Home » Outsource Bookeeping » Outsource Payroll

Outsource your payroll

Payroll Services Basics

Why deal with the hassle of processing your company's payroll in-house? A payroll service can provide a simple and convenient way to pay employees, file taxes, and perform other tasks. The payroll service also stays up to date on personnel changes, deadlines, and new tax laws. By outsourcing your company's payroll, you can save valuable time and resources and avoid costly mistakes.

Payroll providers' basic services include calculating paycheck and tax obligations for each employee, printing and delivering checks, and providing management reports. They can set paychecks up to be issued as often as you need — weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, semi-monthly, and even annually.

Additional payroll-related services that may carry separate fees include automatic check signatures, direct deposit, and handling of W-2s. Many services now offer tie-ins with 401k and Section 125 mutual fund plans, allowing employees to set up automatic deductions from their paychecks.

When searching for the right payroll service for your business, make sure they offer speedy turnaround times. Their work should be accurate and they should fix any errors immediately at their own expense. Also, find out if they provide an easy system for you to track and update employee information. Above all, the provider must offer top-level customer service to handle any concerns or questions you have.

Points to consider:

Payroll Services

Thinking about outsourcing payroll? Looking for payroll service reviews? Using a small business payroll service is a no-brainer. Whether you process payroll manually or use a payroll service, the time is right to reevaluate your payroll processes - as the new year approaches, small business payroll outsourcing options are better than ever.

Are you bogged down with tedious, time-consuming administrivia that prevents you from focusing on your core business? Instead of growing your business, are you suffocating under a pile of mind-numbing paperwork?

Join the club. Most small business owners wish they had more time to focus on growing their business. The solution to the problem is to outsource those things that take up your time but don't really help to grow the business. Outsourcing payroll is an easy one. If you're tired of all the headaches associated with payroll, it may be time to take a look at outsourcing payroll.

Processing payroll is a pain. If you process payroll yourself, you've got to keep track of payroll regulations and changes in withholding tables, a time-consuming task. Calculating the actual payroll amounts and deductions is equally tedious - it's very easy to make a mistake.

Then, there's the arduous chore of writing checks and making all the proper quarterly and end-of-year filings for federal, state, and local payroll taxes. It's not uncommon for small businesses to spend two to three hours processing each payroll if they do it manually.

Mistakes are costly. Employee morale dips when you give an employee a check or a W2 with errors - they quickly lose faith in management when that happens. They may forgive but they don't forget.

File late or with an incorrect amount and you'll have to pay a payroll penalty. Every year, four out of ten small businesses pay an average payroll fine of $845 for payroll errors. When you add it all up, that's billions of dollars in payroll fines.

Plus, there are other payroll fines that penalize you if you don't keep good payroll records. California passed a law that imposes a $750 payroll fine on small businesses that aren't able to quickly produce accurate payroll records upon an employee's request. Experts believe that many other states will follow with similar legislation.

When you consider these payroll penalties and the value of your time, processing payroll internally can be a very costly proposition. Even if you're already outsourcing payroll, there may be room for improvement. Payroll services change over time, and there are new payroll services that are worth checking out.

To be sure, if you've already outsourced payroll, it's worthwhile to consider whether you're current payroll service is giving you everything you want. Payroll service offerings today are better than ever, and now is the right time to be thinking about making a switch to a new payroll service.

When Should I Outsource Payroll?

The end of the year is the best time to sign up with a new payroll service. In fact, it's estimated that 60% to 70% of the small businesses that decide to outsource payroll each year do so effective January 1.

That's because you and your new payroll service provider start the new year with a clean slate. There's no payroll history to transfer over to the new payroll service. You can change payroll services after the new year starts, but it requires more paperwork. Now is the time that it is quick and easy to get started with a new payroll service.

Taking Control of Payroll

Outsourcing payroll is a no-brainer. It simply doesn't make sense to waste time, money and resources on a tedious task that is ancillary to your core business.