Mal's St. Paddy's Parade

St. Patrick's Day is upon us again and here in Jackson that means Mal's St. Paddy's Parade.  Founded by Hal and Mal's Malcolm White in 1983, Mal's St. Paddy's Parade in downtown Jackson is one of the most highly anticipated events in Mississippi each year.

This year the parade actually falls on St. Patrick’s Day and you can look forward to all the festivities that have made Jackson’s parade a must for 60,000 plus attendants.  You can attend the 5K Run, 5K Walk or the children’s 1 Mile Fun Run when it kicks off at 8am.  There’s also a Children’s Festival and Pet Parade before the actual parade kicks off at 1pm.  The good times continue well into the night with the After Parade Street Dance in the parking lot of Hal and Mal’s.

Started 30 years ago “to give Jackson the chance to celebrate something uniquely Jacksonian,” Malcolm White combined his love of Mardi Gras with a celebration of Spring to create the popular parade.  This year the parade honors the work of UMC’s Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children with contributions including profits generated by sales of this year’s limited edition posters by Wyatt Waters.  There is also a toy drive benefitting the children’s hospital.

For more information about the parade visit www.malsstpaddysparade.com or www.halandmals.com.

The Internal Revenue Service has released guidance for employers before the law provision requires them to report the cost of health care coverage on employee's W-2 statements.

• Employers who distributed less than 250 W-2s in 2011 are exempt from the requirement until at least 2014 but larger employers will be required to report health care cost information on 2012 W-2s when they are issued in 2013.
• Employers are not required to include dental and vision care in computing employee's health care costs if those plans are separate from group medical plans.
• Employers may choose to report only the cost of coverage of terminated employees.  If they include the coverage cost and the COBRA cost, they must do so consistently for all terminated employees.
• Health care costs do not have to be reported for situations where a W-2 is not required, such as retired employees receiving health care coverage.
• Employers are not required to report health care cost information if a terminated employee requests a W-2 before the end of the year.
• The cost of coverage taxable to employees, like for a domestic partner or a child over 26, must be reported on the W-2.

Other questions have not been answered. Some experts interpret the guidance to mean that employers have the choice to report both the active coverage and retiree coverage for employees who retire during the course of the year. Employers must be consistent in these cases.

The new reporting requirements will add to employer costs and liability. People Lease can help reduce your liability and keep you up to date with reporting requirements. For more information or to receive your free payroll quote contact us at 601.987.3025 or visit www.freepayrollquotes.com.