Purchasing Workers’ Compensation Insurance: 14 Payroll Adjustments Effecting Workers’ Comp Insurance Premiums

Estimating payroll  is an all-important feature ofwages, these can be deducted.
workers’ comp insurance  as your premium 
payment is pegged to figures. Part of the audit8.  Reimbursed expenses  shown in income with
process determines whether an employer’s payrollactual records of the expense submitted is excludable
figures were accurate. If you under-estimated, therefrom the premium base in many states. IRS rules
are additional premiums to pay. On the other hand, ifoften require including certain expenses the insurance
you over-estimate, you may receive a refund.industry does not include, so let the auditor know
However, it’s better to estimate payroll figures asabout such reimbursements so allowable deductions
close to actual figures as possible.can be excluded. 
  
14 Common Adjustments9.  Military pay  is excludable from the premium base
1.  Pretax deductions,  also known as section ,125in many states, so if you continue to pay employees
129 deductions are deducted from the premium basewho are in the service document these payments so
in California ONLY. Other states include section 125 inthe auditor can review them.
premium base. California employers should be sure to 
have this information summarized so it can be10.  Stock options  are excludable from the premium
deducted from the exposure totals for their policy.base in many states.
2.  Tips paid  are a form of third party pay and is 
excludable from the premium base in many states.11.  Holiday/vacation/sick pay  are excludable from
Remember tips and service charges are different –the premium base in some states such as Kansas, as
tips are paid directly to employees by customers,long as actual amounts are documented for specific
where service charges are paid to the employer. Onlypay that is vacation pay. 
tips can be excluded.  
                         12.  Residuals  from commercials and motion pictures
3.   Severance paid  is excludable from thecan be excluded in most states.
premium base in many states. 
         13.  Expense reimbursements reported as income is
 4.  Overtime dollars  paid are excludable from theexcludable from the premium base in many states.
premium base in many states. 
                    14.  Stock bonuses  are included in the premium
5.   Value of Group term life  over $50,000 are IRSbase in many states, so if these amounts are available
imputed income and excludable from the premiumthe auditor can review them. (workersxzcompxzkit)
base in many states. 
 As you see , there are many different rules in each
6.  Fringe benefits  that are IRS imputed income,of the 50 states offering some significant
such as personal use of an auto, are excludable fromopportunities to reduce your workers’
the premium base in many states.compensation premiums. Work very closely with your
 auditor to make your audit as accurate as possible! 
7.  3rd party sick pay  is excludable from the 
premium base in many states, because the paymentsResources:  State’s laws: 
are made directly from the 3rd party payer to theVisit:  for more help and information.
employee - the employer does not make these 
payments, although in some cases they are included inExtracted from Workers’ Comp Kit® Blog.
the employers’ records. If included in the gross