Payroll
In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries, wages, bonuses, and deductions.
Contents
1 Paycheck
2 Pay slip
3 Payroll card
4 Payroll Professionals
5 Warrants
6 See also
7 References
Paycheck
A paycheck is traditionally a paper document issued by an employer to pay an employee for services rendered. While most commonly used in the United States, recently the physical paycheck has been increasingly replaced by electronic direct deposit to bank accounts.
In most countries with a developed wire transfer system, using a physical check for paying wages and salaries has been uncommon for the past several decades. However, vocabulary referring to the figurative "paycheck" does exist in some languages, like German (Gehaltsscheck), partially due to the influence of US popular media but this commonly refers to a payslip or stub rather than an actual check.
Pay slip
An example of a payslip from the John Lewis Partnership, showing gross salary, tax and National Insurance paid and yearly bonus entitlement, among other thingsA pay stub, paystub, pay slip, pay advice, or sometimes paycheck stub, is a document an employee receives either as a notice that the direct deposit transaction has gone through, or as part of their paycheck. It will typically detail the gross income and all taxes and any other deductions such as retirement plan contributions, insurances, garnishments, or charitable contributions taken out of the gross amount to arrive at the final net amount of the pay, also including the year to date totals in some circumstances.
Payroll card
The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject.
Please help improve the article with a good introductory style.
The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia.
Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.(February 2008)
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (February 2008)
A payroll card is a plastic card allowing an employee to access their pay by using a debit card. A payroll card can be more convenient than using a check casher, because it can be used at participating automatic teller machines to withdraw cash, or in retail environments to make purchases. Some payroll cards are cheaper than payday loans available from retail check cashing stores, but others are not. Most payroll cards will charge a fee if used at an ATM more than once per pay period.
The payroll card account usually is held as a single account in the employer's name. That account holds the payroll funds for all employees using the payroll card system. Some payroll card programs establish a separate account for each employee, but others do not.
Payroll Professionals
In Canada Payroll Professionals are Certified by the Canadian Payroll Association. They are qualified as either 'Payroll Compliance Practitioners (PCP)' or as 'Certified Payroll Managers(CPM)'.
In the United States Payroll Professionals are Certified by the American Payroll Association. They are designated as Fundamental Payroll Consultant (FPC) or Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) after passing the appropriate certification exam.
Upon completion of the required course material and with continuing education and membership fees the person is then entitled to the post-nominal letters associated with their current level of accomplishment.
In the United Kingdom, payroll professionals are represented by the Institute of Payroll Professionals.[1]
Warrants
Payroll warrants look like checks and clear through the banking system like checks, but are not drawn against cleared funds in a deposit account. Instead they are drawn against "available funds" that are not in the bank so the issuer can collect interest on the float. In the US, warrants are issued by government entities such as the military and state and county governments. Warrants are issued for payroll to individuals and for accounts payable to vendors. Technically a warrant is not payable on demand and may not be negotiable.Glossary of Accounting Terms Deposited warrants are routed to a collecting bank which processes them as collection items like maturing treasury bills and presents the warrants to the government entity's Treasury Department for payment each business day.
In the UK, warrants are issued as payment by the NS&I when a Premium Bond is chosen.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payroll
_______________________________________________
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the financial income of persons, corporations, or other legal entities. Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate tax, corporate income tax, or profit tax. Individual income taxes often tax the total income of the individual (with some deductions permitted), while corporate income taxes often tax net income (the difference between gross receipts, expenses, and additional write-offs).
Principles
The "tax net" refers to the types of payment that are taxed, which included personal earnings (wages), capital gains, and business income. The rates for different types of income may vary and some may not be taxed at all. Capital gains may be taxed when realized (e.g. when shares are sold) or when incurred (e.g. when shares appreciate in value). Business income may only be taxed if it is significant or based on the manner in which it is paid. Some types of income, such as interest on bank savings, may be considered as personal earnings (similar to wages) or as a realized property gain (similar to selling shares). In some tax systems, personal earnings may be strictly defined where labor, skill, or investment is required (e.g. wages); in others, they may be defined broadly to include windfalls (e.g. gambling wins).
Tax rates may be progressive, regressive, or flat. A progressive tax taxes differentially based on how much has been earned. For example, the first $10,000 in earnings may be taxed at 5%, the next $10,000 at 10%, and any more income at 20%. Alternatively, a flat tax taxes all earnings at the same rate. A regressive income tax may tax income up to a certain amount, such as taxing only the first $90,000 earned. A tax system may use different taxation methods for different types of income. However, the idea of a progressive income tax has garnered support from economists and political scientists of many different ideologies, from Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations[1] to Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto.[2]
Personal income tax is often collected on a pay-as-you-earn basis, with small corrections made soon after the end of the tax year. These corrections take one of two forms: payments to the government, for taxpayers who have not paid enough during the tax year; and tax refunds from the government for those who have overpaid. Income tax systems will often have deductions available that lessen the total tax liability by reducing total taxable income. They may allow losses from one type of income to be counted against another. For example, a loss on the stock market may be deducted against taxes paid on wages. Other tax systems may isolate the loss, such that business losses can only be deducted against business tax by carrying forward the loss to later tax years.
History
The concept of taxing income is a modern innovation and presupposes several things: a money economy, reasonably accurate accounts, a common understanding of receipts, expenses and profits, and an orderly society with reliable records. For most of the history of civilization, these preconditions did not exist, and taxes were based on other factors. Taxes on wealth, social position, and ownership of the means of production (typically land and slaves) were all common. Practices such as tithing, or an offering of firstfruits, existed from ancient times, and can be regarded as a precursor of the income tax, but they lacked precision and certainly were not based on a concept of net increase.
In the year 10, Emperor Wang Mang of China instituted an unprecedented tax -- the income tax -- at the rate of 10 percent of profits, for professionals and skilled labor. (Previously, all Chinese taxes were either head tax or property tax.) A true income tax was first implemented in Britain by William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic wars. Pitt's new graduated income tax began at a levy of 2d in the pound (0.8333%) on incomes over £60 and increased up to a maximum of 2s (10%) on incomes of over £200. Pitt hoped that the new income tax would raise £10 million but actual receipts for 1799 totalled just over £6 million (see UK income tax history for more information).[3] The first United States income tax was imposed in July 1861, 3% of all incomes over 600 dollars (later rescinded in 1872).[4]
Income tax systems
United States
Main article: Income tax in the United States
The United States imposes an income tax on individuals, corporations, trusts, and certain estates. This tax is imposed on the income event, such as the receipt of wages. Another example of an income event is the realization of a gain on the disposition of property; that is, the appreciation on the value of property is not taxed until that property is sold (i.e., when the gain is "realized").
The U.S. income tax was first proposed during the War of 1812, but was defeated.[4] In July 1861, the Congress passed a 3% tax on all net income above $600 a year (about USD 10,000 today). Income taxes were enac