Making sure your employees get their W2s or 1099s can cause your hair to go gray and fall out. Here are some helpful tips to make sure everything goes smoothly.
1) Make sure employee information is current and up to date. These easiest way to do this is have an employee fill out a new W4 every time his or her information changes. This will greatly reduce errors, reprinting W2, lost W2s that where mailed, etc.
2) Have a list of employees who has a W2. When they pick up their W2, have them verify the information is correct (most importantly their SSN), and sign next to their name. This will also reduce further errors, reprints, etc as well as employees complaining they never received their W2.
3) If you have to mail W2s to employees, notate when you mailed them and which ones where mailed on your list from #2.
4) If any return, keep them in their original envelope with the date stamp and return information from the post office. YOU MUST KEEPS THESE FOR FOUR YEARS. If an employee picks up their W2, make a copy of the envelope and notate when the picked up the W2. If the employee request that you mail their W2, photocopy the original envelope and notate when and where you mailed the W2.
These tips will keep you from forgetting who has their W2, who hasn't, and what ever happened to that W2. These tips will also give you the burden of proof when an employee says you never gave them their W2.
At Total Payroll Solution, we are diligent about getting correct and updated information on your employees. We also know keeping up with W2s and other forms can become a hassle. That's why we send you a PDF of all your forms as well as retaining them in our files. THIS IS ALL AT NO EXTRA COST.
Call us at 765-288-PAID or visit us on the web at TPSPAYROLL.COM for more information and a price quote. No fee for W2 processing, PDF copy, and filing are just one of the many ways we can save your business in payroll expenses.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Payroll Made Easy
I hear commercials all the time for a payroll processor that "only taxes seconds" to run payroll. Here is what they are not telling you.
1) You are paying them for your work. Add up all the seconds of entering payroll, printing checks, entering data into your books, keeping up with paying taxes, filing forms, etc. Sounds like you are still doing payroll yourself.
2) YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for accuracy and timely tax payments and filings. They may send you reminders if you set it up that way, but, ultimately, it is one your head.
3) If you have an issue with the IRS or other tax agencies, you have to spend the hours on the phone waiting for them to answer your call, making sure you have all the right information and authority to speak with them, knowing what is wrong, what needs to be fixed, doing the fix, sending in the fix, and keeping up with the problem to make sure it gets resolved properly.
4) You have to make your payroll fit their design. You know the old saying, "trying to stick a square peg in a round hole"? If you have special circumstances, special reports, customization to your needs, etc, you are out of luck unless you spend time manipulating the reports they give you.
5) Customer service, you wait in line, finally speaking to a first line of operators who take 10 minutes before passing you to a colleague to help you. Then it is can they help you, how long, how much will you have to do, and how much are they going to charge you?
6) Bombardment with additional services and products.
These are just some of the things we hear from customers looking for somewhere else to go or what we have found in our research. I am not trying to "bad mouth" this company, but I just want everybody to know what they are not telling you.
In the book "QuickBooks 2007 for Dummies" by Stephen L. Nelson, published by Wiley Publishing, Inc, page 18 and 19 talk about why companies should strongly consider outsourcing their payroll. Simplicity, Liability, and confidentiality of pay rates and raises.
With our payroll give us your hours and that is all.
-We take of the rest. We can even set up an import file to work with your books. How long does it take to send an email and import a file into QuickBooks? That is how long your payroll processing truly is.
-We guarantee payroll accuracy and timely tax payments and filings or we will pay the penalty and interest.
-We do not have you call and wait through several levels of customer service, remembering issue numbers assign to your case.
-Our logo is "PAYROLL TAILORED TO YOUR NEEDS". We will do everything possible to get the payroll how you want it and the reports to how you need them.
-We make the calls to the tax agencies for you and to everything we can to get the payroll tax issues resolved for you.
-We do payroll processing only. We will not try and sell you other services or products. If you need them and ask us, we have preferred providers that we will put in contact with you. You do not have to go with are preferred providers. They are separate from TPS and we do not receive anything in compensation for you doing business with them.
Let us process your payroll and so you can avoid the burdens of running payroll and not have to be completely liable yourself. Give us a call at 765-288-PAID or visit us online at www.tpspayroll.com. We do process payrolls nationwide.
1) You are paying them for your work. Add up all the seconds of entering payroll, printing checks, entering data into your books, keeping up with paying taxes, filing forms, etc. Sounds like you are still doing payroll yourself.
2) YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for accuracy and timely tax payments and filings. They may send you reminders if you set it up that way, but, ultimately, it is one your head.
3) If you have an issue with the IRS or other tax agencies, you have to spend the hours on the phone waiting for them to answer your call, making sure you have all the right information and authority to speak with them, knowing what is wrong, what needs to be fixed, doing the fix, sending in the fix, and keeping up with the problem to make sure it gets resolved properly.
4) You have to make your payroll fit their design. You know the old saying, "trying to stick a square peg in a round hole"? If you have special circumstances, special reports, customization to your needs, etc, you are out of luck unless you spend time manipulating the reports they give you.
5) Customer service, you wait in line, finally speaking to a first line of operators who take 10 minutes before passing you to a colleague to help you. Then it is can they help you, how long, how much will you have to do, and how much are they going to charge you?
6) Bombardment with additional services and products.
These are just some of the things we hear from customers looking for somewhere else to go or what we have found in our research. I am not trying to "bad mouth" this company, but I just want everybody to know what they are not telling you.
In the book "QuickBooks 2007 for Dummies" by Stephen L. Nelson, published by Wiley Publishing, Inc, page 18 and 19 talk about why companies should strongly consider outsourcing their payroll. Simplicity, Liability, and confidentiality of pay rates and raises.
With our payroll give us your hours and that is all.
-We take of the rest. We can even set up an import file to work with your books. How long does it take to send an email and import a file into QuickBooks? That is how long your payroll processing truly is.
-We guarantee payroll accuracy and timely tax payments and filings or we will pay the penalty and interest.
-We do not have you call and wait through several levels of customer service, remembering issue numbers assign to your case.
-Our logo is "PAYROLL TAILORED TO YOUR NEEDS". We will do everything possible to get the payroll how you want it and the reports to how you need them.
-We make the calls to the tax agencies for you and to everything we can to get the payroll tax issues resolved for you.
-We do payroll processing only. We will not try and sell you other services or products. If you need them and ask us, we have preferred providers that we will put in contact with you. You do not have to go with are preferred providers. They are separate from TPS and we do not receive anything in compensation for you doing business with them.
Let us process your payroll and so you can avoid the burdens of running payroll and not have to be completely liable yourself. Give us a call at 765-288-PAID or visit us online at www.tpspayroll.com. We do process payrolls nationwide.
New FIT tax brackets
With the employee's Social Security Tax rate decreasing, many have seen there net pay go down instead of up. What happened? The IRS released new tax brackets for 2011. Some may have been on the cuff of tax brackets in 2010 and found themselves bumped up to the next tax bracket this year.
The IRS publishes the new information every year in what is known as PUB 15. Pages 35 give you the allowance deductions. For every allowance, you multiple the amount according to your pay schedule. This is what is deducted from your taxable wages, giving you the taxable wages for Federal Withholding. On pages 36-37 are the tax charts, and page 38 and on are easy reference tables to quickly find the estimated taxes.
Example: employee is single with two allowance and gets paid $400.00 biweekly with no pretax deductions.
Gross taxable wages = 513.75
142.31 X 2 = 284.62
FIT taxable wages = 229.13
This puts the employee in the 10% tax bracket
229.13-81.00 = 148.13
148.13 x 10% = 14.81
Or...on page 42 of the Pub 15, the estimate tax would be $14.00.
However, this same employee last year would of had to more than 233.00 in FIT taxable wages for any FIT to be withheld. Last year the employee would have paid 31.85 in SS, but would pay 21.58 this year. When you add the $14.00 of FIT, you come out paying 3.73 extra in taxes.
Confused? Let us worry about the tax charts, calculations, etc. We do all the hard work and guarantee accuracy or we will pay the penalties. For more information and payroll processing quote, please call 765-288-PAID, or visit us on the web at www.tpspayroll.com.
The IRS publishes the new information every year in what is known as PUB 15. Pages 35 give you the allowance deductions. For every allowance, you multiple the amount according to your pay schedule. This is what is deducted from your taxable wages, giving you the taxable wages for Federal Withholding. On pages 36-37 are the tax charts, and page 38 and on are easy reference tables to quickly find the estimated taxes.
Example: employee is single with two allowance and gets paid $400.00 biweekly with no pretax deductions.
Gross taxable wages = 513.75
142.31 X 2 = 284.62
FIT taxable wages = 229.13
This puts the employee in the 10% tax bracket
229.13-81.00 = 148.13
148.13 x 10% = 14.81
Or...on page 42 of the Pub 15, the estimate tax would be $14.00.
However, this same employee last year would of had to more than 233.00 in FIT taxable wages for any FIT to be withheld. Last year the employee would have paid 31.85 in SS, but would pay 21.58 this year. When you add the $14.00 of FIT, you come out paying 3.73 extra in taxes.
Confused? Let us worry about the tax charts, calculations, etc. We do all the hard work and guarantee accuracy or we will pay the penalties. For more information and payroll processing quote, please call 765-288-PAID, or visit us on the web at www.tpspayroll.com.
IN SUTA
I was hoping unemployment wouldn't be extended another year. Once again, we were getting to the end of the benefit period, employers were getting ready to hirer, and now...these people cannot be found.
What is even more devastating to our economy, is the effect all of this extended unemployment has on companies. In December, a notice was sent out to employers and payroll processors. SUTA raised its base rate from 7000 to 9500, and most clients saw their SUI rate double.
Now IN DWD needed to borrow money from FUTA to pay unemployment two years ago. In the details of that arrangement was that it needed to be paid back by November of the second year of the loan. Indiana hasn't and now FUTA is reducing the credit given to Indiana businesses for paying into SUTA. Therefore, instead of paying .8%, they have to pay 1.1%. Every year after, the rate would keep going up .3% until the loan was paid off and SUTA becomes "stable" once again.
The notice sent out about this was very confusing to many. It sounded the rate of 1.1% would begin in Jan 2011. However, the .3% "credit reduction" applies to the 940 due in Jan 2011...for the year 2010.
This means an extra $21 per person that was paid 7000 or more last year for FUTA. If a company's rate was 2.7 last year and it doubled, that means that company is paying and extra $324 per person that makes 9500 or more this year. If IN DWD fails to pay the FUTA loan off by the end of this year, that company would be paying an extra $366 per person over last year.
$366 may not sound like a lot, but that would be one person's weekly pay at 9.15 an hour. Most small businesses cannot afford this with the struggling economy. With 10 employees, this means 3600.00, or a part time employee they cannot hirer or must fire.
Larger businesses (whose SUTA rate is probably even higher) of 1200 employees, means 36,600.00. That means they are not able to hirer a new person, or they half to let go of one or two employees.
I wish good luck to all businesses out there. We may not be able to save a small company of 10 $3660 dollars a year, but we might be able to help you reduce your payroll expense. We guarantee to save you at least 25% from your total yearly cost from your current payroll processing company. For more information and payroll processing quote, give us a call at 765-288-PAID or visit us online at www.tpspayoll.com.
What is even more devastating to our economy, is the effect all of this extended unemployment has on companies. In December, a notice was sent out to employers and payroll processors. SUTA raised its base rate from 7000 to 9500, and most clients saw their SUI rate double.
Now IN DWD needed to borrow money from FUTA to pay unemployment two years ago. In the details of that arrangement was that it needed to be paid back by November of the second year of the loan. Indiana hasn't and now FUTA is reducing the credit given to Indiana businesses for paying into SUTA. Therefore, instead of paying .8%, they have to pay 1.1%. Every year after, the rate would keep going up .3% until the loan was paid off and SUTA becomes "stable" once again.
The notice sent out about this was very confusing to many. It sounded the rate of 1.1% would begin in Jan 2011. However, the .3% "credit reduction" applies to the 940 due in Jan 2011...for the year 2010.
This means an extra $21 per person that was paid 7000 or more last year for FUTA. If a company's rate was 2.7 last year and it doubled, that means that company is paying and extra $324 per person that makes 9500 or more this year. If IN DWD fails to pay the FUTA loan off by the end of this year, that company would be paying an extra $366 per person over last year.
$366 may not sound like a lot, but that would be one person's weekly pay at 9.15 an hour. Most small businesses cannot afford this with the struggling economy. With 10 employees, this means 3600.00, or a part time employee they cannot hirer or must fire.
Larger businesses (whose SUTA rate is probably even higher) of 1200 employees, means 36,600.00. That means they are not able to hirer a new person, or they half to let go of one or two employees.
I wish good luck to all businesses out there. We may not be able to save a small company of 10 $3660 dollars a year, but we might be able to help you reduce your payroll expense. We guarantee to save you at least 25% from your total yearly cost from your current payroll processing company. For more information and payroll processing quote, give us a call at 765-288-PAID or visit us online at www.tpspayoll.com.
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