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Payroll Software - 7 Little Known Tips to Choose the Right Payroll Software For Your Business

Keeping track of payroll is an important process in any business. No matter what is your company size, you definitely must keep track of the payroll. With something so important, you can't really afford to make any mistake with it. Usually, people will tend to find a payroll service provider to keep track of the payroll. But do you know that if you buy the right payroll software, you can save money and have more control? Now, let us find out more here.

With the right payroll software, you do not need to outsource this task to a service provider. You can do it in-house and add more profits to your bottom line. Therefore, it is important that you get the right payroll software for your company. Let me share with you 7 tips to choose the right software:

1. It must be able to synchronize with your current accounting system. There is no point getting one that can't sync with your current accounting system.

2. It must be able to handle all kinds of payroll tasks. You should get one that can handle all aspects of payroll reporting and make sure that it simplifies your current process. If not, you are just wasting your time and money.

3. You should be able to upgrade the software in the future. When your business grows, so as your software. Therefore, ensure that the one you are going to buy can be upgraded if you want to, so that you do not need to spend more money to buy a new one.

4. The supplier should provide training on how to use the software. The training can either be on-site training or online tutorials, so that you or your staff can learn how to use the software quickly.

5. It should allow you to file tax return forms. Good payroll software allows you to file tax return forms easily and saves you a lot of time.

6. Can your computer system support the software? Remember to check with the supplier.

7. Buy from someone who is experienced. An experienced supplier will know how to solve the most difficult problem and you can be sure that you will have fast support anytime.

If you go online and do a search, you can find lots of payroll software in the market. So before you decide to buy anything, take your time to do a thorough research first. Don't make the wrong decision that can cost you time and money.

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What's Better, In-House Payroll or Outsourced Payroll?

No matter what business you run, how many employees you have, or how you decide to operate, there is one thing that every business needs to consider and that's payroll. You have two options when it comes to your payroll, and they are to perform your entire payroll in-house or outsource your payroll to an external company. This article will look at which option is the most cost effective for businesses.

The legal side

Payroll is no light hearted affair and there are legislations in place to ensure that businesses are using the correct procedure. This legislation regularly evolves and it is your responsibility, as a business, to keep up to date with any changes. If you want to do your payroll in-house then you will need to ensure that you know all the legislation and keep up with the changes. This takes up time, effort and money. If you outsource your payroll then you will not need to worry about legislation, as the company you outsource to will be responsible for keeping you in line with the law.

Staff costs

Perhaps one of the greatest costs to a business deciding to do payroll in-house are the staffing costs. It may be the case that you are fully knowledgeable of the payroll procedure, but if not, you'll need to employ a couple of payroll whiz kids to help you out. This will result in your business having to spend funds on recruitment, training, salaries, holidays, pensions, and other general staffing costs. Using an outsource payroll company means you don't need to have in-house staff or deal with the associated expenses.

IT expenditure

Aside from staffing costs, IT costs can also be quite substantial for those opting for in-house payroll. You will need to consider the costs for hardware, software, upgrades, maintenance, and other possible IT expenses such as on-going support. If you decide on an external company for your payroll, then you'll be eliminating these costs.

Other expenses

There are a few other lesser expenses associated with in-house payroll. Stationery may not cost a great deal on its own, but when you consider that you will need to purchase items such as ink cartridges, paper, pens, envelopes, and payslips, then you can easily see where the costs begin to add up. Again, outsourcing your payroll rids you of these expenses.

In-house vs. outsource

Overall, outsourcing payroll can be a much more cost effective option if you only have a handful of staff. Of course external companies will charge you for their payroll services, but often the fee they charge can work out to be much more inexpensive than all of the costs mentioned here. SME's will benefit the most from outsourcing, whereas larger companies with considerable staff levels will probably benefit from using an in-house team.

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10 Profit Improvement Tips For Small Business

Tip # 1: Raise your prices 3% today Always test the limit of your revenue and do not settle for less. If you sell a product for $10.00 and you increase the price by $.30, that profit will go straight to your bottom line and will not be enough of an increase to turn your customers off to your product.

Tip # 2: Share your profits Share your profits with your employees by creating a "Pay-for-Performance" Plan. Motivate your employees by making their paycheck a direct result of their productivity. Do not put your employees on salary. Instead, reward them with a share in the profits so they notice their paycheck is bigger when they've done a good job.

Tip # 3: Commission Always pay your sales force commission, rather than salary. Encourage your sales force to sell and determine the commission based on work performance, If you guarantee your sales force's income, you reduce their incentive to sell.

Tip # 4: Commission by Profits Pay commission according to the profitability of the item, rather than the price. Be sure to base the commission on the profitability of the item being sold and not the sales price. The cost of production may reduce your profit margins on certain items and the commission you pay out must reflect this or you are liable to lose money. This will also encourage your sales force to sell the items that make you the most profit.

Tip # 5: Accept Turnover Do not be afraid to accept turnover as a natural way of doing business. Personnel can affect your profit and if employees do not perform, you will not perform. You should try to limit turnover and manage it to ensure you have the best employees, but you cannot be afraid to replace the people who are not performing.

Tip # 6: Give up Golf Golf is an excuse for goofing off. There are no deals made on the golf course. It is only an excuse to skip work. Instead stay focused on the business and save golf for the weekends.

Tip # 7: Financial Statements Produce accurate financial statements at least 5 days after the close of the accounting period. This will allow you to catch problems before they become crises and allow you to better manage your money. Business owners need to know what happens in their business every day. Flash reports daily can outline the happenings in the key points of the business and help prevent loss.

Tip # 8: Actual Costs Understand how much each product or service line actually costs. Don't sell products that lose money, if it is not profitable get rid of it.

Tip # 9: Do not Outsource Payroll Services Payroll services require that companies pay annual and item transaction fees, taking money out of the business. A payroll service also restricts your cash flow because you must fund the payroll checks a week in advance. There is software available to track and complete payroll in-house.

Tip # 10: Hire the Most Qualified Person Hire the most qualified person for the job, even if you have family members who would like to be involved in the business. Do not hire family members unless they are qualified for the job. It is very difficult for families to keep the personal stuff at home. Selecting only family members means you are choosing from a smaller pool of employees.

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Choosing a Payroll Accounting Vendor

Outsourcing your payroll accounting could be the ticket for success for your business. By allocating this department to qualified specialists your business can grow to greater lengths. These services range from computing wages to administering any necessary benefits. Start off with a list of services you are looking for and then start your research on which vendors are right for you. Some tips to consider when selecting a payroll vendor are as follows:

- Experienced vendors: It is imperative that the vendor you decide on is aware of the industry you are working in and any consequent knowledge.

- Reputation: Similar with experienced vendors, their reputation is also a key factor to keep in mind. Have fines been implemented on the company? How is their customer service? If you are going to choose this vendor, is this someone you can handle working with for a long period of time?

- Qualified: Have a strict criterion the vendor must meet.

- Educated: You want to know that these vendors are actually educated, know the common laws and practices, etc. to keep you from any potential financial troubles. These people will have access to your companies financial documents, thus knowing they are capable of performing successfully is key.

- Types of services: Depending on whether you are looking for industry-specific or general accounting services, your accounting vendor should be in compliance. There are many types of industry specific services provided by accounting vendors, ie. workman compensation, medical benefits/ savings, loss insurance, etc. Additional services typically provided by vendors include: time and labor management, human resource compliance services, trust account and accounting reconciliation services, employee self service, detailed reporting services, time off accrual services, direct deposit, tax filing, third-party check services, and household payroll services.

- Pricing: For the most part, those looking for an accounting payroll vendor are most likely trying to save money. In this case, it is important to evaluate all options in prices being offered. Although these services do come at a price, be sure to discuss rates and have everything in writing to prevent being cheated in the future.

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Is There Such a Thing As Easy Payroll Software?

Any company with at least one other employee should consider employee payroll software. However, many software programs and packages are difficult to use. Thus, you need to consider easy payroll software to make your life as a business owner easier.

Today we are in an age where computers, high technology gadgets, robots and games are famous not only for children but also for adults. Before computers are only used for office work, there are some children who play simple games on them.

But as years go by people behind high technology are improving and developing new things, we have a cellular phone which we could carry anywhere we go we can call our family or text our loved ones. They have also developed machinery that can help people on doing their work faster.

There are only few people, who are expert in computers even to those programs that are not user friendly, most people only has little knowledge about computers and is still discovering bits of information every day. That is why people prefer to use software programs that are easier to use or the one they call user friendly compared to the complicated ones.

Here are some tips and advice when finding for easy payroll software.

First you see if your company needs payroll software.

Then you decide if you want to buy payroll software or just hire a payroll service to do the job. The advantage of hiring a payroll service is you, just pay the service and they will be the one to manage your payroll, and the disadvantage is that you don't get to monitor it.

The advantage of buying your own payroll software and letting your employee do the payroll is you can save some cash and at the same time you can monitor it. The disadvantage will be if you have bought the wrong software.

It is also important that you know what kind of software you need in your company. When you already know then that is the time you'll shop around or ask your businessmen friends who has the same business you. Ask if they use it for their company and what is the software. Also ask their opinions and feedback about it.

When you have gathered some suggestions then look for that software on the net, if there's a trial version the try it. Read the customer or the software users feedback, by trying out a trial version and by reading feedback you'll also learn if that software is user friendly.

When you buy software, buy the user friendly ones so that you and your employees won't have a hard time finding out how it works.

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7 Important Things to Look Out For When Choosing a Payroll Software

Do you know that you can save lots of money when you buy a payroll software and bring your payroll in house? No matter what business you are running, you definitely need to keep a record of payrolls. There are so many things to record, such as taxes, direct deposits, bonuses, salaries of full-time employees, salaries of part-time employees, commissions of salesperson, and many more. Before a payroll service can help you, you must record all these information in-house and then send it to the payroll service provider.

If you have a payroll software to record the data and process it yourself, you can save cost and add more profits to your bottom line. You have already done the hard work. With payroll software, you do not need to outsource.

Getting the right payroll software is important. The last thing that you want to see is to spend more money to get a new one after a few months. Now, let me share with you a few tips to choose the right payroll software for your company:

1. The software must be able to handle all aspects of payroll reporting. The objective of the software is to simplify the payroll process and makes your operation more efficient. Therefore, you must get one that can handle many aspects of payroll reporting.

2. The software must be able to integrate into your accounting system. Your accounting system should work hand-in-hand with the payroll software. So make sure that you check with the supplier on this.

3. The software must be flexible to handle your specific needs. A flexible system will save you lots of hassles and make your business operations more efficient.

4. The supplier should provide either onsite training or online tutorials to teach you how to use the software. The program should also have tools that enable you to set it up easily.

5. The software should allow you to file tax return forms easily. This saves you a lot of time and makes e-filing as simple as ABC.

6. Make sure that your computer system can support the software. The software should be able to run on either Mac or Windows.

7. Choose a company that is reputable and experienced. You will not want to work with someone who is too new to the market. A more experienced company will be able to provide fast support anytime to solve your problems.

There are many options for you to choose from so take your time to do a research and find the right payroll software for your company.

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The Types of Business Payroll Software Out There

Payroll simply means the total sum of money to be paid to employees at a given time. It also includes the list of employee's names and the amount of their salaries or wages. This is one of the important things when you open up a business your employee's wages; you need to give to your employees the salaries they worked hard to earn.

Some company's may have discrepancies when it comes to their employee's wages, maybe because the boss has many things to think of. But you could always hire someone you trust that could handle that area so you don't need to worry about it.

Since we are in the computer era there is what they call payroll software, this software will help you make your payroll duties much easier and much faster to finish.

It is very useful especially on mathematical calculations that mostly people are having a hard time on. The software is programmed to solve equations for your payroll with accuracy. When you use the payroll software you also lower the human error such as calculating the numbers wrong or miss some of the numbers that are supposed to be added or subtracted to your employee's salary.

If you want to try the payroll software then here are some of the best payroll services you could choose from.

SurePayroll

QuickBooks

XpressPayroll

ADP (Automatic Data Processing)

PayCycle Inc.

PayUSA Inc.

Wells Fargo Business Payroll Services

Peachtree

E-chx Inc.

In buying or subscribing to payroll software's you need to know:

How much it cost will not only be your preference in purchasing the software.

You also need to consider the reputation and the experiences the company that sells this software has.

You also have to know or inquire if the company will represent you to the International Revenue Service if any issues arise.

You also have to check out the payroll software if it suits your company's needs; do you like the features or how the software works. The functions and if it is user friendly and is easy to operate.

Here are the important features which you should take into account when finding for payroll software.

Automatic tax calculations

Handling of federal forms

Check printing

Customization possibilities

Generation of business reports

Direct deposit capabilities

User friendly and convenience

Have technical support

You should take these tips into account when finding payroll programs, also searching and reading feedback from other users can also be helpful. Remember that affordable software that lacks important features is useless so better buy the expensive complete software than the cheap useless one.

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7 Tips on Outsourcing Payroll for Startups

Payroll processing can make you tear your hair out. It's one of the things that keep you awake at night. Outsourcing it can give you peace of mind. Here are 7 things to consider when you're outsourcing your payroll:

1. Rates - You want to know what it's going to cost for someone else to do the payroll for you and what it's costing you now. You want to have a good idea of what it can cost you if you make errors when you're doing it yourself and what it will cost you if the outsourced service makes an error (it should cost you nothing).

2. Experience - You want someone with startup experience and the challenges that are an everyday part of your business. What factors affect your payroll each time - Overtime? Changes in union contracts? Vacation? 1099s? Payroll is a stressful effort requiring knowledge and experience.

3. Questions - You want to work with someone who knows enough about your business to ask the right kinds of questions. The firm you decide to work with should have other clients in our industry. Your Account Manager should be clear about your needs and they should be available. You want someone local.

4. Answers - You definitely want someone who can explain things in terms you can understand. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles might not be in plain language. Ask them about Sarbanes Oxley and compliance. Can you figure out what they're saying in their explanation or does it sound like they're running for office?

5. Stability - You want a payroll service with a triple A credit rating. People will set up shop and be gone with your tax money in the blink of an eye. You want to feel confident that they will be around and that they can cover the costs of any errors they might make. You can't afford to take chances. Check their credit rating!

6. Resources - Your Account Manager should get around. They should be out there networking and making connections. When you're ready to look for another service to pick up some of the work and give you more time for your business, you should be able to look to your Account Manager for connections.

7. Taxes - Some payroll services don't take care of the tax services. If you're going to outsource a headache, don't keep part of it for yourself. Outsource the whole thing. Be sure you ask how they handle taxes. You want someone who keeps up to date on all of the IRS rulings. While you're at it, ask if they handle benefits.

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Outsourcing Payroll - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Payroll is an essential business practice - like sales or customer service. It can be difficult, detailed and complicated with its ever changing rules and regulations and the consequences of some mistakes can be much more serious than an employee's checks simply being wrong. Many mistakes can result in getting a very hard time, no, not from the employees, but from people you already don't want to know - the federal and state government enforcement types.

While pay services offer an attractive and valuable alternative to in-house processing, this is true only when chosen correctly and monitored by someone (like a professional freelance accountant or bookkeeper) who knows the basic compliance rules.

When a payroll company is chosen correctly, they provide a less expensive, simpler means of paying employees and filing the compliance tax returns each quarter, not to mention protecting you from the liability associated with preparing payments, it is important to remember:

THEY, the payroll provider, are responsible for calculating pay from the information provided to them and remitting your tax payments and filing your returns on a timely basis.

YOU, the user of the payroll service (freelance accountants, bookkeepers or business owner) are responsible for:

Knowing the basic rules of payroll and asking the provider the "right" questions about their services as it relates to your company. Bear in mind even if you ask the "right" questions the sales representative, who sets up your account and the customer service representative whom you deal with after your account has been set up, may not have the correct answers no matter how large or small the company! Here's an example of an incorrect set-up that ended up costing a client of mine almost one-hundred thousand dollars.

When we began working with a new client last year who has a unique, complicated payroll we uncovered that they were not making Medicare contributions. This company had been in business for several years and was using a rather well-known company to process their payroll. Not once during the set-up of this company or processing was the question ever raised by the payroll provider "that you are not contributing to Medicare". The payroll was just processed!

This oversight resulted in our client being out of compliance with the Federal government and when you are out of compliance for taxes you will go to jail. We helped our client to take immediate steps to rectify this issue and while everything has been resolved amicably with the government it should be known that the company who set-up and processed the payroll has taken no responsibility for this oversight. Needless to say, we have changed providers on behalf of our client.

Understanding exactly what services the payroll provider performs for you and how those services affect your cash flow. For example, does the service you select debit the entire net pay and taxes amount from your checking account or do these amounts clear individually on your bank account? Another client of mine thought that the payroll company was making the tax payments and filing the tax returns directly with the government. This was not the case and my client ended up paying penalties and interest.

Gathering and communicating the information needed to accurately calculate your payroll. This includes hours, new hire information, employee change information, properly classifying your employees as exempt, non-exempt, properly applying overtime rules, etc.

With payroll companies now providing an internet option for the convenience of processing, the burden of entering information accurately and correctly belongs with the business owner or the bookkeeper performing this task on their behalf. Mistakes can result in additional processing fees being charged.

Reviewing the processed payroll and reports for accuracy and completeness. Even though you have hired the company to process the payroll and they are the "experts", it is still your responsibility to have a basic knowledge of rules and regulations. I cannot tell you how many times our clients have communicated their new state unemployment contribution rate to their pay company and that information was not updated or federal unemployment taxes being taken out beyond the maximum limit of $7,000 or $56 per employee. Being knowledgeable always saves you money in the end.

Here are a few tips I have developed over the years that have helped me successfully manage payroll.

Obtain written authorization from your client to speak on their behalf to the provider directly. To make it simple, we write the letter for our clients and have them print it on their letterhead. All they have to do is print it on their letterhead, sign it and fax a copy to the provider and me. I keep a copy on file just in case the next time I speak with the payroll company they cannot locate my client's authorization. You'd be surprised how many times the provider loses the authorization letter!

Quarterly refresh you working knowledge of the basic compliance rules.

Develop a relationship with ONE payroll provider that you like working with and TRUST. My success has come in getting to know one sales person and asking to have one customer service representative who I can go to no matter which company my client works with to get good answers to my questions. I never force my clients to move to the payroll company I prefer, but once I gain their trust I do suggest that we move to my favorite because of my working relationship with them and usually can obtain better if not competitive pricing for my client.

If you process payroll on behalf of your client, standardize the format in which your client provides you the payroll information. This will eliminate the guess work.

Don't forget, even though your client is outsourcing their pay, the burden of the responsibility for accurate payroll compliance relies with the business not the payroll provider which is why they need you!

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Payroll Tax Penalties, When the IRS Sends a Letter

"Payroll Taxes are Due, with Penalties and Interest"

At least that is what the letter from the IRS says. First thing, don't panic. Quoting Daniel J. Pilla's study for the Cato Institute "About 40 percent of the revenues the IRS collects through penalty assessments are abated when citizens challenge the penalties."

So we now know the odds are good that the IRS is wrong or will blink first. What do we do?

The normal problems with payroll taxes are.

Failure to File.

Taxes under reported.

Taxes under deposited.

Taxes deposited late.

Any of these can create a situation where the services charges penalties and interest against a business and then sucks up subsequent tax deposits creating additional late and short payments simply exacerbating the situation. We will get to that later.

Read the notice from the IRS. It should tell you why they are charging a penalty and interest and how it is calculated. If the notice does not lay out that information, you have missed the first notice from the IRS. That is not at all unusual. If you don't have the first notice call the IRS and get all the information from them. Also ask them to fax you a "Statement of Account" for the period and type of tax in effect. This will show you what they have on the IRS file, without regard to whether it is correct or not.

Failure to file.

The IRS says you never filed a return and they have created a return for you. They will estimate taxes due in an amount they know exceeds what would be reasonably due based on your account. They do this to get your attention. Many people, if the estimated amount were too low, would just pay it. The IRS does not want that to happen so they always over estimate if they create a "Substitute Return" and file it for you.

The answer to that is to send a copy of the return. If you filed it certified mail send a copy of the receipt when it was sent proving the date and a copy of the return receipt showing it was received. One tip is never sending more than one return in an envelope. The clerk opening the envelope may staple them together and only the top return will ever be reported as being received. If you didn't send it certified in your accompanying letter talk about your history of filing on time and this one was surely just misrouted. If you have collateral proof of the filing date like a cancelled check that was sent with the return quote that information or even include copies. If the return was due on the 15th and the check attached cleared your bank on the 18th that is pretty convincing that the report was actually there by the 15th.

Taxes under reported.

Find out why they say that. Have they transposed a number when they hand entered the return? That happens with regularity. Have they just pulled a number out of their hat? That happens periodically. Once we received two notices for two different customers on the same day saying they had overpaid their 940 taxes and offering them each a refund of over $36,000.00 each. The total 940 tax deposits for the two clients combined were less than $2000.00. And no, I did not let them apply for and receive the checks.

Again send the IRS a copy of the return that you filed. If the return is wrong then send the IRS a corrected form such as a 941-C to correct the original filing. For instance, if you put second quarter figures on the third quarter report. There won't be a penalty for late filing if in fact you filed an original return on time even if it was incorrect. A tip is if you cannot prepare the actual return on time, estimate it and file it. Then file a corrected return when you can, this avoids a late filing fee.

Taxes under deposited.

They say you made fewer or smaller deposits than you reported. Check their list and dates of deposits against yours. Don't accept their word for when it was made. You have the proof in your files. We have noticed a real problem recently. EFTPS payments are not being shown with the date in the electronic file the same as on the "IRS Statement of Account." How some programmer messed that up is beyond me. So prepare the data showing your proof that the payments were made on time, bank deposit slips, EFTPS confirmations or whatever proof you have. Package up copies and send them to the IRS with a letter of explanation, and a request for them to update their records.

If in fact you missed a deposit, it happens, make it immediately and ask for abatement anyway. Site valid reasons why the deposit could have been inadvertently missed. Discuss steps you have taken to make sure it won't happen again.

Taxes deposited late.

See taxes under deposited and do the same thing with dates. Document and send letters. Don't give up. Just because the first person at the IRS turns you down literally means nothing. They almost always turn down the first request for abatement of a penalty. Dealing with the IRS is a long series of no's followed by a single yes. When you do get the yes, shut up and walk away.

One of the favorite tricks of the IRS involves a string of deposits. Let's say you were suppose to make 12 deposits of $1000.00 each the 15th of each month starting Feb 15 and ending Jan 15th for January through December. The second deposit is missing, and the check never got cashed. You don't know what happened. The IRS will take the third payment and apply it to the second month's taxes but it is late so they charge a penalty. Now the fourth month's deposit gets applied to the third month's taxes but it is also a month late so there is another late paying penalty. You will quickly have 10 late payment penalties and the 12th month penalized as not being paid at all. The penalties exceed the taxes missing. The service cannot due this though they will try. If you designate the third deposit for the third month taxes they must apply the payment there regardless. If they don't record them that way you can force them to do so, it is their regulations that say they must follow it. Accept the penalty only on the one month and then ask for abatement anyway. If you have never had a late payment the IRS is suppose to give you a free one anyway.

If you have a valid business reason that a penalty has occurred in spite of good due diligence on your part the IRS is suppose to abate the penalty. Understand that IRS employees may be gauged by how much revenue they bring in (the IRS vehemently denies this but ex IRS employees don't always). When that is true they don't want to abate penalties regardless. Another trick they have is to offer a reduced penalty as a favor, when in fact they should have zeroed it out. Or they will offer to abate penalties on two quarters if you pay the third. It is normally not a good idea to accept these offers. You can do better. Keep writing letters and filing documents at the higher and higher levels until one person gets reasonable and says yes. Then take that yes and run.

Can an ordinary citizen do this? Sure! Is it easier for a payroll tax professional? Sure! The IRS is far more likely to listen to a CPA than a citizen. The CPA knows what buttons to push and how to go to the next level. An ordinary citizen may not. The CPA is far less likely to get emotionally involved than the citizen whose pocket is being emptied.

Your payroll service provider should have CPAs on staff to handle these situations for you. If not, seriously consider a payroll service provider that does. Because when, not if, the IRS crews up your regular CPA will charge you full rate to solve problems that should be solved by your payroll provider for free.

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Payroll Software Programs to Make Life Easier and Reduce Payroll Hassles

Payroll software programs can save your company time, money and aggravation. You can make mistakes in business and not even notice. Make mistakes in payrolls and they will be noticed. Payrolls just keep coming, so there are so many chances to make errors and mistakes too. Getting everybody's check right is one thing. Getting all the required tax forms, deposits and payments right is another. It's not like all the regulations and government requirements stay the same either. It's a moving target. Check out these tips for choosing the right payroll system for your company.

Tip 1: Decide what you need.

Construction companies often need "certified" payrolls and job cost records too. Give careful thought to start about what you really need from a payroll system. You need enough computer power to get the job done. But more system than you need will cost you in extra costs for learning and training. Plan for your real needs.

Tip 2: Payroll should tie to your accounting system.

The last thing you want is payroll software that isn't compatible with your main accounting software. If you use one of the major software products like QuickBooks or Peachtree, the easiest route is to use the payroll module offered by your accounting software supplier. Otherwise, make sure exactly what

Tip 3: Make form filing easy.

Quarterly return and annual tax return deadlines just keep coming over and over. The right software puts the information to do those forms right at your fingerprints. Plus your software can generate the returns ready to go.

Tip 4: Decide on payment options.

Generating those payroll checks automatically is a huge plus. But there's more. You can offer your employees direct deposit with the right software and eliminate some paper work right there.

Tip 5: What about online?

Choose online payroll software and avoid the hassles of maintaining software. Here's another plus. Never again worry about keeping up with tax rate changes and regulation changes. That's what the online software people do. They keep up with all the changes and deadlines and let you worry about something else.

Payroll software programs should save time and money. If you've been using an outside payroll service, having your own software gives you back control and saves money too. Just make sure your system fits your needs and will blend with the software you already use. Another option to consider is online payroll. That's a way to avoid many of the hassles of keeping up with payroll and do it at a reasonable cost per month.

Tax Preperation Eeverett WA

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Helpful Tips When Buying Small Business Payroll Software

It is not essential for proprietors of small companies to utilize payroll software. However, those who don't use this software will face the drudgery of infinite calculating and routine tasks. Furthermore, because of federal and state government requirements and employees needs, these calculations must be precise.

Payroll programs are surprisingly easy to use! Some of the benefits of utilizing payroll software include increased efficiency and reduced expenses. A payroll system can be purchased and installed at an affordable rate, and you won't need to hire a bookkeeper or use a payroll service. These software packages are readily available. Even novices can quickly learn the system!

Small business payroll applications include an important, additional benefit that other payroll services don't offer-- because the data remains in your possession, your company manages who sees this private data. Privacy is not an option when using other payroll services; they acquire and view your data. In contrast, installing or downloading software--a one time expense--enables you to store your data and set up databases. This eliminates any risk of private data being altered or misrepresented.

Here are some considerations before you purchase a payroll software application: What are your needs? What features are necessary? What is your budget, and where is the software located at an affordable price? All inclusive payroll software packages are a credible solution to help your company manage payroll functions. Combined software packages are also available for those who need bookkeeping and payroll assistance.

The software that is suitable for your small company will precisely and efficiently calculate employee wages, social security, tax withholding and other deductions. Selecting a software package with the option of creating a tailor-made payroll system will help you streamline payroll.

In addition, in-house production of paychecks and pay statements from your desktop is yet another feature included in some programs. A significant feature you will want in your payroll software is the ability to produce and send important forms such as W2, form 941, and other tax documents.

It is vital to buy your software from a reputable business that will give you much needed technical support should you encounter problems with the software. Since tax laws change constantly, it would be wise to buy upgradeable software. A location to receive tax updates is also essential.

The right software will produce phenomenal results and will help you meet the demands of an ever-increasing business. Make an informed decision before purchasing your payroll software. Assessing your requirements, utilizing demonstration software, and investigating user evaluations will help keep buyer's remorse away!

Payroll Services Everett WA

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How to Avoid Payroll Tax Problems

Any small business owner can tell you about the payroll tax nightmare. Some financial set back keeps a business owner from being able to make their payroll taxes, and then the letter from the Internal Revenue Service arrives. Shortly thereafter, a Revenue Officer pays a visit, and it begins.

Most payroll tax problems stem from mistakes rather than dishonesty. The filing time to make your payment depends on the size of your company and can vary wildly from the very next day after payroll, to monthly or quarterly. If you miss by as little as a single day, the fines can be huge, and that is where a lot of small businesses get in trouble. Not only are they behind on the payroll taxes, but also the interest and penalties have started to accrue. The debt is growing exponentially.

Mistakes are becoming more common in dealing with payroll taxes because they are complex and always changing. Employers have to worry about collecting for Medicare and Social Security taxes that have sliding rates that seem to change with every new session of Congress. On top of that, Unemployment and Federal Withholding taxes must be collected, in addition to state and local taxes.

Faced with these mounting complexities, many companies are choosing to outsource payroll and therefore outsource the payroll taxes as well. While the company itself will be paying the taxes, all the bookkeeping and mind-bending detail is left to a payroll specialist who does this for a living.

When you outsource to a payroll services company, you want to be certain that you are, indeed, getting rid of the headache. You will want to be certain that the payroll services company maintains the liability for mistakes. You have to pay the tax, but you want to work with a company who will pay the fines if they are resultant of their mistakes.

Make sure that you have easy access to the payroll information kept by the payroll services company. It is your company records we are talking about, after all, so you should always have easy access and not have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get your own information.

Compare costs between payroll services companies and decide whom you will use based upon a combination of referrals and costs. You want a good value for your money, but it is also important that the company you use to handle payroll is competent and has a good reputation.

After finding a payroll services company in whom you have confidence, you can relax about the payroll taxes and get back to doing the business at hand.

As an employer of your own business, you need to collect and remit payroll taxes. Avoid disputes over payroll tax. There are certain precautions which will save you thousands. Chintamani Abhyankar provides useful advice.

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Helpful Tips To Consider Before Switching Your Payroll Software

If you're tired of the Human Resource Management provider that you're currently using, and are considering using a different payroll service, then consider these tips.

Wait Before You Cancel Your Old Payroll Service: Just in case something happens with your new payroll system. You would hate to not be able to pay your workers because you're still required to submit information before the new system will work.

When To Cancel: The best time to move your payroll service is either at the start of a new year or at least a new quarter if you cannot wait that long. The less you have to carry over to the new payroll system the better, and the smoother you can dump your old service for your shiny new one.(sounds a bit like high school, eh?)

Make It a Clean Break: You need to pay all your outstanding taxes and get any forms filed you need to because generally your new service provider will not take on the liabilities of your previous payroll service provider.

If You Don't Cancel at a New Year or Quarter: Keep all your payroll records before you switch for your new provider. They will need that information if you're changing services in the middle of the year.

Where Are They Located?: One important thing to consider is if you know where they are located at. If they are national you may not have the same benefits a local organization may have. If you're not doing direct deposit you may have problems getting checks mailed out to people if they are in a different state than your payroll service provider

How is Their Customer Service?: Always consider this option BEFORE you make the move. Don't be afraid to call their customer service line to make sure there are real people to assist your customers. While you may be saving on your costs not having an efficient customer service provider could cost you your business leads.

System Thresholds: If you're a larger corporation, and you change to a cheaper payroll service, make sure they can accommodate your business. If they can only support 50 employees, and your company supports 500 workers, you will be in trouble.

Last But Not Least: Make sure you only have one company at a time doing your year-end forms such as your W-2s. If you cancel your services from your previous payroll provider make sure they don't file a W-2 at the end of the year.

Please do your research when switching your payroll providers, and always make sure your new service can not only do what your old one could, but with more benefits or a cheaper cost at the same benefits. Make sure that the human resource management system you hire is a great fit for your company.

Bookkeeping Everett WA

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Tips for Outsourcing Your Business' Payroll Accounting

Does your business have their finances in flawless order? Very few companies are able to obtain this flawless financial state, but it is something that they strive to achieve. An action that can be taken to achieve that financial flawless stage is having a payroll service. Now this is probably leaving you with the question, what is payroll service? It is simple; it is a service that allows an employer to manage all the dues that are owed to the employee. The dues can be anything from; wages, compensation, mediclaim, social security, to any other that may apply that the company my have to owe the employee. Once everything is calculated up as a whole, it is then generated into a check or direct deposit to the employee.

Do you want your company to handle its work more efficiently? The answer to the question is simple; a payroll service can help you do just that. With this service it allows the owner to tackle others tasks that are more important to the company. Want to establish an account with a payroll service? If you are the owner of the company all you have to do is provide the list of your employees and their various work and hours. Then the payroll service does all calculations and paying the employees. The benefits of payroll service are cut and dry, meaning a business benefits no matter what just by using payroll service.

Now with having the facts and being convinced about the benefits of a payroll company, now know how to select the best payroll company for your business. One of the most important things that you need is to know what kind of resources you have available. One way to do this is to select payroll software that will help to; calculate payments to employees, send out checks, and file taxes. There is only one drawback of having the payroll software. That drawback is it will not do the function of direct deposit in the employee's name. To make sure that the accounting tasks of the software are done to perfection, it is required to hire someone with knowledge of the payroll software. Just like another software or program, you have to do periodic updates to ensure the software runs smoothly. Some other things that need to do to make sure your payroll software is running smoothly are; making sure customer support for the software works and installing a printer, just to name a few. One of the major factors as a business owner is having knowledge of the payroll laws.

If you have limited resources and time, outsourcing payroll duties is a great option. All you have to do is provide the needed information about your company and employees, to the outsourcing payroll service. Then they take care of all other company needs like; send out checks, tax payments, tax return filing, and taking care of year end forms. There is another option that can be consider and that is online payroll, this service can be altered to suite how your needs are.

Whichever option you decide to choose, just make sure that the payroll is maintain perfectly. By maintaining a perfect payroll, it will allow you to avoid many company hassles that can appear in the future.

Tax Help Everett WA

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Keeping Up To Date With Changes To Payroll Tax Laws

The typical American business comes in all types and sizes. In fact, one might argue that there is no such thing as a “typical” American business. The business community in this country consists of multinational corporations having tens of thousands of employees, countless small sole proprietors with just a single employee and virtually everything else in between. One thing that almost all of them have in common is that they must deal with the responsibility of paying employees and complying with numerous payroll related tax and regulatory obligations. This can be an especially burdensome task for small business owners. Larger companies can afford to have full time staff dedicated to managing payroll issues as well as keeping up to date with the frequently changing payroll laws. This is seldom the case for owners of much smaller companies. So exactly how does a small business owner go about maintaining compliance with the ever-changing state and federal wage and payroll related regulations? The following paragraphs will serve to illustrate the importance of keeping up to date with these rules, as well as discuss the best methods for businesses to go about remaining compliant.

Without a doubt one of the reasons that so many business owners have such a hard time dealing with payroll tax matters is because in addition to numerous deadlines for filing, the rules of the game can change often. Just a few examples of the changes to federal payroll guidelines made in recent years include:

Electronic Filing Requirements— New regulations were recently released that require certain corporations to electronically file their payroll taxes. Beginning in 2007, the electronic filing requirement will be expanded once again.

New Form for Nearly 950,000 Small Businesses— Beginning in 2006, certain employment tax filers will file the new Form 944 (Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return) once a year rather than filing Form 941 (Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return) four times a year.

Refund of Tax Penalties—Here is one that many business owners should actually like! If your business was assessed a penalty by the IRS for filing a late or inaccurate tax form, and if this was your first infraction, you could be entitled to a refund of that penalty if all of your forms and deposits are timely and accurate for the next full year.

Revised Employers Quarterly Federal Tax Return Document 941— The Internal Revenue Service unveiled a new version of the employment tax return Form 941. More than 23 million of these forms are filed annually by 6.6 million employers. The Form 941 is used to report wages, tips and other compensation paid, as well as Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes collected.

Standard Mileage Rates Increased—Many businesses pay a mileage allowance to their employees that reflects the allowable tax deductible mileage rate set forth by the IRS. The IRS has in the past adjusted the standard mileage rate during the year to reflect increases in the price of gasoline. For example, From Jan. 1 to Aug. 31 of 2005, the standard mileage rate for business use of a car, van, pick-up or panel truck was 40.5 cents a mile, compared to 37.5 cents a mile in 2004. Effective Sept. 1, the rate increased to 48.5 cents a mile.

How important is it for a business to stay up to date with payroll regulations? First, remember that there are literally thousands of wage and payroll related regulations set forth by the Internal Revenue Service alone. Then bear in mind that each state also has its own set of regulations for business owners to follow. Now consider that according to statistics form the IRS, more than 13,000 small businesses were audited in the year 2004 (this figure does not include larger corporations with more than $10 million in assets) and that the IRS brought in more than $41 billion dollars in total enforcement revenue during that same year (this figure includes enforcement revenue from both payroll and non-payroll related sources).

One way to make sure that a business follows the rules is to enlist the help of a professional who has experience in dealing with payroll matters. Most often, outside help will come in the form of either an accountant or a payroll service provider. Accountants will typically provide tax filing services and for a fee may advise clients on payroll related matters, even if the accountant is not the person actually producing the paychecks. Some accountants will produce the paychecks for a client as well, though not all will do this. The other option is to utilize the services of a payroll provider. A payroll company will typically handle all aspects of payroll, from weekly paychecks to filing the correct tax documents on time, making tax deposits to the IRS and to the proper state regulatory body, providing year end W2 statements to all employees, as well as direct depositing employee checks electronically. The cost of these services varies, but a typical rate might be in the range of $40 to $50 for each pay period for a small business with approximately 10-20 employees. The cost of payroll services will typically go up by $1-$2 for each additional employee.

Tax Preperation Eeverett WA

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Outsourcing Business Payroll Operations - Important Benefits and Tips

When a business grows there is significantly more work due to which the need to hire more people arises. In several countries, companies outsource key tasks like payroll services so that they get quality service and at the same time there are no challenges in the normal work management.

This is the major reason why some companies provide payroll services at much affordable prices. There are various advantages of hiring these payroll services; here are some of the major advantages of the same.

Cost Effective

Cost outsourcing payroll processing services is really a cost effective process and with less time and reasonable budget it is easy to manage the work force. Since this service is outsourced there is no need to fully manage things on its own. A very easy and convenient way to manage things and that too at low cost is only possible by outsourcing payroll processing services.

Accuracy

The chances of making mistakes in outsourced payroll services are very less and the chances of a win-win situation are very high. The main reason for this is the quality of software which is being hired. If everything goes well then there are chances that all things will fall in place.

Speed

The speed of these online payroll services which are usually outsourced are pretty good. The software which is hired is of such quality that in no time and effort it helps managing everything which is otherwise not possible. While the cost of purchasing this software is a bit expensive, however, the result that one gets is worth the price.

Trust

Trust is the best thing that one gets in outsourcing the payroll processing service. All employees of these companies are so well experienced that even if one of them is absent then the other person who is then assigned to do the task is so experienced that he will not commit any mistakes. This is the best thing about such companies that they have a proper backup plan and there are no chances of any mistakes.

This is the main reason why payroll processing services are outsourced. Outsourcing means less cost as there is no hassle of over work or repeated work. Therefore employees are more focused towards doing their work properly and thus the chances of making mistakes are very less.

Outsourcing such payroll services saves money as well as time. It is therefore suggested that a company that has payroll processing service outsourced saves good amount of time and resource. It is suggested that one must make use of this outsourced service and then enjoy the benefit of it.

Payroll Services Everett WA