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Use the FAQs for clear information and step-by-step instructions to help you manage your payroll efficiently.
Yes, employees can consent to receiving Form W2s only electronically by following these steps.
1. Log into the HR/Payroll system at hcm.ps.sc.edu.
2. Select the Payroll tile on the Employee Self-Service page.
- Click on “W-2/W-2c Consent” and read the disclaimer. If you would like to proceed, check the box beside “I consent to receive W-2 or W-2c forms electronically”.
- Click “Submit”, a dialog box will open that requires the last 4 of your SSN.
- You will receive a confirmation email that you have consented to receive the form electronically.
Once your consent forms have been submitted, they will remain valid until a Withdrawal of Consent Form is completed in PeopleSoft. This means that your initial consent form will remain in effect for future years unless you wish to change your consent or your employment ends.
USC has partnered with Experian to automate the employment verification process. Experian Verify is an employment verification system that automates income and employment verification services for employees. This system provides income verification, employment verification, social service request, or a custom verification letter. It eliminates all internal manual verification labor for the University through a secure and employee consent-driven process.
Direct your verifier to www.experianverify.com to request your secure employment information.
Experian has employment data for all employees who have been employed since 1/1/2020, but if a verification request comes in for someone who separated from employment prior to 1/1/2020 Experian will be unable to provide verification. In these scenarios, please have the vendor or former employee reach out directly to the Payroll Office (payroll@mailbox.sc.edu) for verification.
Visit our Employment Verification page for more detailed information.
Check with your department to make sure the timesheet was sent to Payroll by the processing date. If you are a new hire or are expecting a change in compensation, check with your department to make sure your HR actions were submitted by the specified deadlines.
No. According to South Carolina law, employees cannot be paid any earlier than their scheduled pay date.
If you are a new hire whose direct deposit information is in process or you are changing direct deposit accounts, you may have one paycheck printed as a paper check until the direct deposit can be established and validated by the bank.
You have the option to schedule an appointment on any day of the week. Additionally, you may walk in (without an appointment) on Wednesdays between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
Once you are an active employee, your department will supply your username. The Help Desk (803-777-1800) is available to assist with password setup and username recovery.
For student employees who are actively working, address updates must be made in Banner, which serves as the official system of record for students.
Each night, an interface transfers student address information from Banner to PeopleSoft HCM. Because this process occurs overnight, address changes made in Banner will not appear immediately in HCM.
After updating an address in Banner, please wait until the following day to verify that the updated address is reflected in PeopleSoft HCM.
To access your paystubs in PeopleSoft HCM, navigate to https://hcm.ps.sc.edu. Select the Payroll tile, then click the Paychecks tile. The Paychecks page will display each paycheck by row. To find previous paystubs, change the From Date and To Date fields. Click on the row of the paystub you wish to view.
Payroll deductions such as parking, Family Fund and United Way must be stopped by contacting that department directly. For other types of deductions, contact our department.
Court or state ordered deductions (such as child support or tax levies) cannot be stopped by the Payroll Office.
If you have benefits deductions related questions, please reach out to the USC Benefits Office at benefits@mailbox.sc.edu.
Modifications are implemented with the vendor, and they relay changes electronically to USC. For questions regarding Colonial Life/Trustmark premiums, please reach out to the USC Benefits Office at benefits@mailbox.sc.edu.
All 9-month employees pay extra premiums each pay period. This additional premium (escrow) pays summer coverage in the following summer. Mid year changes for life events or open enrollment will create escrow adjustments.
An official notification from government agencies is dispatched to USC. The deductions are mandated by law. Any modifications or alterations must be communicated directly by the employee to the governmental agency. USC is unable to implement changes or adjustments without receiving official notification from the governmental agency.
Yes, you will be sent an email notification and/or a letter. The notification will outline your available options.
Payroll confirms your retirement date several days following your final day of work.
For 401K and 457 accounts, contact Empower at 877-457-6263 or SC Deferred Comp Program at empower-retirement.com. For 403b accounts, contact TIAA at 800-842-2252 or Retirement@work.org.
Yes, please notify your department's administration.
Please reach out to PEBA directly to obtain an evaluation of your retirement account. Payroll will finalize the required documents as requested by PEBA.
Complete the following steps and the Aid office will forward a request form to USC for completion on your behalf. To apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), follow these steps:
1. Visit the official Federal Student Aid PSLF page.
2. Use the PSLF Help Tool
This tool will guide you through the process of:
- Confirming your employer qualifies
- Generating your PSLF form
- Tracking your qualifying payments
3. Enter your employer contact information
When prompted, enter the following email address for employment certification:
payroll@mailbox.sc.edu
4. Submit your PSLF form
After completing your portion, the form will be sent to the University of South Carolina
for verification. The Payroll or HR office will review and certify your employment,
then return the completed form on your behalf.
5. Monitor your application status
Once submitted, your loan servicer will review your eligibility and qualifying payments.
You can track progress through your Federal Student Aid account
The department is required to finalize an Account Funding Change ePAF form in PeopleSoft HCM. For additinal resources, visit the Business Manager page
Work completed between the 1st and the 15th of the month is compensated on the last day of that month. Work completed from the 16th until the final day of the month is compensated on the 15th of the subsequent month. If a pay date coincides with a weekend or holiday, payment will be made on the business day preceding it.
To access your paystubs in PeopleSoft HCM, navigate to https://hcm.ps.sc.edu. Select the Payroll tile, then click the Paycheck Modeler tile.
Please reach out to the Human Resources department at 803-777-6650 or via email at uschr@mailbox.sc.edu.
The information included with your W-4 forms will impact your tax withholdings.
W-4 forms are required to be completed upon hire once an employee has an active profile in PeopleSoft. You may change your withholdings at any time by logging into Employee Self-Service. Changes will go into effect on your next paycheck, unless the payroll for the upcoming paycheck has already been processed. Nonresident Alien forms are restricted by the IRS and the self-service feature will be disabled for them. Paper forms will continue to be accepted.
Contact the Payroll office at 803-777-4227 or email payroll@mailbox.sc.edu.
Supplemental pay is considered pay in addition to your regular wages and is subject to a flat tax rate as required by federal and state tax regulations.
FICA is the combination of Social Security tax and Medicare tax. All employees are subject to FICA taxes, unless an exception applies.
There are some exceptions for student employees who are working while they are enrolled and other exceptions for international employees.
FICA Exemption Requirements:
The below table lists the minimum enrollment hours requirements established by the University for the student FICA exemption to apply. Please note that these could be subject to change and exceptions may apply.
| Grad Students | Minimum | FICA Status |
|---|---|---|
| Fall/Spring | 6 Credit Hours | Exempt |
| Summer | 3 Credit Hours | Exempt |
| Exceptions: Banner type Z, 3, 4, 5 | 1 Credit Hour | Exempt |
| Undergraduate | Minimum | FICA Status |
|---|---|---|
| Fall/Spring | 6 Credit Hours | Exempt |
| Summer | 3 Credit Hours | Exempt |
The primary relationship of the employee with the university must be “student” and not “employee.” Career employees are not granted the exemption.
J-1 and F-1 visa holders who are considered non-resident aliens for tax purposes and performing services for the purpose of their visa are granted the FICA exemption under IRS Section 3121(b)(19).
The IRS has released an updated Tax Withholding Estimator and a FAQ page to assist in filling out the Form W-4. You may also visit the SC Department of Revenue website for information regarding the SC W-4. The university cannot offer tax advice but we may be able to assist with general questions on the form.
We evaluate all exemptions related to international tax setups.
If a student employee is currently enrolled full-time, they are exempt from FICA taxes.
Plese send an email to Payroll@mailbox.sc.edu and include your employee ID or the last four digits of your social security number. If you prefer to receive it by mail, ensure you provide your current mailing address.
The Payroll Department is not authorized to provide tax advice.
All employees are required to have FICA withholdings unless an exception is applicable. Your federal and state withholdings are based on a combination of your earnings and the selections made on your W-4.
Fill out the federal and state forms. While the Payroll Department does not provide tax advice, they can assist you with the form. You can modify W-4 forms at any time.
All weekly timesheets are due to be submitted and approved by 5 P.M. on Monday for the prior week.
This will depend upon your department's policy. Employees can choose to enter hours each day and save their timesheet, or wait until the end of the week to create their timesheet. Non-exempt employees are required by law to report time on a weekly basis.
If you are a non-exempt salaried employee who fills out a timesheet each week, the hours on your timesheet must at least equal your scheduled hours, or your time sheet will not forward for approval.
First, check to make sure your timesheet hours equal your schedule. If you took leave without pay hours, use the LWOP-Persnl timecode to enter those hours.
If your position begins or ends during the week, and the paperwork is not current, your manager or approver will have to retrieve your timesheet and then approve it.
If your direct supervisor is away, TL/ABS Approvers for your department have access to approve your timesheet.
Yes, you have up to 30 days to adjust a timesheet after it has been submitted. When an adjustment is made it will go back to your supervisor for approval when submitted.
Yes, Supervisors and TL/ABS Approvers can submit the timesheet on your behalf from the Time and Absence Workcenter.
Yes. The Time and Absence System allows you to access a timesheet up to 30 days and save your hours. Any leave hours entered will appear on your timesheet as a view only row.
If you did not enter and submit a timesheet in advance, your supervisor or a TL/ABS Approver can complete a timesheet on your behalf.
Hourly employees will not be paid unless their timesheets are approved and processed. It is the responsibly of the manager to ensure that all salary non-exempt employees are completing their timesheets. If you are unable to complete the timesheet, your supervisor or TL/ABS Approver can do it on your behalf.
It is important to remember that unapproved timesheets cannot be processed for payment. If your supervisor is not available, a TL/ABS Approver can approve your timesheet on their behalf.
When your timesheet is approved, you will receive an email notification. The approval icon will also be visible on the timesheet in Employee Self Service.
TL/ABS Approvers are assigned based on their Job Data department. An employee's assigned department determines which approvers can access their timesheet. If there are active employees in your department that you cannot access via the Time and Absence Workcenter, you may want to verify their assigned department is correct. That information should be on their hiring paperwork and is always the same as their funding department.
If the holiday eligible employee did not work and observed the university holiday:
- Time entry field on timesheet should remain blank on that day
- Holiday will be seen in the payable time summary once the time administration process runs on the holiday, independent of timesheet approval (shown below)
If the holiday eligible employee worked on the university holiday:
- Salary non-exempt
- Enter hours worked on the timesheet using the REGHR-Regular time reporting code
- Will receive holiday compensatory time at an hour for hour rate for all hours worked on the holiday
- Regular Holiday Pay will be shown in payable time summary
- Salary exempt
- Enter hours worked on the timesheet using the HOLEX-Worked a Holiday time reporting code
- Will receive holiday compensatory time at an hour for hour rate for all hours worked up to average workday
- Holiday will be seen in the payable time summary once processed
The grayed-out row is most likely due to an absence request(s) that carried over into the timesheet as a view only row on the timesheet for a combined and complete picture of work and leave hours for a given time period. To add regular hours, click the +plus button to add a new row where you can select the REGHR-Regular Hours time reporting code and enter regular hours.
Only earned compensatory time and holiday compensatory time are taken and/or entered directly on the timesheet. All other leave types must be initiated through the request an absence process and cannot be entered directly on the timesheet.
The system will automatically pay the overtime rate for all hours worked over 40 in an FLSA workweek. If your area has internal procedures for compensatory time, the employee must add the comp time indicator to their timesheet (the manager or TL/ABS approver can add during the approval process). Note you must scroll to the far right of the timesheet to add the comp time indicator in the field next to Saturday’s hours as shown below. Here is the job aid for salaried non-exempt employees to earn comp time on a timesheet.
This Timesheet Icon Reference guide provides detailed information about each of the icons that you may see on timesheets along with description of the colored banners at the top of each day on the timesheets. Days on timesheets that are marked with a green circle with a white check mark are fully approved.
Note: If an employee has an absence request in process/approved it will reflect as view only on the timesheet denoted by the suitcase icon on the day(s), please note the icon does not indicate approval status. Approval status for absences can be seen by the employee, manager, and TL/ABS Approver by visiting ‘view absence requests’ either through self-service or the Time and Absence Workcenter.
This red triangle indicates an error message. The exception icon appears when you enter time that the system identifies as an exception and flagged as a potential issue. The most common exceptions are:
- Invalid Employee Status – employee is entering hours worked on the timesheet for the terminated job. Please be sure to enter hours worked on the active job.
- Quantity cannot be zero – 0 zero hours cannot be entered in the timesheet. If there are no hours worked for a specific day, please leave the entry field blank.
- More than 24 Hours Reported – cannot enter more than 24 hours worked for a single day
- Work Order Number is Missing – applicable for Facilities and Housing only
- Partial Sick Absence (LOAS – scheduled work week) – Select LOAS if they are sick for a full scheduled work week, applicable to Salaried Exempt Temps only
- Personal Leave Validation (LOAP – full scheduled day) – Select LOAP if they are requesting personal leave for a full scheduled day, applicable to Salaried Exempt Temps only
- HOLEX only on holiday – selecting the time reporting code HOLEX-Worked a Holiday and entering hours worked on a day that is not an approved UofSC holiday
Please pay close attention to the error messages and make the applicable changes. If you are unsure of what to do, reach out to your manager or TL/ABS approver for next steps.
When entering time to the minute on a timesheet it is important to remember the decimal place is not the number of minutes worked but rather the calculation of minutes worked over 60. For example, 3 hours and 34 minutes would be entered on the timesheet as 3.57 (34 minutes/60 minutes= 0.57).
Your direct deposit transaction goes into effect with your upcoming paycheck as long as the information is entered in Employee Self Service seven days prior to payday. If the direct deposit information is not entered on time or is not validated by the bank, you will receive a paper check on your first payroll and will need to pick it up from the Payroll office or from your designated HR location if you are employed outside of Columbia.
Yes, our system will accept up to five bank or credit union accounts.
Direct deposit changes must be entered seven days prior to payday to be effective with the upcoming payroll. Changes are subject to validation by the bank to guarantee the direct deposit change is successful.
Direct deposit is mandatory for all employees.
Once Payroll receives notification from the bank regarding a returned item, the employee will receive an email outlining any required actions. If a reissue is needed, it will be included in the next payroll cycle.
Please contact the Payroll office at payroll@mailbox.sc.edu.