Disclaimer & Non-Affiliation

Checkmate Payroll is a private software provider. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representing any government entity. All tax and payroll logic is based on publicly available IRS and state documentation.

Checkmate Payroll is a private company selling software: compliance-ready payroll tools for US businesses. We use no government logo, seal, name or imagery to imply otherwise, and we are not endorsed by, contracted to, or acting on behalf of the IRS, the Social Security Administration, any state tax or labor agency, or any other public body.

Checkmate prepares payroll figures, documents and agency-format electronic files from the data you enter, using the published tables and specifications listed below. You submit them. The W-2 wage file goes to ssa.gov/bso, 1099 filings to irs.gov/iris, state wage reports to your state agency's portal — and you keep the agency's confirmation.

Generating a document in this product is not the same as an agency receiving it, accepting it, or agreeing with it. Nothing in Checkmate is a filing service, a guarantee of compliance, or a substitute for professional judgement. This is not tax, legal or accounting advice — consult a licensed CPA.

Every calculation traces to a public document. These are the actual inputs to the engine, not a reading list — each drives the calculation named beside it.

• IRS Publication 15-T — Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods
  Federal income tax withholding, percentage method and wage brackets
  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15t.pdf
• Social Security Administration
  FICA — Social Security and Medicare rates and wage bases
  https://www.ssa.gov
• IRS Publication 15 (Circular E) — Employer's Tax Guide
  Deposit schedules, employment-tax rules and record retention
  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf
• IRS Form 941 and instructions
  Quarterly federal return, lines 1-15 and Schedule B
  https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-941
• IRS Form 940 and instructions
  Annual FUTA return, wage base, credit reduction and Schedule A
  https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-940
• SSA Publication 42-007 — EFW2 (W-2 electronic filing)
  The 512-byte W-2 wage file uploaded at ssa.gov/bso
  https://www.ssa.gov/employer/EFW2%26EFW2C.htm
• SSA Publication 42-014 — EFW2C (W-2c corrections)
  The 1,024-byte correction file for W-2c
  https://www.ssa.gov/employer/EFW2%26EFW2C.htm
• IRS Information Returns Intake System (IRIS)
  1099-NEC electronic filing and corrections
  https://www.irs.gov/filing/e-file-forms-1099-with-iris
• New York Publication 72.5 — NYS-45 upload specification
  New York quarterly wage reporting file, Parts A, B and C
  https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/withholding/pub72_5.pdf
• California EDD — DE 9C wage reporting (ICESA)
  California quarterly wage file, 275-position ICESA records
  https://edd.ca.gov/en/payroll_taxes/file_and_pay/
• U.S. Department of Labor — FLSA overtime
  Overtime at 1.5x after 40 hours in a workweek
  https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa

This disclaimer is printed in the footer of every PDF Checkmate generates — pay stubs, worksheets, the year-end checklist, the quarterly tax summary and the Director's Handbook — so the non-affiliation notice stays attached to physical deliverables that leave the app. We deliberately do not print it inside official IRS or SSA form templates, because altering a machine-scannable government form can invalidate it.

It is also served at /api/compliance/disclosures with no account required, and shown in the app under Company → Compliance & Disclaimers.