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H-2A payroll software: what LedgerBarn handles for migrant farm workers

H-2A workers are foreign agricultural employees on a temporary visa program, and federal law layers extra wage-and-hour rules on top of normal payroll. Here's what LedgerBarn's agricultural payroll software automates for H-2A and seasonal farm labor, and what's still on you today.

1. What H-2A meansH-2A is a visa program that lets you legally hire foreign workers for seasonal or temporary agricultural work. In exchange, the government requires specific pay and hours guarantees spelled out in your job contract — on top of everything normal payroll already has to get right.
2. Set classification to H-2AOn the employee's profile, set Classification to "H-2A (ag visa)." This shows a green note explaining the tax treatment, plus an "H-2A contract (job order)" section further down the form.
3. Fill in the contract termsEnter Contract start and Contract end (from your job order), Guaranteed daily hours (e.g. 8), Days per week (e.g. 6), and AEWR / job-order wage ($/hr). These drive the three-fourths guarantee and wage-floor math below.
4. What AEWR is and where to find itAEWR (Adverse Effect Wage Rate) is the minimum hourly rate the government sets for H-2A jobs in your state — higher than regular minimum wage, and it changes periodically. LedgerBarn doesn't look this rate up for you; get the current figure from your H-2A job order or your filing agent, and enter it in the AEWR field.
5. Taxes happen automatically once you classify as H-2AH-2A wages are exempt from Social Security, Medicare, and FUTA — the app applies that the moment Classification is set to H-2A, no extra math needed. Federal and state income tax withholding is voluntary: check "Withhold income tax for this H-2A worker" only if you and the worker agreed to it in writing.
6. The three-fourths guarantee, in plain termsYour H-2A job contract promises to offer the worker at least 75% of the total contracted hours over the life of the contract. If offered-plus-worked hours fall short of that by contract end, you owe make-up pay for the shortfall. The app is built to calculate this from daily hours data — see below for where that data entry currently stands.
7. This is genuinely complicated — and that's the point of the appH-2A payroll compliance is real federal and state law with real penalties for getting it wrong. LedgerBarn is built to keep you on the correct side of the ongoing payroll rules. It does not replace your filing agent or immigration attorney — they handle the H-2A visa petition itself; the app handles the payroll compliance that follows once your workers arrive.