Photo by Tim van der Kuip

Originally Posted On: https://ngpayroll.com/how-does-payroll-processing-work/payroll-solutions-for-small-business/

 

Here is a list of the top questions people ask when considering outsourcing payroll to a third party.  Before deciding to change who you use for payroll processing, ensure that you select a company that fits your current needs and can grow with you in the future. A consumer can read over a provider’s website and still have questions they’d like to ask to know if they have indeed found the perfect fit for their business.

How does Payroll work?

Payroll companies transfer dollars out of businesses designated bank account and transfer funds to the appropriate parties. Employers are required to pay employee wages and withhold the proper amount of taxes form each employee check to pay local, state, and federal government. Also, companies must pay employment taxes at the state (sometimes local taxes) and national level in addition to filing quarterly tax reports. If you choose to outsource Payroll to a third party, they handle all those tax obligations on your behalf.

How do I pay my bill?

Billing occurs on the same day as a check date. So, payroll companies collect on invoices the same your employees get paid. If you pay your employees every Friday, then the payroll company will also charge you every Friday.

What is the best frequency to pay my employees? 

It’s up to the business owner to determine a payment schedule that best fits their business model. In general, employees are happiest receiving pay weekly. Having such a frequent pay cycle is often seen as an additional perk by employees. We see retail companies, construction companies, and skilled labor companies pay employees every week more frequently than other industries. The only downside to weekly payroll processing is that is costs more than the other pay frequencies.

Monthly payroll processing is commonly seen in by government agencies and the education field. It’s typically not preferred by employees since they have to wait so long to be paid. It can be a great budgeting tool since employees can pay all of their expenses at once and not have to think of any financial obligations for the rest of the month.

What’s the difference between Biweekly & Semi-monthly Payroll?

Bi-weekly payroll processing is the most common way that businesses pay employees. Direct deposit every other Friday is widespread and has 26 paycheck dates in the year. The payroll processing cost tends to be lower than the weekly Payroll since not as many fund transfers take place.

Semi-monthly Payroll works excellent for companies that pay commissions regularly and those that tend to have a lag in funds from a vendor or bureaucratic organization. We see a good number of 1st and 15th check dates as well as some different check dates like the 4th and 18th. This processing frequency occurs 24 times a year. Two times out of the year, employees will receive more wages than usual since there will be more working days in some months.

 What tax reports do you file? 

Businesses’ payroll liabilities include federal taxes, local taxes, and state taxes. The taxes your company is subject too is subject to where your business and employees reside (sometimes they are not in the same place). Additionally, each state has an unemployment insurance tax that payroll providers will fill every quarter on your behalf. Upon hiring a payroll provider, they will regularly file the following forms:

Form 940, Form 941, Form W-2, Form W-3, Form 1096 and Form 1099. 

Can payroll checks be delivered to my employees?

Employees can receive pay by an overnight check delivered from FedEx, a visa pay-card, direct deposit, or by in-house check printing through our payroll software. Overnight delivery typically cost around $16 per pay period.

Are there any hidden fees?

With our company, what you see is what we charge. We don’t charge quarterly fees or fees for processing payroll on a Thursday for a Friday check date. Unfortunately, we cannot say that all of our competitors. If you want to track paid time off or withhold funds to pay wage garnishments, you’ll likely have to pay extra with our competitors.

We include the following Payroll features a not additional cost in our payroll service:

-Wage garnishment service

-Paid Time Off, Vacation, Sick Pay, etc.

-Handle Unemployment Claims (Well even show you how to lower your unemployment Insurance tax rate)

What is the Onboarding Process?

Once we get you set up in our system, your implementation specialist will reach out to you to get your 1st payroll setup, which includes direct depots. They will carry over your payroll data from the current year (if any). We train companies on how to use our software and walk you through how to run Payroll as many times as you need. If you are busy, we understand. You can simply send us your hours and wages for Payroll via email, and we can process Payroll on your behalf.

What documents do I need to submit to get Payroll initiated?

Federal Tax ID (EIN Number)

State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) Tax ID

Voided Payroll Check

Completed Forms W-4 & I-9 for each employee

The current year’s wage history is necessary (if wages have paid))

How do I terminate services from a previously used payroll provider?

Check out the article that we wrote titled “How to switch payroll providers” for a full explanation.

How are wages and hour are submitted for Payroll

You have several options for running the Payroll. Do you want to be hands-on and input the hours yourself?  That’s not a problem. You want to call your payroll representative and report hours, that’s easy. Send us a list of hours and wages via email works well too. To simplify life, we can even set up Payroll to auto-run, and you don’t have to think about it at all.

 

Do I have to reach out to a call center for support?

We do not have a call center, and we do not have wait times to speak with your assigned payroll representative(s). You can also process and run Payroll on your own as well as enter itemized earnings like commission and bonuses. Additionally, you can enter itemized deductions, reimbursements, wage garnishments, and deduct employee benefits from an employee’s pay.

Can I assign restricted access to our payroll account to a manager? 

You want to restrict an employee’s access to wages and salary information; you can do that. You can assign a supervisor or manager to oversee and only enter the employee’s hours worked per pay period if you don’t want anyone looking at employee addresses and social security numbers, you can prevent them from doing so.

Can your payroll software integrate with QuickBooks Online?

Our software can interface with QuickBooks.We can instantaneously transmit the data to QuickBooks without you having to do anything. Pretty awesome, right?

Can your payroll software integrate with my POS (point-of-sale) System?

You can export the data from your POS system directly into Payroll, no problem at all. Our restaurant clients commonly use aloha as a POS system.

Do you have a timeclock system available to track my employee’s hours?

We sure do! If you would like employees to clock in and out of work at a central computer station, we can provide you the software to record hours right on the desktop. Additionally, we can provide you with a variety of biometric timekeeping systems. We can handle your employee scheduling.

If we have a time clock system, can we continue using it with your payroll system? 

Sure, That’s not a problem at all. We can sync the time to our payroll system in most cases. Rarely are we unable to sync a timeclock to our payroll system. Worst case scenario, you will have to export time clock data into our payroll software.

What HR Capabilities does your software have? 

Benefits Administration – Allow your employees to elect or decline benefits online with ease.

Talent Acquisition – We can help you sift through resumes online to identify the best-fit talent on a popular job board. If you need hands-on assistance sourcing and interviewing candidates, we can help you!

Onboarding – Get your new hires up to speed. Collect their I-9, W-4, and pertinent documents with ease. Enroll employees in training modules to get them up to speed as well.

Human Resources – Electronically file and store all your pertinent HR documents, performance reviews, and keep up with incident reports.

OSHA Injury and Illness Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements. We can automatically populate your OSHA 300 & 300A.

EEO-1 Report Filing (Automatically populated and ready for 1-click filing) for employers with 50+ employees

Visit Our HR Management Page to see what we offer in greater detail.

Should I consider the Cheap Payroll Provider?

If you make a list of payroll companies and put them in a comparison chart, you will find many of them have the functionality to get the basics done. The platforms that focus on providing the bare essential payroll features tend to list their prices online as apart of their marketing strategy, primarily attracting businesses with a smaller workforce, and some operate on a tight budget. Running a business on a budget is a problem, and the underlying cause of budget constraints is a lack of revenue. To kick start the growth of our small business client, we have offered growth strategies and marketing solutions that help take companies to new heights. You get what you pay for. If you spend a little, you receive little in return. We believe it is better to invest more resources into your business so that you can get a higher return on your investment.

Are The Bigger Payroll Companies Better?

The largest service providers offer software features that accommodate businesses with multiple departments, multiple locations, and they can scale with businesses as they reach hundreds to thousands of employees.

Not all payroll companies are equal because some just don’t mesh well with fitting a companies need. Cookie-cutter platforms are static, and unfortunately, they are not dynamic enough to be compatible with businesses needing custom payroll solutions. Check out the article we wrote about “why businesses change payroll” or “why payroll companies cost you money” to gain more in-depth insight on how to select the best company for your needs. Essentially, our payroll platform allows us to address the needs of companies with just a few employees to thousands of employees within one platform.

We Don’t Sell Products. We Build Relationships!

It’s not about us reaching a quota or sales goal; we don’t treat our clients like a number and move to the next acquisition. Also, we don’t think its right to subject our clients to long wait times for customer service. We put a lot of stock in showing our appreciation to our clients and the small business community. We even host community events just for the opportunity for our clients to interact with our staff on a more personal level. You’ll see us interacting with our clients each month at our networking events in Dallas.  

We Share The Entrepreneurial Spirit In Our Consultation

One critical distinction that we focus on is our experience. The consultants that are on our team own and operated their respective businesses, so we have some hand-on experience they can share with our clients. Our competitors do not hire sales representatives with experience running a business.  Payroll companies hire representatives to focus on selling software exclusively, and that summarizes what is important to them also.  We’d like to consider ourselves to be unique when comparing us to the payroll companies in Dallas. We go beyond Payroll to focus on propelling a business in the direction they way to go. Overall, our priority is to help our clients reach the next level of growth and success.

Competing with the most significant providers

Can we rival the top payroll providers in our industry? Absolutely, plus we provide unique out of the box solutions for our clients. Furthermore,  we are unmatched in our understanding of how to run a small business. We are happy to provide you with a payroll demonstration and share or company philosophy in greater detail. Feel free to contact us and let us answer any questions that you may have.