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Payroll Glossary - R
RDFI: Receiving Depository Financial Institution.
Reasonable Basis Test: A standard used to determine if a worker is a independent contractor regardless of the common law test, based on prior court and administrative rulings, IRS audits, or longstanding practice.
Reciprocity: In a payroll context, a relationship between two states under which privileges granted by one are returned by the other (e.g., reciprocal agreements not to tax nonresidents working in a state).
Regular Rate of Pay: An hourly rate of pay determined by dividing the total regular pay normally earned for the normal work week by the total number of hours worked within that week.
Regulations: The written means by which government agencies promulgate the laws they are charged with enforcing (e.g., rules issued by the IRS to enforce the tax laws).
Rehabilitation Act of 1973: A federal statue prohibiting discrimination against certain disabled individuals by federal government paid contractors and grantees.
Reimbursement Financing: An unemployment insurance payment system that lets employers pay back to the state unemployment trust fund benefits paid to their former employees, rather than pay tax based on the employer's experience rating. This form of payment is most often used by nonprofit groups and public sector employers.
Reserve Ratio: In the context of payroll unemployment compensation it is a experience rating system that bases an employer's tax rate on the ratio of taxes less benefits to taxable payroll.
Resident Alien: In the context of payroll, an individual who passes either the green card or "substantial presence" test for resident status in the US. Resident aliens are usually subject to FIT witholding and Social Security and Medicare taxes just like US citizens would be.