Handling Tax Notices

Provides best practices for handling and preventing tax notices.

OVERVIEW

Tax Notices are notices sent by tax agencies that advise companies of pertinent information and updates about the tax jurisdiction, or of an issue with tax payments or data that need to be addressed. It is not uncommon to receive a tax notice from an agency - agencies frequently provide companies with notices that require review. There are many factors that can lead to issues with a tax agency, including inaccurate data entry in Namely, a mistake at the agency level, or late filing and payments.

Tax notices may reference penalties and interest that your company may owe. It is critical to send tax notices to Namely upon receipt for review and resolution.

 

PREVENTING TAX NOTICES

You can minimize the risk of receiving tax notices if you are diligent in keeping your tax data up to date. Some best practices include:

• Registering for new state tax IDs as soon as you know you'll have an employee living or working in a new state.

• Updating tax rates as soon as you receive rate change notices.

• Routinely verify employee and employer information on file.

• Validate your payrolls.

• Follow our Namely Recommended: Quarter End Payroll and Tax Validation Guide during the final weeks of each quarter.

• Wire funds to Namely quickly for any uncollected "Applied for"  taxes not automatically collected by Namely.

• Using aggressive pay frequencies when pay frequencies are unknown for a tax jurisdiction.

 

CASE SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

As noted above, it is critical to send any actionable tax notice to Namely as soon as it is received, so that our tax experts can research and work to resolve the issue.

Actionable notices generally indicate an amount due to an agency. You will occasionally receive notices from agencies that do not require any action - for example, notices that advise on specific return due dates, updates to agency websites, or updates to the next tax quarter or tax year - but as a general rule, it is best to err on the side of caution with notices.

If you receive a tax notice that requires research and resolution from Namely, submit a case in the Help Community using the I received a notice from a tax agency option, and include the following information: 

• Entity Legal Name

• Your Namely Client ID (located in the top right corner of your Namely Payroll site)

• Agency Type (Federal, state withholding, unemployement or local)

• Date on Notice

• Date Received

• Reason for Notice

You should upload the tax notice as well, unless it contains any sensitive data (e.g. SSNs.) If you need to include a file with sensitive data, please upload securely to Support Files from your HRIS homepage. Only one tax notice should be provided per case submission. 

TIPS

• Tax Notices do take some time to research and resolve with agencies. Oftentimes, work is needed on the agency end, which can take up to two weeks. You can track the status of your case in the Help Community, but the Service team may not have a detailed update for eight to ten business days. 

• There are a few taxes Namely does not collect and remit. Any notices from those agencies would need to be resolved by your company, independently.