Payroll Audit Compliance: Top 10 Payroll Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Overview:

Imagine this: Your company’s payroll process seems to be running smoothly. Employees are paid on time, taxes are withheld, and everything appears compliant — until one day, a notice arrives. It’s an audit — either from the IRS or the Department of Labor — and suddenly, what you thought was a well-oiled machine is under the microscope. You’re confident at first, but as the audit unfolds, unexpected issues begin to surface — worker classification errors, miscalculated overtime, incorrect garnishment handling — leading to costly penalties that no one anticipated.

This scenario is more common than many payroll professionals realize. In today's regulatory environment, it's easy to miss critical details. Small oversights, like improper handling of fringe benefits or timing of termination payments, can spiral into major compliance issues. Many companies don't realize there’s a problem until after penalties and back payments are assessed — sometimes months or even years later. Payroll isn't just about getting people paid; it’s about ensuring every step complies with a maze of federal and state laws.

Have you ever wondered whether your overtime calculations fully meet FLSA requirements? Or if you're properly taxing every fringe benefit provided to your employees? Even seasoned professionals sometimes rely on outdated practices or "this is how we’ve always done it" approaches — without realizing that regulations have evolved. Compliance today isn’t just about avoiding obvious mistakes — it’s about understanding the hidden traps and gray areas that audits often expose.

This webinar is designed to help payroll professionals uncover those hidden vulnerabilities before an auditor does. Through discussion and real-world examples, you'll gain practical tools to evaluate your current processes, correct course where needed, and confidently prepare for any audit — internal or external. Whether you’ve been through an audit before or want to ensure your company is truly audit-ready, this session will give you the insights needed to avoid penalties, protect your organization, and strengthen your role as a trusted compliance resource.

Areas covered in the session:

• Worker Misclassification Errors
• Properly Calculating overtime
• Overpayment Corrections in regards to FLSA and taxation
• Timing of Payment Concerns
• Termination Errors
• Proper state taxation
• Taxing Fringe Benefits
• Obtaining proper substantiation for nontaxable fringe benefits
• Proper Processing of received garnishments
• SUI tax practices unethical and errors

Why Should You Attend?

Payroll compliance isn’t just a back-office task — it’s a critical safeguard for your organization’s financial health and reputation. Yet even the most experienced payroll professionals can find themselves tripped up by changing regulations, overlooked details, or outdated processes. Waiting until an audit reveals the gaps is a risk few companies can afford.

This webinar offers you the opportunity to proactively identify and correct potential compliance issues before they become costly mistakes. You'll gain a practical, real-world understanding of how audits are triggered, what common errors auditors find, and how to create strong, defensible payroll practices that stand up to scrutiny.

Who will benefit:

This webinar is ideal for professionals directly responsible for payroll processing, compliance, and audit readiness within their organizations. Those include:

• Payroll Professionals
• Payroll Managers
• Payroll Administrators
• HR Managers
• HR Professionals handling Payroll