13-P-002 Pay Period Beginning September 2, 2012; Ending Spetember 15, 2012; Paid September 28, 2012

As a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a new requirement exists for W-2 reporting for tax years 2012 and forward to report in Box 12DD the aggregate cost of applicable employer-sponsored group health plan coverage provided to individual employees.  The reportable cost of coverage includes both the portion of the cost paid by the employer and the portion of the cost paid by the employee, whether through pre-tax or after-tax contributions.  Because graduate assistant students at the Regents Institutions (GRA/GTA/GAA) are considered employees of the State of Kansas for employment and W-2 reporting purposes, a new deduction code has been established for the submission of this information to SHARP on the KREGPAY1 Regent Payroll Interface as follows: 

PLAN TYPE:  00  (General Deduction)

DEDUCTION CODE:  GTAGHI

DESCRIPTION:  Graduate Assist Group Hlth Ins

SHORT DESCRIPTION:  Grad GHI

DEDUCTION CLASS:   A  (After-Tax employee deduction)

                                     N  ( Nontaxable Benefit employer contribution)

The new deduction code will be effective in SHARP the payroll period beginning September 2 and ending September 15, 2012, paid September 28, 2012.  Account Code 519250, Graduate Assistant Group Health Insurance, should be used for the expensing of the employer fringe benefit portion of the deduction on the Payroll INF06.

The new deduction code allows for the recording and processing of this health insurance cost through the payroll process going forward.  A ‘catch-up’ file will be required to address premiums already paid for 2012.  As an alternative, a file may be submitted on an annual basis instead of throughout the year, if this would better match with the agency’s existing business process.  Balances will need to be in place in SHARP by W-2 cut-off in late December in order to be reported on the 2012 W-2s.  Information on the ‘catch-up’ and annual files will be communicated directly to regent agencies in the near future.  Note: The recording of these health insurance costs in SHARP is required but the remittance responsibility for these payments remains with the regent agency.

The Office of General Services, Payroll Systems Team will make changes to the SHARP payroll system to implement the new GTAGHI deduction code.  Please note, if your agency chooses to track the health coverage for GTA, GRA, and GAA students using different deduction codes in your system, all of those charges should be rolled into the SHARP GTAGHI general deduction code for reporting on the KREGPAY1.  A test KREGPAY1/INF06 file set with the new deduction code should be submitted to Payroll Services before processing into the production environment.  Attachment A is an example of the pay detail and payroll journal when using the GTAGHI deduction code.

Attachment A

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