The best time to change payroll processing is at the beginning of the year. Therefore it’s time to look at your payroll processing and determine if it meets your needs.
The first question is, to determine if you want to be responsible for preparing your payroll returns and paying tax payments…
- I would suggest that only organizations with a full time Payroll or Hunan Resource specialist take on this responsibility since the fines and penalties can be substantial, if errors are made or deadlines missed.
The second question is, if you outsource your payroll, how do you choose a payroll processor or service?
- If you are a small business and do not use accounting software, check with your Tax Preparer to see who they recommend or if they provide this service.
- If your accounting software processes payroll ask if the accounting software company also offers full service payroll that will integrate with your software and post the payroll to your records saving you time and increasing efficiently, while handling the regulatory duties of filing payroll returns and making tax deposits.
- Many large software vendors now provide full service options such as Intuit and Sage.
- If you need job costing and/or you are billing customers for time it’s important to get a processor who will integrate with your accounting software. Keep in mind that the best integration will be provided by the publisher of your accounting software as mentioned above.
- If you need advanced Human Resources features you will probably be happier with a national payroll processor that has these options.
When making payroll decisions it’s always a good idea to check with your CPA and software consultant for additional information and insight on the issue.