07/27/2005
For those businesses that need to report employee wages to the State of Minnesota on a quarterly basis, I have created a new program to facilitate the process. The first version of this program was released in 2002. This program change is to meet the new requirements of the State of Minnesota. This program will create a disk file that meets the state’s requirements for reporting wages. You may then use the internet to upload this file directly to the state. I strongly recommend that all employers in Minnesota use this new program for reporting wages.
You will find instructions below on how to download this program and configure your menu system to use the new program. You will also find instructions below for running the program and creating the disk file.
For more information about the state requirements and/or how to upload your file, please refer to the State of Minnesota web site at: http://www.uimn.org
The new MN wage reporting program is comprised of two program files: PARMN and PARMN1. To update your program you will not go through a formal install process through the Resource Manager. Instead, you will simply download from this website the archive PAMNQTR that has the two new programs in it to the payroll subdirectory, then expand the archive in place which will put the new programs in the payroll program folder. After the programs are in place, you will need to edit your system menus in order to use the new program.
The link below will prompt you to download and save the archive file PAMNQTR that contains the new programs. You will need to know where your payroll directory is located. On what drive is your payroll system located? What is the base subdirectory for your OSAS system? You can answer both of these questions by RIGHT-CLICKING on the icon that you use to start the OSAS system. After you right-click on the icon, choose Properties. On the Shortcut tab you should see the Start In location. (Note: If you have an older system you may need to click on the Program tab and look for the Working location.) Typically the Start In location will be something like: O:\OSAS\PROGRM. The first letter is your drive location and \OSAS is your base location. The base location could have \OSAS6 or \OSAS61 instead of simply \OSAS. You should note exactly what your drive and base location is. After you have your base starting location, you can cancel out of the properties.
The place where you want to save this new program update is in your payroll subdirectory. This is located at your base location plus \PROGPA. So if your base location is O:\OSAS, then you want to save your update to O:\OSAS\PROGPA.
Click on the link below to download the new update, and save it in your payroll subdirectory:
Click here to download the new MN Wage Report program.
Note: If you do not have access to your payroll system while you are on the internet, you may need to save this program update file on to a floppy disk. You may save this file on a floppy, and use Windows to copy the file into your payroll directory later.
Since the new programs are in a ZIP archive file, we must expand them in place in order to use the new programs. To expand the archive, you can go to My Computer, select the drive location where your payroll system is located, select the base location, and then select the folder PROGPA. When you are in this folder you will see dozens of files. Look for the new PAMNQTR file. If you double-click (with left button) on this file, it will start the expansion of the archive. You will see a DOS window appear as the archive expands the two new program files: PARMN and PARMN1. If the DOS window does not close by itself after it is finished, then you can simply close the window manually. Note that if you expand the archive more than once, or if this is an update for your system, you will be asked if you want to replace the files. It is OK to say YES to overwrite the existing files.
If you did not use the program in a prior version, you may need to update your menu system to reference the new program. If you did use this program in it’s prior version, then the menu system should be fine. We need to edit the Payroll menu in order to run the new program. Go to the Resource Manager, System File Maintenance, Menus. Note that you only need to edit the menu in one company, but the change to the menu will effect ALL companies. Enter the application ID of PA for payroll and press <enter>. Use the F2 inquiry key at the menu ID and look for Periodic Processing. It will be either PA06 or PA07 depending on your version. Select the Periodic Processing Menu. This is the menu where we want to put the option to run the new report.
*----------------------------------
Menus ------------------------------------*
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Application PA Menu PA06 Title Periodic Processing |
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
| Line
Description Type Program Param |
| 01
Department Report 3
PADPRPT |
| 02
Post Expense to GL 3 PAPSTEX |
| 03
Transfer GL To Another Company 3 RMPOST |
| 04
Monthly Withholding Report 3
PAPMWT |
| 05
Quarterly Employer's Tax Report 3 PAPQETR |
| 06
Quarterly Withholding Report 3
PAPQWR |
| 07
Quarterly State Unemployment Report 3 PAPQSUR |
| 08
MN Quarterly UC Report 3
PARMN |
| 09
941 Worksheet 3
PAP941R |
| 10
W-2 Forms 2 PAXW2 |
| 11
Roll Up Leave Balances 3
PALHIS |
| 12
Purge Recurring Entries 3
PAPRGRE |
| 13
Periodic Maintenance 3
PAMAINT |
| 14
Close Last Year 3
PACLSLY |
| 15
1099 Forms 3 PAT99 |
|
|
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
| Enter = edit, Move, Copy, Swap,
Unique, Title, Write |
*-
Company 1 -------------- Quick ----------------------------------- Verify -*
You can see I have put the new option on line 8 above. You can put the new option on any line that you wish, however, you do not want to replace a line that you may use. In the example above, I replaced a similar line that was there already for producing the WI UC report. Most companies will report to one or the other state but not both (there are exceptions) so for most this would be a good choice. If you have room at the bottom of the menu, you could always add it there. If need be, I would feel comfortable replacing the line for Close Last Year. This line should never be used by anyone.
Write your changes to the menu when you are done. If you think you have made a mistake while doing the edit of the menu, simply exit without saving the changes, then come back in and start all over.
The main purpose of this program is to create a disk file that matches the requirements for the State of Minnesota quarterly wage reporting. The format of this file is the Minnesota state format – 100 character length records. The program also produces a report of the wages as it processes the records.
A common confusion you want to avoid is the confusion of selecting an output for the report, which could go to the printer, the screen, or a disk file, and the creation of the wage report disk file. If you enter a File Locations, then the disk file is automatically created as explained below. When you are given the selection for the output, if you choose File, you are choosing to send the report that would normally go to the printer to a file instead. Do not confuse these two files, as they are not in the same format. If this is confusing, to avoid the problem always select Printer for your output selection and only one file will be created – the file in the location you choose.
Here is the pick screen for the report:
*-----------------
MN Quarterly State Unemployment Report --------------------*
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| Pick Employee ID From |
| Thru |
| Department From |
| Thru |
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| Quarter (1-4) 2 |
| Year 2005 |
| U. I. Acct # 12345678 |
| U. I. Unit # 0 |
| File Location /OSAS65/reports/ |
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*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
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*-
Company H ------------------------------------- Inquiry -------------------*
NOTE: This program may be run in the CURRENT year, or in LAST YEAR by using the F9 key at the payroll menu to switch years.
One very important feature of this program is the fact that it will allow you to combine data from more than one run into the same report file to send to the state. The state requires that any disk submitted should only contain one data file. If you run this program more than once, and select the same file location, the program will add records to those that are already in the report file. This allows you to combine data from different companies, different departments, or different employee ID ranges all in a single report file. Of course this would be very helpful in combining two or more companies data, and it is also helpful in eliminating certain employees from the report, yet ending with one report file.
Use the range of employee and department IDs to select the desired employees for the report. In staff payrolls, most often all employees are reportable to the state. In client payrolls, it is not uncommon that none or only select employees are reportable (any non-disabled employees).
The Quarter (1-4) is the calendar-year payroll quarter you wish to report (Jan-Mar is quarter 1). You may select any quarter you wish, even a previously completed quarter if desired.
The Year is the calendar year taken from the payroll control table and should be correct with no change required. It takes the form of 4 digit year, i.e. 2005.
The UI Account # is taken from the tax withholding record for MN SUI. The record is defined under Payroll, Codes Maintenance, Withholdings, and must be in place before you use this program. You select a tax authority of State, state of MN, and tax code of SUI. On this header you will find a place for the tax ID. In Minnesota, your UI tax ID can be up to 8 digits. Do NOT include the 4 digit unit number in this ID. You should make sure this number is in place before you run the program. The correct number should be in place in all companies, and you need to edit this number separately for each company in Codes Maintenance, Withholdings. Do not pad your ID with zeros on either end. The software will right-justify and zero fill automatically.
UI Unit # is an optional
reporting unit number given to you by the state. Most companies will leave a zero in this field. If you have been given different reporting
units by the state, you can enter a unit number here, then print the report and
combine the data into the report file.
You can then come back and do another unit. Usually you would use the department ID range or Company ID to
separate the units.
The file location is the place where you want to place the resulting disk file that will be sent to the state. If you leave this field blank, then no disk file is created but a report of what would go into the file will be printed to the selected output destination. You may run this program more than once and combine data by using the same file location in each run.
Use the single letter A if you want the disk file to go to the floppy drive. You may also enter a full path name if desired. Users on Linux or Unix systems use a path name on the server, and then manually move the file to a floppy using Windows after it has been completed.
Note that you are asked simply for the location – NOT the full output file name. The program will automatically name your file. The name will take the form of MNYYYYQ.txt where YYYY is the year and Q is the quarter. For example, the file name for the 3rd quarter of 2005 would be MN20053.txt. This naming convention insures that a unique name exists for each reporting quarter and it also makes it easier for you to save your files if you wish. The state requires the file last name to be .txt (in small letters).
You are then given the prompt to select the output for the report. This is the standard prompt for printer, file, screen, or end. This is where you do not want to confuse the selection of File for output for the report with the fact that the program is going to produce the disk file in the location you specify. Most often you would select the printer for the output of the report, or use the screen if desired.
The heading of the report will give you the file name, and it will also indicate whether or not this file is being appended to or not. The bottom of the report will show the employee count for this run, and it will also show the totals in the file. This is particularly helpful for proofing when you are combining multiple runs into one disk file.
Both the report format that usually prints on paper and the disk file format that goes to the state will list the employee social security number, name, hours worked, indicators for each month being paid, and wages paid in the quarter. There is also an additional flag for Officer Code. As defined by the State of Minnesota, this flag should be YES if any one of the following conditions is met:
-is a corporate officer
-owns or controls a portion of the corporation
-is the spouse, parent, or minor child of a partner or of any worker who owns or controls a portion of the corporation
In the payroll system, this flag can be set in Payroll, File Maintenance, Employees. On the salaried information screen for each employee is a place for Corporate Officer? Y or N. If you set this to YES, then the report to the state will reflex this employee as a corporate officer.
The hours that show on the report are taken directly from Payroll, File Maintenance, Employee History. On the first screen for each employee – Employee Miscellaneous History, on the top line you will see the employee hours for each month. The wages for the report are also taken from the Employee History file, and are found on the second screen – Employee Earnings History, at the bottom of the screen is the Gross Pay for each month.
The monthly indicators are a new requirement as of July 2005. The state wants to know if the employee worked during or received pay for the pay period including the 12th day of each month of the quarter. A digit 1 indicates the employee did work, where a digit 0 indicates they did not work. The payroll system has not been designed to track this particular element directly so the system looks at a couple of things:
First, all 3 months are set to 1.
Then, if no wages were paid during a given month, that indicator is set to zero.
Then, the termination date is checked for an employee – if they were terminated prior to the 12th and did not receive any wages, the monthly indicator is set to zero.
Note that the wages that show up on the report are taken from the Minnesota SUI wages. Settings under Codes Maintenance, Withholdings, have an effect on what wages are included. You should check your figures carefully each quarter to see that the reported wages reconcile with what you would expect. Complications arise if non-wage items appear on checks (such as travel expense reimbursements). This can be excluded with settings, but here is where you would discover if those settings are wrong.
I encourage you to test this program immediately after setting it up. It does no harm and you can experiment with creating the file and a report for the current quarter-to-date figures, or use a prior quarter. The disk file that goes to the state is in text format and can be looked at using a text editor like WordPad in Windows. If you look at the file from within an editor, be sure to be careful about accidentally changing things. It helps to use the OVR mode to overwrite data to change it (instead of inserting and deleting).