Steer Yourself to APA’s 2023 Capital Summit to Hear From Government Insiders

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you CHOOSE,” wrote children’s author Dr. Seuss in his 1990 book “Oh, the Places You'll Go!”

So, don’t snooze, use your head and your shoes, and join the APA and many federal and state agencies at the 2023 Capital Summit. The APA’s annual 2023 Capital Summit will take place March 20-21 at the Hilton Arlington National Landing Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, near the Washington Reagan Airport.

The APA’s Capital Summit offers attendees an opportunity to gain valuable insight on payroll legislative and regulatory issues and meet face to face with government representatives and industry experts.

OCSE, Nacha Talk Collaboration

Capital Summit features interviews on important payroll-related topics with the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) Commissioner Tanguler Gray and Nacha’s President and CEO Jane Larimer, Esq. Commissioner Gray is the former director of the Georgia child support enforcement agency and has a keen insight into the workings of state agencies and OCSE. For payroll professionals, Gray has historically valued the role that employers play in the child support program. The session will focus on collaboration between OCSE, state enforcement agencies, and payroll professionals, including opportunities for better processes through OCSE services.

Nacha governs the ACH Network, the payment system that payroll departments use to directly deposit wages to employees’ accounts and make other direct payments. Larimer took the helm at Nacha in July 2019, and in 2021 was named one of the most influential women in payments by PaymentsSource. Larimer plans to share information about opportunities in electronic payments for payroll, such as heightening the user experience, enriching the decision-making process, and better security management. The dialogue will also include trends and expectations on payments going forward.

Attendees will also receive the results from the five-year economic census from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Branch Chief, Respondent Outreach and Promotion Branch, Charles Brady, Jr., and Survey Statistician Kari Klinedinst. The session will distinguish data elements of use for payroll professionals and their employers.

Craig Copeland, Ph.D., Director of Wealth Benefits Research at the Craig Copeland, Ph.D., Director of Wealth Benefits Research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), will talk about financial wellness benefits and worker confidence levels. EBRI is a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to providing unbiased, facts-based research on employee benefits. The data is used by employers and policy makers to identify innovative benefits solutions that make sense for employees.

IRS Discusses Form Design Process

Both the IRS and SSA will present on agency activities of most concern for payroll professionals. The Inflation Reduction Act provides the IRS with $80 billion over the next 10 years. About 50% of the funds are identified for enforcement. The IRS is defining enforcement more broadly with a focus on customer service. The intent, according to the IRS, is to help taxpayers comply and avoid the need for an audit.

At the 2023 Capital Summit, Melvin Hardy, Director, National Public Liaison at the IRS, will discuss the IRS forms and publications of interest to payroll professionals, including available and upcoming electronic filing opportunities. Attendees will learn about the IRS’s decision-making process on the design and content of forms and publications as well as the steps needed for electronic capabilities.

The SSA will talk about its modernized online business systems to improve the filing of information returns and verify social security numbers, including ongoing projects. The SSA will also describe the opportunities to improve compliance through its electronic systems and share other important news with the payroll industry.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) along with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) return to Capital Summit with an update on compliance issues associated with onboarding employees and the right-to-work process, including the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, processes and procedures, and common mistakes employers make.

A highpoint among the sessions is a presentation by KPMG LLP Principal Dimitris Papageorgiou on intelligent automation for payroll. Low code, hyper-automation, workflow orchestration can be leveraged to improve operations, reduce efforts, and increase quality in all payroll and HR-related transactional activities if payroll managers know how. The discussion will center around defining “hype vs. real.” Attendees should be ready to engage in an interactive and informational session.

The Capital Summit will close with an in-depth presentation on how to keep up with changed laws and regulations at the state and local levels. Knowing state and local laws and regulations – not just federal ones – is critical for payroll success. For some attendees, this must-stay-for session will serve as a refresher. Others will gain new knowledge. Besides, the new 2023 closing door prizes that follow this final session require you to be there.

The Capital Summit attracts high-level members of the payroll profession to hear directly from experts on a variety of topics that relate to their areas of responsibility. The conference is designed such that each presentation is made in one meeting room to all attendees at one time (as opposed to multiple breakout sessions). This helps to create a friendly environment for listening and networking.

Attendees are generally payroll professionals responsible for employment eligibility verification, payments to employees and contractors, tax withholding, depositing, reporting, and many other responsibilities associated with paying workers.

If you have questions and want to gain payroll expertise, the 2023 Capital Summit is your place to be. This friendly albeit intense learning experience will get you up close with government decision-makers and industry experts on a wide variety of payroll-related subjects. So, steer yourself to Arlington soon!

Alice P. Jacobsohn, Esq., is Director of Government Relations for the APA.