Paying Employees – What are My Options?
When it comes to owning a business, payroll set up and management of it can be a struggle. Between hiring new employees, meeting payment deadlines, and filing tax forms, it can be daunting to start ups and experienced business alike. One of the best ways to make payroll more manageable is to find a payroll processor that works for your business.
Option One – Hire an in-house bookkeeper and process payroll in your office.
This can be helpful if you have hand-written time sheets that get entered for customer billing or if you need to adjust payroll after the hours have been submitted. If you process payroll in-house, you can find a user-friendly payroll application to help you calculate tax amounts, process tax payments and file forms. If choosing this option, you would retain responsibility for meeting payroll tax deadlines and filing tax forms including W-2s.
Option Two – which we highly recommend to our clients, is to use a third-party payroll processor like PayChex or ADP.
Third-party payroll companies can manage all facets of payroll, from processing paychecks to paying and filing your payroll taxes on your behalf. Many even take responsibility for the accuracy of your payroll tax payments and forms, which removes the stress of deadlines and late fees. Third-party options can also be customized to fit your business needs. An example would be QuickBooks Payroll, which is a hybrid option that allows you to process your own payroll each pay period while they handle all tax payments and forms.
The best option will depend on your business and your in-house bookkeeping team. For assistance finding a payroll service or to access our remote bookkeeping services, reach out to our RAD team in Williston (802.878.1963) or Rutland (802.775.7132).
Written by Ashlie Hall, Bookkeeper, RAD