Each year, employers in Puerto Rico must complete Form 499R-2, also known as the PR Withholding Statement. The form requires information regarding gross wages and withholding taxes from the previous calendar year, including commissions, allowances, tips, deductions, and additions. Employers will also need to include information regarding Social Security wages, Social Security Tax withheld, Medicare wages and withholding, and Uncollected Social Security tax. It’s a lot of information, but organized employers should have difficulty completing the form. If you don’t have an accounting process or database with essential data, it could take you a bit longer to finish.
Changes to Form 499R-2
This year saw several changes to this popular form. Two new Exempt Salaries Codes were added, including a “Disaster Assistance Qualified Payment.” Several exempt salaries codes also saw changes in categorization. There are several new fields and modified fields. For a full list of changes, see the Department of the Treasury’s Electronic Filing Requirements guide.
How AMS can Help
The biggest problem employers face when starting Form 499R-2 or dispersing W-2PR is a lack of data organization. The numbers reported on the form are easy to calculate, but if you don’t have a payroll record to work from, you’ll spend hours on this tiny sheet. This is how we can help.
AMS Software for Payroll , our semi-automated payroll software, is an excellent tool for organizing your accounting process. The product automatically calculates withholding taxes and distributes accurate paychecks that reflect that deduction. This information – the amount withheld and amount paid – is then stored in the software for easy access. This is especially important when it comes to annual reporting, such as when completing Form 499R-2. It also helps when distributing W-2PR forms to employees. Put simply, AMS Payroll is both a reporting facilitator and a payroll calculator – the ultimate tool for small businesses in Puerto Rico.
AMS Payroll incudes additional features designed to make your accounting easier. See below for a few of our favorites.
- Imports data from QuickBooks, PeachTree, Excel and Tab Delimited Text Files
- State and Federal tax tables are included and updated as needed
- Prints more than 30 types of checks, individual or by date range
- Facilitates direct deposit processing
- Processes both “live” and after-the-fact payroll
- Network and multiple PC installation included
- Up to 40 user-defined fields for business-specific deductions and additions
How to Invest in AMS
If you’re ready to invest in an AMS product, you can make your purchase from anywhere and at any time. However, we know that adopting an entirely new accounting system is a big decision for any business. We want you to feel confident in your decision, so we’ve made it easier for you. Our software is available in the form of a free, downloadable demo, perfect for testing the waters with semi-automated payroll reporting. If you have any questions about the product, contact our Sales and Information team at 800-536-1099.
We want Form 499R-2 to be as painless as possible, and we think AMS Payroll is the best tool to aid that process. That said, when you invest in AMS, you get a range of helpful resources, including on-demand customer support, to answer any and all of your questions.