Several states have increased their minimum wage rates as of January 1, 2012.  That makes it a good time to publish this state by state minimum wage rate table.  State by State Minimum Wages

We are still waiting on Congress to act on extending the Social Security payroll tax cut beyond February 29, 2012.  I will post something as soon as we know what the rules will be.  QuickBooks is currently pushing out a payroll update that reverts the rate to 6.2% on the employee portion as of March 1, 2012.  If you use other payroll software, please check with your provider about payroll tax rate updates.