New treachery for companies with telecommuters

Better tell employees with telecommuting on their minds to be careful what they wish for — they may get more than they’d bargained for. And so might your company.

You probably hear a lot about the bevy of benefits organizations that offer telecommuting: increased productivity, better performance, etc.

Some of your peers have even started encouraging telecommuting as a way to take some of the sting out of tough-to-swallow gas prices.

But for any of those virtual employees who call a different state home than the one your business is located in, there’s a new risk.

Payroll’s got to be on the ball

The distressing new trend: States like Delaware, Georgia and New York have started sending tax bills to out-of-state telecommuters.

That will make for:

• some unhappy employees, and
• more work for your finance folks.

The spotlight’s on Payroll this time. Companies have to be certain they’re staying on top of multiple state laws and using the correct withholding rates.

So that takes a lot more time (and possible research) to process payroll.

Even if you’re confident your payroll staffers are at the top of their game, you may find you lose some folks even on a single slip-up.

Some employees who’ve already been caught up in this interstate tax battle say they have to prepay their taxes for up to two years … even when their home states will credit them for the taxes paid to the business state. Few employees can handle that, especially in this economy.