Frequently Asked Questions

The Payroll Office is located in the Office of the Controller, second floor of Bond Hall on the Hattiesburg campus. Enter Bond Hall from the parking garage side of building.

Office hours are 8:00 – 12:00 and 1:00 – 5:00 Monday – Friday

Phone: 601-266-4084 Email: payroll@usm.edu

Time and Attendance Reports are due by 5:00 the Monday following each biweekly payday.

For Hattiesburg departments, biweekly payroll envelopes containing completed and approved Time and Attendance Reports must be hand delivered to the University Union drop-off or to the Payroll Office in Bond Hall.

For Gulf Park Campus in Long Beach, biweekly payroll envelopes containing completed and approved Time and Attendance Reports must be hand delivered to Holloway East #2.

For Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, biweekly payroll envelopes containing completed and approved Time and Attendance Reports must be hand delivered to the Payroll/Finance office in the Oceanography building.

Yes. Payroll accounts for all distributed Time and Attendance Reports. Please sign and return all blank Time and Attendance Reports.

Guidelines for many situations are covered in the Employee Handbook, available on the Human Resources web site.

You must have access to SOAR to view your paycheck. After logging in to SOAR, use the following navigation to access a PDF file of your paycheck: Self Service > Payroll and Compensation > View Paycheck

Make sure you allow pop-ups. From the web browser tool bar select: Tools > Pop-up Blocker > Turn Off Pop-up Blocker OR Pop-up Blocker Settings > Set soar.usm.edu as allowable site.

New direct deposit setups are prenoted, meaning verification of your bank routing number and account number is required before your direct deposit begins. Usually your first check is a physical check and all subsequent payments are directly deposited.

Direct deposit is mandatory. However, in certain cases, physical checks are issued and sent to your department’s campus mailbox on pay day. While mis-routed checks are infrequent, if you are unable to locate your check, and your department has confirmed it is missing, you can contact Payroll, and our staff will be happy to confirm where the check was sent. If the check is not recovered, you can request that Payroll place a stop payment on the missing check and issue a replacement, a process that can take up to two business days.

Your direct deposit information is maintained by Human Resources if you are faculty/staff and Student Employment if you are a student. Contact Human Resources or Student Employment to activate or change your direct deposit information (a voided check will be required).

Complete the W4 tax form (available on the Human Resources web site under Forms) and return to Human Resources if you are faculty/staff or Student Employment if you are a student.

If you are faculty/staff, your address is part of your personnel record and is kept by Human Resources. To change your address, contact Human Resources. Students can log into SOAR and update their mailing address from the Student Center. International students need to contact the International Student and Scholar Services office.

A PDF tutorial is available under the Training Resources section of this web site.

Not at this time.

To request a W2 reprint, email your request to payroll@usm.edu, providing your name, employee ID, the tax year needed and the mailing address.

In order to calculate FICA Gross, Federal and State Taxable Gross:

PAYROLL GROSS (Total amount paid)

Less before tax deductions
Plus taxable life insurance
= FICA Gross (Box 3 and Box 5)
Box 3 Social Security wages maximum for taxes is $113,700 for 2013. Box 5 has no limit on taxable gross.
Less retirement (PERS and ORP)
Less tax sheltered annuities (403b and 457b)
= Federal Taxable Gross (Box 1) and State Taxable Gross (Box 16)

BOX 12 Consists of the following:

·    12C, Taxable cost of group-term life insurance over $50,000

·    12E, Elective deferrals under a section 403(b) salary reduction agreement

·    12G, Elective deferrals under a section 457(b) deferred compensation plan

·    12P, Excludable moving expense reimbursement paid directly to employee (not included in boxes 1,3, or 5)

·    12DD, Cost of employer-sponsored health coverage. The amount reported is not taxable and not included in boxes 1, 3, or 5.

·    click here to view an example of a W2

Monthly employees’ earnings are based on a salaried amount. Any changes to that salary comes through Human Resources or Student Employment who update the monthly paid employee’s master record in SOAR from paperwork submitted by the department.

Employees who are required by their jobs to have access to run the Payroll Distribution Report must attend training, please click here for more details.

That portion of group term life insurance that is taxable income to you. This amount is added to your Federal, State and Social Security taxable earnings.

The Payroll Manager sends out “Did You Know” emails periodically. If you are not receiving this correspondence, email payroll@usm.edu with a request to be added to the list.

For the Hattiesburg Campus, Human Resources and Student Employment are located in McLemore Hall.

For Gulf Park Campus, Holloway East #2

For Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Oceanography Building

No. Messages written on Time and Attendance Reports stating that an employee is terminated will not remove that employee from the timesheet. Appropriate paperwork should be submitted to Human Resources or Student Employment to terminate an employee. Graduate Assistant terminations must be routed through the Graduate School first.

Prior period adjustments are used to correct previously submitted Time and Attendance Reports. Adjustments for hours submitted incorrectly, adjustments for hours omitted for a previous pay period or adjustments for incorrect rates can be added to the next available Time and Attendance Report.

For hours previously omitted, add a line and enter the information needed including the MM/DD/YYYY in the last column indicating the pay period end for which the hours were missed.

For hours submitted incorrectly or adjustments to prior pay periods, add two lines. On the first line, enter the information exactly as it was submitted originally but in brackets. On the second line, enter the correct information. Both lines require the MM/DD/YYYY in the last column indicating the pay period end being amended.

Notify your department immediately. Your department will need to correct your job record through Human Resources or Student Employment. Contact Payroll for instructions on how to repay the university. Once resolved, Payroll will reverse the payment in SOAR, thus ensuring your W2 is correct.

Please return all checks not picked up to the Office of the Controller located in Bond Hall, second floor, Room 230.

Please review the following information if contracting for personal services with a corporation:

Usually, a corporation will provide a contract for the university department to sign upon approval by the University Counsel. However, there are situations in which a contract is not signed. In these instances, a Personal Services Agreement (PSA) should be completed. The PSA serves two functions: It allows us to determine whether or not Independent Contractor status is allowable according to IRS guidelines. Also, it serves as our written contract in case of dispute over what services need to be performed. If you have any questions, please contact the Tax Compliance Officer at 601-266-4102.