the employee's plans, knowing full well that any contributions made immediately belong to the employee. Should the employee change jobs, he/she can take their plan with them and continue making contributions or cash it in and pay tax in the year in which the money is taken into income.

direct deposit

A system where funds are electronically credited to your account by a financial institution or a payroll service. For example, you can arrange with your employer to have your pay cheques automatically deposited into your no fee bank account.

Related to : financial, finance, business, accounting, payroll, inventory, investment, money, inventory control, stock trading, financial advisor, tax advisor, credit.