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Merging Employees

Overview

Occasionally, you may need to merge duplicate employee records. This situation occurs when the same employee appears multiple times in the system under different employee numbers.

When Merging is Needed

Duplicate employee records can occur when:

  1. An employee quit and was rehired, and the user added them a second time
  2. An employee was rehired under a different name
  3. A client using ProPay Web entered the employee a second time
  4. The Social Security number was not available when the employee was first added

Note: Although ProPay issues a warning if a new employee's Social Security number already exists, the warning may be ignored or the employer may not have the SSN available at the time of entry.

The Problem With Duplicate Records

When the same employee has multiple records, it creates these issues:

Example scenario

Employee Master List:

Employee No Name SSN
0101 Doe Jon 123-45-6789
0122 Doe John
0136 Doe J. K.

Paycheck distribution (from Taxable Wages Report):

Employee No Name Paychecks
0101 Doe Jon 10 paychecks
0122 Doe John 2 paychecks
0136 Doe J. K. 15 paychecks

Consequences

  1. Multiple W-2 forms: The employee receives three W-2 forms at year end
  2. Overpaid taxes: The employer may have overpaid FICA, FUTA, and SUI contributions if the employee's combined income exceeds annual ceilings

Fixing the Problem

Follow these steps to merge duplicate employee records:

  1. Go to Employees menu
  2. Enter the same SSN for all duplicate employee names
  3. Click Employee Menu option at the top
  4. Select Merge Duplicate Employees

What happens

ProPay will:

  • Assign all paychecks to one employee number (selected by the user)
  • Recalculate the FICA, FUTA, and SUI wages for each paycheck
  • Consolidate all employee data under the selected employee number

Recovering Overpayments

If taxes were overpaid due to duplicate records, you may need to file amended tax returns to recover the overpayments.

Important: Consult with your tax advisor or ProPay support for guidance on filing amended returns.

Preventing Duplicate Records

To avoid duplicate employee records in the future:

  1. Always search for an employee before adding them to the system
  2. Enter the Social Security number when adding new employees
  3. Pay attention to SSN duplicate warnings
  4. Use consistent name formatting for all employees
  5. Check for slight spelling variations before adding employees

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