XactPAY Web Overview

A cash flow management tool from The Hartford

Last year, The Hartford launched a new value added product for QuickBooks Payroll named XactPAY Web. It’s a patent-pending, payroll-based workers’ compensation premium billing service that allows a business to pay their workers’ comp premium on a pay-as-you-go basis. The benefit is that it calculates insurance premiums for a Hartford workers’ compensation policy based on actual payrolls and withdraws that amount directly from the insured’s bank account with every payroll run through QuickBooks. It is available as a workers’ compensation billing service at no additional charge for Hartford policyholders.

A standard workers’ compensation policy is billed based on an up-front estimate of the business’s expected payrolls for the policy term – generally one year. Around 25% of this estimated premium is collected at policy issuance and the rest is split up into as few as four large equal installments that are typically subject to check processing charges. At the conclusion of the policy term, an audit is performed on the actual payrolls for the policy period, and an audit adjustment is billed to reconcile the estimated premium against what should have been paid. This often leads to substantial unexpected additional charges for the business owner, and generally at the same time that he is paying the 25% down on the renewal policy.

XactPAY Web solves this problem by billing workers’ compensation premiums as they are “earned”. Rather than relying on the estimated payrolls, XactPAY Web calculates the workers’ compensation premiums based on the actual payroll data and then automatically deducts this amount from the insured’s checking account. In contrast to a standard billing method, XactPAY Web requires no down payment, with no processing charges, and splits the payments into as many payroll cycles as the business runs in the policy term. Best of all, because the premiums are being calculated based on actual payrolls rather than estimates, the odds of a large audit adjustment are drastically reduced.

This billing process is performed automatically thanks to the XactPAY Upload Utility, a free downloadable program provided by The Hartford to XactPAY Web policyholders. Once the XactPAY Upload Utility is installed and set up on the user’s computer, it periodically checks QuickBooks for the necessary data via the QuickBooks SDK. This data is uploaded to The Hartford’s servers through a secure channel, state rules are applied, the payroll is classified, and premium is calculated. Then an email is sent to the customer to notify them of the calculated premium amount prior to an automatic EFT withdrawal from the customer’s checking account.

From the customer’s perspective, the setup process is easy. Once a policy is sold, the insured is provided with their XactPAY Web ID and password, which allows them to access a secure section of www.xactpayweb.com and download the XactPAY Upload Utility software installer. They install the software, create a user profile and select the company data file, and then grant the utility access to their QuickBooks payroll data. If necessary, a Hartford representative will call the customer in order to classify the employees individually for the most precise premium calculation possible. All future uploads are performed automatically by the XactPAY Upload Utility, and only the company data file that is specified by the user is examined. If a CPA or QuickBooks ProAdvisor hosts the company data file, they can install the XactPAY Upload Utility on their computer or server and upload the data on their client’s behalf. Further, the XactPAY Upload Utility will support multiple customers from one computer, so a CPA or ProAdvisor can provide this service for several of their clients at once.

The data that is uploaded from QuickBooks by the XactPAY Upload Utility is limited to what is required to accurately calculate workers’ compensation premiums. First, the XactPAY Web ID and Password are validated from the utility’s user profile, and this is compared to the FEIN # from the QuickBooks Company Information screen so that the wrong company’s data is not applied to the policy account. Next, the XactPAY Upload Utility extracts the employee roster, wage and non-wage payroll items, and payroll detail. This data is then uploaded to the XactPAY Web servers over an SSL-encrypted connection.

Once on the server, this data goes through a rules engine that separates payroll that is subject to workers’ compensation premium billing from payroll that is not. Employee classifications are applied to the final payrolls and the premium is calculated. An optional email is sent to the insured to notify them of the impending EFT draw amount. Finally, at the end of the month a report is mailed to the insured that outlines the premium calculations so that they can be certain the correct premiums are being collected.

To be eligible, customers must use QuickBooks US versions 2005 and later for PC. An active subscription to a QuickBooks payroll service is also required. Windows XP and Vista are supported, as well as some Windows server operating systems.

For more information or to make this service available to your clients, visit the XactPAY Web Website at www.xactpayweb.com or contact Peter Diamante at 860.409-8400 x25099. The Hartford is also offering a $50 referral bonus for each qualified referral submitted from now until the end of the year!

For those of you in Southern California:

The Hartford has extended a special invitation to participate at no charge in a series of Networking Lunches with their best Property & Casualty Agents in early June. To learn more about XactPAY Web and meet local business partners, please contact Gary Kovac, Select Customer Sales Manager from the Hartford’s Los Angeles Branch Office; (714) 674-1251 or gary.kovac@thehartford.com or Steve Houk, Select Customer Sales Manager from the Hartford’s Brea Branch Office; (714) 674-1269 or steve.houk@thehartford.com.

For those of you in the NY, NJ and CT:

The Hartford has extended a special invitation to attend The Hartford’s Maximizing Value From Your Business breakfast event in NYC from 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM on Wednesday, June 11th. The Hartford and The New York Enterprise Report are sponsoring an event for business owners and their trusted advisors (that’s you!) at the Harvard Club, 35 West 44th Street in The Biddle Room, 3rd Floor. Registration is free but reservations are required. To register or for more information, visit www.nyreport.com/maxvalue.

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