News From GMS - January 2017Current and back issues are provided in Adobe Acrobat format. (Requires the free Adobe Acrobat reader.)
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December 2016 Revisions Released
The latest accounting revisions were posted to our website www.gmsactg.com on December 27, 2016. You should have received an email from GMS on December 27th that included instructions for downloading and installing these revisions. It is VERY important that all revisions be installed in a timely manner. It is also important that all staff using the GMS Accounting System read through the List of Changes included under Help within your software (and also available in your Help Manual) to familiarize themselves with the new features or changed items. Some of the more significant changes are listed below.
Please Note:
Accounts Payable
Supplement #421 Purchase Order Import
Payroll
Payroll Processing
* 1J and 1K have been added.
Supplement #400 W2 Electronic Reporting
Supplement #357 Fixed Asset Reporting
Please Note:
- This revision includes the new Federal tax withholding rates and FICA maximum amounts effective January 1, 2017. It is important that you make sure you prepare the last payroll with checks dated in 2016 before you install this revision.
Accounts Payable
Supplement #421 Purchase Order Import
- Remarks have been limited to 50 characters and Description to 255 characters.
- A message will appear if the Vendor Code does not exist.
- Form 1096 has been modified for 1099-Misc box.
Payroll
Payroll Processing
- Updated WA DC, CA, CO, CT, ID, IL, IN, KY, MD, MN, MO, NC, NE, NY, OK, , OR, RI state tax rates.
- Updated OH school district taxes.
- MD Local Taxes for Calvert & Somerset changed requiring these localities to be moved to Codes 10 & 8 respectively.
- Updated Federal Tax Rates.
- Updated Social Security maximum taxable wage base.
- Deduction section on stubs is now sorted by deduction amounts
- A new format for West Virginia COMPASS has been added.
- A new format for Metlife has been added.
- OH school tax code & name are reported in local tax locality box. Only a few characters of the name will appear due to box size.
- 1095C form:
* 1J and 1K have been added.
Supplement #400 W2 Electronic Reporting
- PA EIT changed to replace PO Box in first address line. Only employees with local tax code setup will be included.
- HA Berkheimer has created a new W2 upload format for PA local taxes. Website link is https://cp-efile.hab-inc.com/employer.
- Alabama has been added.
Supplement #357 Fixed Asset Reporting
- Expanded Remarks field to allow up to 255 characters.
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No later than January 13, 2017, we will release a software revision for the GMS-RLSS software. You will receive an email with instructions to download and install this revision, making your version of software 1.0.0.13. Included in this revision will be significant changes to Form 1098 so if you use this supplement, please do not print your forms until after this revision has been installed. You may wish to begin reviewing the IRS instructions, available at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1098_16.pdf, due to the many new requirements.
Off-Site Accounting Services Available
GMS offers a wide variety of off-site services for our clients. Two of the more popular ones are year-end assistance and training on a specific feature or procedure in GMS. However, there are also other areas in which we may be of assistance. As you know, bank reconciliations being done timely are critical in order to produce accurate financial reports. Other accounts on the Balance Sheet are not to be taken lightly either. Not having your Accounts Payable Analysis reconciled to your General Ledger or not knowing the detail behind any asset or liability account on your Balance Sheet can have a dramatic impact on your financial reports.
One of the services we offer is to reconcile these accounts for your agency. We know that there can be a variety of reasons that these reconciliations may have gotten behind. Why not let us help you get current with your procedures? We are also available to create some of the more involved Report Writer exercises for you. Don’t wait until your fiscal year ends to request these services. Should you require off-site assistance in any of these areas, please contact us at service@gmsactg.com to schedule these services. RLSS - IRS Reporting for Acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property and/or Cancellation of Debt
Following are excerpts from IRS Instructions for Forms 1099-A and 1099-C. If you believe you are required to complete these forms, please consult the IRS website for complete instructions. The IRS requires these forms to be filed by January 31.
File “Form 1099-A, Acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property”, for each borrower if you lend money in connection with your trade or business and, in full or partial satisfaction of the debt, you acquire an interest in the property that is security for the debt, or you have reason to know that the property has been abandoned. If, in the same calendar year, you cancel a debt of $600 or more in connection with a foreclosure or abandonment of secured property, it is not necessary to file both Form 1099-A and Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt, for the same debtor. You may file Form 1099-C only. File “Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt”, for each debtor for whom you cancelled a debt owed to you of $600 or more if an identifiable event has occurred, and you are one of the following: 1. A financial institution described in section 581 or 591(a). 2. A credit union. 3. Any of the following, its successor, or a subunit of one of the following: a. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, b. National Credit Union Administration, c. Any other federal executive agency, including government corporations, d. Any military department, e. U.S. Postal Service, or f. Postal Rate Commission. 4. A corporation that is a subsidiary of a financial institution or credit union, but only if, because of your affiliation, you are subject to supervision and examination by a federal or state regulatory agency. 5. A Federal Government agency including: a. A department, b. An agency, c. A court or court administrative office, or d. An instrumentality in the judicial or legislative branch of the government. 6. Any organization whose significant trade or business is the lending of money, such as a finance company or credit card company (whether or not affiliated with a financial institution). The lending of money is a significant trade or business if money is lent on a regular and continuing basis. Although most RLSS users are not included in the above descriptions, you as a lender have the option of voluntarily submitting 1099-Cs. This can be useful in your collection process related to bad debts. When your agency has recognized a loan as a bad debt, and charged off the principal balance, you can then submit a 1099-C at the end of the year. Once you have issued a 1099-C to a debtor, you cannot actively pursue collection, but you can receive voluntary contributions from the debtor. If the debt was cancelled for reasons other than bankruptcy, the amount of the charge off may become taxable income for the debtor, which can in turn become an incentive for repayment. A note of caution: Reporting charged off loans on 1099-Cs should only be done when all avenues of collection have been exhausted. Because the cancelled debt is reported to IRS as potential income, any future recoveries toward that loan must be voluntary. 
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The first three articles of the Cost Allocation Series explained the mechanics of the Leave, Fringe and Indirect Cost pools. Once you understand how the pools gather the information and create the individual rates, this knowledge can be used to follow your organization’s cost allocation procedures through the GMS software and provide you with the details behind the amounts that appear on your financial reports.
This article will walk you through the process of verifying the Salary, Fringe Benefit and Indirect Cost amounts as they appear on your Revenue and Expenditure reports. To help you understand this procedure you should have in front of you a copy of the following reports for any given month:
The first report you should look at is the Year to Date Cost Allocation Summary. The column headed Reg Time reflects year to date charges by employee classification to each program element. This very simply is a total of direct charges to the individual elements as they appear on timesheets. To view this information on an employee specific basis look at the same element on the YTD Timesheet Charges by Activity. Compare the Element Totals line of the Reg Time column for an element with the Elem Totals line of the Reg Time column on the Year to Date Cost Allocation Summary for the same element and you will see that they agree. Tip: If you want to get even more detail such as individual timesheet batch numbers, select Include Drill Down Details when generating the YTD Timesheet Charges by Activity. You will have the ability to double click on an employee name to see information that make up the individual employee total. The next column on the Year to Date Cost Allocation Summary is Lv Alloc. This figure represents the amount of leave costs allocated to each element by employee class. The report takes the amount in the Reg Time column and multiplies it by the individual class’s leave rate to arrive at the figure in the Lv Alloc column. As stated in the September, 2016 article GMS Leave Pool, to view the calculation of the leave rates, look at the Leave Rate Computation and Analysis. The leave rates are calculated with each employee class on a separate page. The Total Leave Rate that appears on the bottom of a particular class’s page is the rate that is used to calculate the amount in the LV Alloc column on the Year to Date Cost Allocation Summary. Note: The next two columns on the Year to Date Cost Allocation Summary are the Overtime and Comp Time columns. These columns will have information in them if your agency paid overtime or tracks compensatory time in the system. Next, on the Year to Date Cost Allocation Summary if you add together all amounts in the Reg Time, Lv Alloc, Overtime and Comp Time columns you will get the amount that appears in the next column on the report, Total Sal. The Total Sal amount on the Elem Totals line will agree with the Salary amount on the Revenue and Expenditure by Element report in the YTD column! Tip: If you want to see the total salary and leave amounts by employee, select Include Drill Down Details when generating the Revenue and Expenditure by Element Report. Due to confidentiality, consideration of this should be given when giving users access to Personnel Drill Down Detail. The next column on the Year to Date Cost Allocation Summary is Benefits. This is the amount of Fringe Benefits applied to the total Salary amounts in the previous column. Please see the October, 2016 newsletter article Fringe Benefit Pool for the detailed explanation of the fringe benefit rate(s). The amount appearing in the Total Salary column is multiplied by the fringe benefit rate that appears on the Fringe Benefit Rate Computation and Analysis for each individual employee class. The result of that calculation appears in the Benefits column. After the calculation is done for each class, the Element Totals amount for the Fringe Benefits will be the amount reflected on the Fringe Benefits line on the corresponding Revenue and Expenditure Report by Element. The next column, Add Base, may or may not be used as a result of how the base is defined in the system for the allocation of Indirect Costs. The final column on the Year to Date Cost Allocation Summary is Indirect. This amount is a result of the application of the Indirect Cost Rate as calculated on the Indirect Cost Rate Computation and Analysis. Please see the November 2016 newsletter article Indirect Cost Pool for a detailed explanation of the indirect cost rate. Your total base for indirect costs is multiplied by the indirect cost rate with the result appearing in the Indirect column on the Year to Date Cost Allocation Summary. Note: the base for the allocation of your Indirect Costs may be just the Salary column, Salary and Benefits, or Salary, Benefits and Additional Base, and should always be in accordance with your approved cost allocation plan. We hope this helps you understand the flow of cost allocation throughout the GMS accounting system!! Watch for the February 2017 GMS Newsletter for the next article in the Cost Allocation Series. We will start highlighting the available Cost Allocation Supplements beginning with Supplement 383 Shift Indirect Costs. Service orders via email
As you know, GMS strives to provide the best possible service and support to our clients. To help us manage our service, we record all service calls from clients and our responses in our client tracking system. In order to make sure everything is recorded and nothing is overlooked, please make sure that if you send an email about a service issue it is sent to service@gmsactg.com. This will assure it is logged in properly. Even if you have been working with a particular Service and Support Staff regarding an ongoing issue, please send the email to the above address rather than directly to GMS staff. Feel free to reference in your email that you have been working with a particular person. This will help us provide the best service possible. Thank you.
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GMS Gives Back: Pajama Drive for Johns Hopkins Children's Center/Baltimore, MD
At our recent staff meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, the GMS staff gathered pajamas to be donated to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center for our ongoing efforts to give back to the communities we serve. Johns Hopkins Children’s Center has been providing pediatric expertise and care since 1912 in over 37 specialties.
Marilee Floener, RLSS Director/Service & Support Specialist; Donald Cassady, President/CEO; Duane Scott, Administration Manager; Kim Cosentino, Service & Support Specialist; Era Williams, Director of Sales & Marketing; Yongling Xin, Senior Software Engineer; Sara Drury, Director of Administrative Operations.
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Lisa Kraeger, Training Specialist; Jill Siewert, Service & Support Specialist; Robin Berseth, Events & Technology Director; Ann Dragoo, Director of Service & Support; Jie Chen, Software Developer.
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The 32nd Annual Premier Financial Management Conference for Nonprofits
May 21 - 24, 2017 | Catamaran Resort Hotel & Spa | San Diego, California
May 21 - 24, 2017 | Catamaran Resort Hotel & Spa | San Diego, California
The GMS Summit is one of the longest running and most successful conferences for nonprofit teams working in accounting and/or revolving loan departments. We look forward to having you and your team join us for our 32nd Annual Summit! Register today while early-bird rates are still available: Summit Registration
Location: The GMS Summit 2017 will be held at the beautiful Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa. The Catamaran Resort is a tropical hideaway in the San Diego Pacific Beach community on the sparkling shores of Mission Bay. This Polynesian themed resort offers casual elegance and unique charm and is centrally located, just 9 miles from the San Diego Airport. The hotel is within walking distance to a variety of shops and options for dining and nightlife.
Sessions: Final session descriptions for the 2017 Summit will be announced by January 13th, 2017. Not only will we offer 30 sessions, we will have some exciting changes to our format that we feel our longtime attendees as well as our new attendees will enjoy. You will enjoy popular guest speakers such as Dr. Karen Wolfe and Showtime Comedy Allstar, Steve Rizzo.
Location: The GMS Summit 2017 will be held at the beautiful Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa. The Catamaran Resort is a tropical hideaway in the San Diego Pacific Beach community on the sparkling shores of Mission Bay. This Polynesian themed resort offers casual elegance and unique charm and is centrally located, just 9 miles from the San Diego Airport. The hotel is within walking distance to a variety of shops and options for dining and nightlife.
Sessions: Final session descriptions for the 2017 Summit will be announced by January 13th, 2017. Not only will we offer 30 sessions, we will have some exciting changes to our format that we feel our longtime attendees as well as our new attendees will enjoy. You will enjoy popular guest speakers such as Dr. Karen Wolfe and Showtime Comedy Allstar, Steve Rizzo.
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"Why is Monday so far from Friday, and Friday so close to Monday?"
~Anonymous 
The GMS Offices will be closed on Monday, January 16th in honor of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday.
The offices will reopen on Tuesday, January 17th for normal business hours. |
