3 Tips for a No-Stress Payroll Process
Whether you’re doing your own payroll work for the first time or you’ve been handling it for years, it remains a complicated process with a lot of moving parts. Sure, on the surface, handing out checks to your employees on a specific date each month might sound easy, but there’s a lot more to it than that.
Payroll processing involves a fair amount of knowledge specific to the wage laws and your local, state, and federal taxes. That has to be combined with knowledge of your company’s internal processes and whatever the most recent changes to each employee’s tax information are.
Feeling a little intimidated yet? Don’t be! Join us, today, as we bring you three expert tips for stress-free payroll management, perfect for your Deland office.
Extensive Documentation
Payroll is a paperwork-heavy process, and it’s best to get on top of that early on. Staying organized with extensive documentation, both on your side and the employee’s side will help to keep your operation on the rails. Make sure your employees have the correct paperwork when they start working, including:
* their federal W-4
* any and all state withholding forms, dependant on where you operate
* any and all local withholding forms, depending on your state’s requirements
* their form I-9
Keep in mind, your employees can request changes to their W-4s and other documentation at any time during the year. This has a direct impact on how much you’ll end up withholding from their paychecks.
Retaining Your Documents
Once you and your employees all have everything you need documented, it’s important to keep those records somewhere accessible for the appropriate amount of time. Whether it’s physical or digital documentation, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires you to keep your personnel records for a full year, and all payroll records for three years.
It’s recommended to keep Forms I-9s in a safe place, away from the rest of the employee’s records so that it can be pulled for inspection on request.
Maintain A Tax Date Calendar
One of the biggest challenges for many business owners is working their tax responsibilities into their yearly business operations. But it’s inescapable – you’ll need to file your taxes come year-end, no matter what. Income, social security, and medicare taxes – it’s all got to be there.
The best thing you can do for your payroll process is to maintain a consistent calendar of upcoming local and federal tax filing dates. You’re going to have income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes to report and deposit, throughout the year. With a large payroll, you’ll need to deposit payroll taxes based on a biweekly schedule. If you have a smaller payroll, the 15th of each month is your deposit date.
Add to that the federal unemployment tax due dates, with state and local taxes thrown in on top of that, and the whole issue becomes very complex. There’s a lot to factor in, so the important thing becomes scheduling and sticking to your schedule so nothing falls behind. In order to keep everything in order, a calendar with the most critical dates to your business is strongly recommended.
A Truly Stress-Free Payroll Process
Keeping your employees happy with on-time, errorless payroll services is an important part of employee retention. Moreover, it’s just good business. But payrolls are complicated, and if you wade in thinking you’ll just “wing it”, the process can catch up with you pretty quickly. That’s why you need a plan of action and a clear idea of the state and federal requirements when it comes to payroll and withholding taxes.
Looking for expert payroll administration to help you take care of your Deland employees? Vision HR offers expert solutions to help businesses manage their payroll process at an affordable price. Visit us, today, to find out more about our services and how we can help you.
