Pay as you Go Workers Compensation Audit
Workers Compensation Insurance policies require an annual payroll audit to be completed. The purpose of the audit is to verify payrolls for the policy period, confirm operations (class codes) and to check for 1099 sub-contract labor. 1099 sub-contract labor can be added to your audit if they are uninsured. In order to exclude a 1099 from your workers compensation audit, they must meet the standards for an independent contractor and must provide a valid workers compensation certificate or state approved exemption. The workers compensation auditor will typically contact you by mail or phone to set-up a time to gather the necessary payroll related documents. There is typically a small period of time to complete the audit otherwise it’s submitted as non-productive. When the audit is non-productive the insurance company produces an “estimated audit” that increases payrolls over the original estimate and a notice of cancellation. The business owner then has to “reopen” the audit and complete within the time frame determined by the cancellation date. If the audit remains non-productive and the policy cancels, the insurance company then reports to the workers compensation bureau. Due to the unproductive audit the workers compensation bureau can prevent coverage from being purchased for that business until the audit is completed.
Typical payroll documents that are provided to the auditor includes the 941’s or Quarterly Tax Reports for the nearest 4 quarters of your policy period. Most policy periods do not work perfectly with the start of a new quarter, therefore, auditors collect the closest quarterly tax reports and commonly use a Payroll Summary for the exact time period to verify payrolls. Most auditors are not familiar with the Pay as you Go model, therefore they audit using the traditional method only, using the Quarterly Tax Reports. The use of the payroll summary for the exact time period is VERY IMPORTANT for the Pay as you Go billing option. Since the business owner is paying premiums based on actual payrolls it’s important to provide the payroll summary for the exact time period. It’s important for the business owner to communicate the need to use the payroll summary for the exact time period at time of audit. After the audit is completed the insurance company will generate a document that shows the payrolls used to complete the audit. If those payroll figures do not match to your payroll summary report either contact your agent for assistance to dispute OR the insurance company. Explain that your billing is Pay as you Go and the auditor’s results do not match your payroll summary.
In addition to payrolls, the auditor is confirming the employees classification is correct. For most businesses all employees belong in 1 of 3 classification codes. Each industry has a workers compensation code that is assigned. Some employees belong to a classification code that is not included in the main code OR their hazard is minimal, therefore classified separately. If an employee is performing job duties that belong in multiple workers compensation codes, typically those wages are either classified to the highest rated exposure or divided between multiple exposures. In order to separate payrolls, the business owner has to provide the auditor with verification of the hours worked in each code per employee. The two best methods for accomplishing this is a payroll system that documents the job description and the hours worked for each employee. Otherwise the business owner will need to use a Log Book to document the jobs and hours worked for each employee to properly separate. The clerical workers compensation code is one of the few codes that cannot be separated with another job duty. Clerical is 100% or nothing.