News you can use

HR Announces Voluntary Self-Identification Employee Survey

Human Resources invites all USI employees to review and update their self-identification of ethnicity, race, veteran and disability status through the Qualtrics survey; you will receive a link to the survey via email. Completing this information is voluntary, but we hope that you will choose to provide it so that USI may continue to evaluate our future needs for a diverse and inclusive workforce. We want the USI community to understand why we are asking you to do this and why it is important. We have collected a list of common questions which are posted on the HR webpage and encourage you to review each.

Support Staff Salary

Over the last year, the University has undergone a comprehensive initiative to study support staff salaries and total reward structures. We encourage support staff personnel and their respective supervisor(s) as well as all other interested parties to explore the project webpage to learn more about this initiative. The webpage will be updated periodically to include project information, project milestones and videos from town hall meetings.

Direct Deposit and Powercash Payroll Card

The University utilizes a paperless pay disbursement process. Employees have the choice of either enrolling in direct deposit with the financial institution of their choice or opting for the new Powercash Payroll Card. The Powercash Payroll Card is a Visa branded, reloadable debit card and can be used everywhere Visa cards are accepted. Review additional payroll card information.

Employees who do not sign up for direct deposit must enroll and receive a Powercash Payroll Card. For questions, contact USI.Payroll@usi.edu.

Updated Withholding Calculator Released

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released the updated Withholding Calculator for use by taxpayers in estimating the appropriate withholding for federal income taxes in 2018. Following the December tax reforms under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the subsequent update to employer withholding tables, available here, it is particularly important that taxpayers reevaluate the amount withheld from their paychecks in order to avoid both significant overwithholding and significant underwithholding. The Withholding Calculator helps taxpayers estimate advisable adjustments for their Forms W-4 to address the recent changes to the tax code and withholding tables. It reflects, among other things, changes to tax brackets, itemized deductions, child tax credits, and dependent credits, along with the repeal of dependent exemptions.

Although it is advisable for all taxpayers to reexamine the amounts withheld from their paychecks in 2018, the IRS has identified the following individuals in particular as potentially benefiting from such review:

• Two-income families
• People with two or more jobs at the same time or who only work for part of the year
• People with children who claim credits such as the Child Tax Credit
• People who itemized deductions in 2017
• People with high incomes and more complex tax returns

The Withholding Calculator asks a taxpayer to estimate his or her income for 2018 and various tax credits and deductions to which the taxpayer might be entitled for the year. It returns the estimated federal income tax for the taxpayer for 2018 and provides specific recommendations on how to revise the Form W-4 in order to have an appropriate amount withheld from the taxpayer's paychecks.
 
The Withholding Calculator and instructions from the IRS for using the Withholding Calculator are available here.  The updated, 2018 Form W-4 can be found here.

Special Note for 2019:  If you follow the recommendations from the IRS Calculator and change your withholding for 2018, the IRS reminds you to be sure to recheck your withholding at the start of 2019. This is especially important if you reduce your withholding sometime during 2018. A mid-year withholding change in 2018 may have a different full-year impact in 2019. So if you do not file a new Form W-4 for 2019, your withholding might be higher or lower than you intend. To help protect against having too little withheld in 2019, we encourage checking your withholding again early in 2019. 

If you have additional questions about your withholding, consult your tax advisor.