Small Business ADVISORY

Whether you process payroll manually or use a service, the time is right to reevaluate your payroll processes — as we enter the new year, the outsourcing options available to small businesses are better than ever.
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If you're like most small business owners, you long for the good old days.

Remember when you first started your business? Everything was about growing your business. But over time you got bogged down with tedious, time-consuming administrivia that prevents you from focusing on your core business. Instead of growing your business, you're suffocating under a pile of mind-numbing paperwork.

The worst culprit? Payroll.

Everything about payroll is a pain.

For starters, 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.

The Internal Revenue Service never forgets and is far less forgiving than employees. 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 fine of $845 for payroll errors. When you add it all up, that’s billions of dollars in fines.

Plus, there are new fines on the horizon that will penalize you if you don’t keep good payroll records. California just passed a new law that imposes a $750 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 penalties and the value of your time, processing payroll internally can be a very costly proposition. Even if you’ve already outsourced, there may be room for improvement.

If you’re tired of all the headaches associated with payroll, it may be time to take a look at outsourcing payroll. And, if you’ve already outsourced payroll, it’s worthwhile to consider whether you’re current 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.

Why Now?

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

What’s New in Payroll?

The Internet has greatly improved the process of outsourcing payroll. With many services such as SurePayroll you can enter and view payroll information from anywhere at anytime, as long as you have access to a Web browser.

Once you enter your payroll data, the service automatically calculates, deducts, pays and files all federal, state and local taxes. Paychecks can be printed on your laser printer or can be routed to your employees’ bank accounts via direct deposit. W-2s are automatically prepared at the end of the year.

The key benefit of online payroll is enhanced control. Traditionally, payroll providers required small business owners to call in payroll at a designated time, even if that meant having to leave an important meeting with a customer or an employee.

With an online service, payroll can be processed whenever it’s convenient.

Control also comes through the ability to modify payroll information in real time and view your payroll calculations instantly. With traditional “offline” payroll providers, the small business owners act through an intermediary – the payroll clerk – who enters the data. When mistakes are made, which frequently happens, the small business owner doesn’t know it until the checks arrive.

Finally, control is increased through the availability of reports that let you track and monitor your payroll. Employers have access to online payroll reports in real-time after logging into a secure web site. Similarly, employees can log in and access and print their payroll records, thus alleviating an administrative burden that frequently arises when employees need proof of payment history for loan applications and other purposes.

Beyond increased control, online payroll lets small business owners save time and money. It only takes a few minutes to process payroll online, so time is freed up for more important things, like getting a new customer or spending time with your family.

How do the new services save money? Because the new online payroll services don’t have the same cost structure as traditional payroll services, they can charge 30% to 50% less. Moreover, many payroll services guarantee that you won’t incur a payroll penalty, which can represent a considerable savings.

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.

Getting started with payroll outsourcing is easy enough. You can find the payroll service that’s right for you by searching on the Web or by asking your colleagues for a recommendation. In many cases, you can simply enroll online and get started immediately.

The bottomline? Making payroll is something that small businesses have to do, but the good news is that, from a process perspective, it’s getting much easier to “make” payroll. Switching to a new payroll service for the new year can alleviate pain and let you focus on what’s most important – growing your business with focus and attention, just like you used to do back in the good old days.

Michael Alter is a senior vice president at SurePayroll. His company offers a Web-based payroll service designed exclusively for small businesses. 877-954-SURE. www.surepayroll.com.

SIDEBAR: Time to Outsource Payroll?

When is the right time to outsource payroll? Here are some signs that you may be ready.

Processing payroll is taking up too much of your time, and you’d rather use that time to focus on other things.

You find it difficult to keep track of when you need to pay federal, state and local payroll taxes.

Your company has received payroll tax penalties for filing late or for other payroll errors.

You’ve made errors calculating payroll and have had to re-issue payroll checks.

You’re having trouble keeping up with changes in payroll tax rules and regulations.

Your employees have been asking for direct deposit and you’d like to grant their request.

You’ve been so busy that you forgot to issue payroll.

You’re anticipating growth in the next year that will involve hiring many new employees.

You’re planning on implementing a benefits program that will add a new level of complexity to your payroll deductions.

You don’t have good records or controls in place concerning employee vacation time and sick days.

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