ForumsManaging Employees and HR

Payroll is fairly easy. It would help to know more about you and your company.
How many people do you have on payroll?? Do you have an Accountant??
If you Google "payroll" you get ADP, H & R, Quickbooks and other payroll services for small businesses.

One of the major reasons the IRS does not have workshops on payroll preparation is that there are more than IRS regulations involved. You have IRS (Federal Requirements), State Regulations and maybe even local (County and/or City) requirements. The federal portion of payroll is not necessarily difficult if you understand payroll law. Yes, law. You need to check with someone local, ie an accountant or CPA, and ask them to teach you the payroll requirements in your area. If you just try to do something on the Internet or with the IRS, you might overlook a state or local issue and end up owing money. Remember, ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

The IRS has a "Virtual Small Business Tax Workshop" available on-line or on DVD that includes payroll taxes.

As DallasPayroll noted in a previous response, there's more to it than just the federal portion, so if you're seeking more detailed or specific training, you might try checking the continuing ed catalog of your local community college or university. You may have an accountant in your region who teaches a course there one evening a week, and it will only cost you a few dollars (if that -- in Texas, these courses are free to most Vets). Accountants and other professionals often teach continuing ed classes as a means of finding new small business clients -- so they are generally very helpful to someone just starting out. It's where I found my first accountant and my first attorney.

I work for a payroll company I can help you do your payroll. If you are still in need give me a call.
904-864-4909
LaTonya Nichols

We're a small S Corp ( in business for 7 years now!). I use www.paycycle.com for my payroll processing. I DO NOT want to have to keep up with the federal Social Security and Medicare rates, W-4 withholding adjustments, and various state taxes (withholding, unemployment, disability, etc.) That's Paycycle's job! They guarantee 100% accuracy. I selected to issue paychecks via direct deposit and only once a month (it's cheaper than having more frequent paydays). This payroll service also let's me include bonuses, and more importantly...S-Corp insurance. Do you know about this? I hope you do! This applies when the company pays for the medical premiums for anyone who has greater than a 2% ownership interest in the company. The premiums are taxable income (included on the W-2) to the employee/owner, but then there is a 50% deduction on the 1040. Your accountant will know about this.

Speaking of tax returns, you also have to issue the following forms on time: W-2 (including Copies A & D), 940, 941, and 944. The payroll service populates all the forms authomatically. I get a "to-do" note at sign-in to remind me to authorize the transmission of the forms to the IRS. I prepare our (currently) one state return myself because it's very easy. I could pay a little more and the service would do it, but I don't need that help right now with our current size.

They also give me a "to-do" note when it's time to pay the IRS the withheld taxes, and I trigger the payment in the system. It's not done automatically, but it's just two or three clicks of my mouse. Some payroll services (like ADP) will do it automatically if you don't want that responsibility.

So, for a few hundred dollars a year, they pretty much handle it all, and accurately and on time. That's why we chose to go with a payroll service.

The IRS advertises some available services but doesn't necessarily provide the instructors. Go to http://www.irs.gov/ and "Businesses" along the top row of button. Down the left side you'll see two items of interest:

"Small Business Events" - the IRS hase some topics on dvd, streaming video, webinars, and phone forums. Further down the list are all the states. Click on yours and see what's offered for small business tax workshops. In NJ, for example, the sessions are provided by SCORE or the NJ Small Business Development Center. If you haven't contacted SCORE yet, do it now! They're national and most of their services are FREE! http://www.score.org/

"Employment Taxes" - has everything you'll need to know about federal employment taxes. Now look to the left column and in the section titled "Small Business/Self-Employed Topics", click on "State Links". Now find your state. Here you'll find the connections to your state's taxing authority and you can find out about state employment taxes. (If a link is broken, just Google "(STATE_) Division of Taxation_". Even if your state does not have a personal income tax, there are other payroll-related taxes and insurance (like workers comp or other business tax), that you'll need to address. There are just 9 states that do not have a broad-based personal income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. However, they usually have some other tax, like Florida's "intangibles" tax (i.e., on your savings, investments, etc. They're pretty smart...they don't tax the workers heavily, but with so many retirees living in Florida, the big fat retirement accounts/investments get taxed. OK, so it's less than 1%, but you get the idea.) There is also a link on the left for "Partners and Stakeholders". The 3rd link down is "Payroll and Practitioner Partners", which has more payroll information. There's so much information for a small business out there (cyberland), just start looking!

If you are using a CPA for your taxes, I'm sure he/she would be happy to get you started on the right foot if you want to handle it yourself. It will make their life a lot easier come tax time! However, you have to be sure you will know what taxes to withhold from the employee's payroll, what the company is responsible for paying itself, and how/when to file and turn over both pots of money to the IRS and the state. For example of having to keep up with tax changes, NJ is starting a new Paid Family Leave tax effective 1/1/09. It is assessed on EVERY employee's wages, regardless of how many employees are in the company. Predating this is the Federal law that entitles workers to 12 weeks of family leave, but it is unpaid and employers with fewer than 50 employees are exempt. While the new paid family leave bill covers all employers, those with fewer than 50 employees are not required to hold open jobs for workers on paid leave. So, my advice is to check with your state and stay current! Using a payroll service relieves you from having to keep current, but you'll need to know your tax liabilities when you do your budgeting and other financial projections. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it!

I hope you didn't find this too taxing! VBG