The medical assistant may be involved in making certain the W-4 form (Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate) is completed by all employees. If the medical assistant is also the office manger, then he or she has the responsibility to prepare payroll checks for each employee and record all deductions withheld. An up-to-date record on every employee is very important when complying with government regulations. Information should be gathered from new employees and updated every year and upon any change in employee status. Every employee file should contain a copy of an I-9 form, copy of social security card, number of exemptions claimed on the W-4 form, the employee’s gross salary, and all deductions withheld for all taxes including social security, federal, state, local, plus unemployment tax (where applicable), and disability insurance (where applicable). When preparing payroll checks, it is important to keep a record of all tax and insurance amounts deducted from an employee’s earnings.
Each paycheck stub should contain:
When figuring out federal income taxes and social security taxes, use the charts provided by the Internal Revenue Service. Federal tax amount is based on amount earned, marital status, number of exemptions claimed, and length of pay period. State and city or local taxes are typically a percentage of the gross earnings.
Benefits, or additional remuneration to the salary earned by full-time employees, must also be managed and records maintained for each employee. Examples of benefits may include paid vacation, paid holidays, health/dental insurance, disability, profit-sharing options, and complimentary health care.