Frequently Asked Questions About the Wage Reporting Changes?

Q. What is the reason for the wage reporting changes?

A. The additional information is needed to certify eligibility for the biotechnology investment tax credit in accordance with Section 44-31-1.1 of the RI General Laws.

Q. Would a week be considered any number of days or hours worked within a seven-day period?

A. YES, any number of hours worked in a week is considered to be a week worked.

Q. Although sick or disability time would not count, would we count vacation or holiday time, jury duty, severance pay, personal leave time, and other out-of-office earnings?

A. Include weeks paid for vacation or holiday leave, jury duty, severance or other personal leave but not sick leave.

Q. Should a salaried employee have a standard number of hours reported regardless of the number of hours actually worked, such as 40 hours per week?

A. Salaried employees should be reported as having been paid for the number of hours that exist in a normal work week for that particular company.

Q. How would the hours or weeks for an employee who earns strictly commission be reported?

A. The number of hours or weeks paid for an employee who earns only commissions should be estimated.

Q. If a client does not inform their payroll company of the hours paid for an employee, how should the payroll company report the hours paid for that particular employee?

A. The payroll company should leave that space blank.

Q. If a new client comes to a payroll service in mid-quarter and does not have the hours paid information, how would the payroll company report those missing hours?

A. The payroll company should estimate the missing number of hours.

Q. If a quarter ends in the middle of a week, how should the reporting of that week be handled?

A. The hours and weeks paid that are reported on a quarterly report should be directly related to the wages paid that are included on that report.

Q. Should fractions of hours or weeks be reported?

A. Only whole numbers should be reported. Any part of a week should be counted as a whole week and any part of an hour should be rounded to the nearest whole hour.