Accounts are utilized within the application for Cost Estimates, Expense Management, US Domestic Tax Gross-up and Compensation Worksheets. Accounts are created at a system level; however, the User has the ability to create overrides at a company level.

An example when this would be utilized is if a particular client utilized the term Final Move vs. En Route the User can override the system account description for that particular client at the company level.

To access the Accounts screen, select the Configuration Tab, select the Accounts menu group, then the Accounts screen.

Click

to launch a new System Account Details screen; click the

to open an existing record for editing.

Inactive - This will make the account inactive and not available for selection in an expense.

Category - Select a category for the account if you would like to otherwise this fields can be left on “Please Select”.

Type - When establishing accounts to be used in the gross-up process a selection should always be made in the Type field. This drop down menu comes standard with several options. Only the following four should be used for gross-up purposes.

Business Expense – This Type should be assigned to any “business expenses,” which within the system are generally third party service fees and home selling expenses (if part of a qualified home sale program).

Expense – This Type should be assigned to any accounts that have a US Taxability of Deductible, Excludable, or Non Deductible.

Tax Assistance – The Equus Platform™ application stores tax assistance in the form of accounting entries. One and only one account with a Type of Tax Assistance should be established. The system will automatically use this account.

Withholding – The Equus Platform™ application stores withholding in the form of accounting entries. One and only one account with a Type of Withholding should be established. The system will automatically use this account.

Sub Type - This drop down menu comes standard with several options. Only the following two should be used for gross-up purposes and should only be used when the Expense option has been selected in the Type field.

En Route Meals – One, Non-Deductible, account should be established to be exclusively used for en route (day of move) meals, and the En Route Meals Sub Type should be assigned to this account. Note that reimbursed en route meals are not taxable in the states of NJ and PA. By assigning this Sub Type to the en route meals account, the tax calculation logic will know to handle this account differently for NJ and PA, as well as any local/SUI authorities in these states.

Split Mile - The IRS only allows for a given amount per mile to be deducted/excluded for en route and/or household goods mileage.

In order for the Equus Platform™ to automatically calculate and split the taxability of en route and/or household goods mileage an account must be established with its Type field set to Expense, the Sub Type field set to Split Mile and its US Taxability field set to Excludable. The system will use the appropriate deductible IRS rate and Mileage Reimbursement Rate to calculate the split. The expense entered will not be split into two entries. The taxability of the one expense will be split based upon the expense date and the rates that apply to that expense date.

The system will not automatically split the taxability, if the Split Mile Sub Type is not assigned. To use a mileage reimbursement rate that differs from that provided by the IRS two accounts will need to be created, one with the US Taxability field set to Excludable and one with the US Taxability field set to Non-Deductible. A manual calculation will need to be done to determine the split and the two amounts will then need to be entered in the appropriate accounts.

US Taxability - The accounts associated with the expenses that will be considered when calculating a gross-up must be assigned the appropriate taxability. The taxability assigned to an account will determine how expenses associated with that account will be treated during a tax calculation. This drop down menu comes standard with the following options Deductible, Excludable, Non-Deductible and Not Reportable.

Deductible – This taxability type should be assigned to expenses that are deductible as itemized deductions on IRS Form 1040 Schedule A, such as mortgage interest (points) and taxes. Deductible expenses must be added into the employee’s wages, but can usually be deducted out of income on their tax return.

Excludable – This taxability type should be assigned to expenses that are deductible moving expenses of IRS Form 3903, as defined in IRS Publication 521, such as transportation and storage of household goods expenses, and travel and lodging expenses in moving from old home to new home.

There is no need to establish separate accounts for expenses paid to vendors and expenses reimbursed to the employee. This information will be captured during the voucher/expense entry process and the system will categorize the expenses appropriately. Excludable expenses that are paid to the employee are referred to as ‘Excludable Reportable’. Excludable expenses that are paid to a vendor are referred to as ‘Excludable Non-Reportable’.

Non-Deductible – This taxability type should be assigned to moving expenses that must be added into wages and cannot be deducted on the tax return. These moving expenses are often referred to as ‘taxable’ moving expenses. Examples include: house hunting expenses, temporary living expenses, allowances, lump sums, home selling expenses (if not part of a qualified home sale program), home purchase expenses, etc.

Not Reportable – This taxability type should be assigned to accounts that have no taxability, such as business expenses or withholding.

Excludable Type - This field will only be visible and required when the Excludable option has been selected in the US Taxability field. This field allows the selection of the Excludable Type for the Account. This drop down menu includes Household Goods and Final Move. The option selected in this drop down menu will drive which section the expense will be mapped to on the Employee Moving Expense Information (4782) section of the Year End Report.

Account – enter the account number

Sub Account – if a sub account is entered, the account will appear as Account.Sub Account. For example, 0001.87513

Long Description – the description that will appear in most screens, as relates to the account.

Short Description – may be used in place of the long description

Report Description – the description that appears in most Equus standard reports as relates to the account.

The General Ledger Accounts can be defined in the Accounts in the Equus Platform. These will appear in a section beneath the System Account Details screen when a user clicks on

to view/edit an existing Account.

Click

to create a new General Ledger Account, or on

to open an existing record for editing. More details can be provided under the General Ledger Account Details.

The tables “General Ledger Account” and “General Ledger Transaction” are available in the system and can be used in all the places where standard tables can be used (e.g. User Reports, Business Rules, Quick Workflows, etc.), and users can create widgets in dashboards to display General Ledger Account information.

Accounts can be locked by using the

button. This will lock down all fields for editing except Screen Associations & General Ledger Accounts. Lock and Lock permissions can be assigned to Security Roles.