Film Accounting Glossary
Year-to-date
What is year-to-date?
Also called YTD.
Year-to-date (YTD) is the cumulative total from the start of a fiscal or calendar year through the current date, and in payroll it drives every wage-base-limited tax.
FICA's Social Security portion, FUTA, and SUTA all stop once an employee's YTD wages pass their thresholds, so a crew member's employer cost genuinely falls as the year progresses. Multi-production crew make this messy, because thresholds are per employer rather than per person.
Example
A crew member's employer FICA on Social Security stops once YTD wages pass the annual wage base, and FUTA stops after the first $7,000, so the same person genuinely costs less in November than in February. Thresholds are per employer, which multi-show crew make messy.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
Tracked by the payroll company per employer. The reason a flat fringe percentage across a long year overstates cost.
Common mistake
Applying one flat fringe percentage across a whole year. Wage-base-limited taxes stop once thresholds are passed, so the same crew member costs less later in the year.
Related questions
- Why does year-to-date matter for film payroll?
- Because wage-base-limited taxes such as Social Security, FUTA, and SUTA stop once an employee's YTD wages pass their thresholds.
- Do thresholds reset when a crew member changes production?
- They are tracked per employer, so a crew member working for several payroll companies in a year can trigger the same employer taxes more than once.