As a small business owner, you have a lot on your plate: inventory, hiring employees, customer relations, marketing, and more. Another big part of running a small business is payroll.
Payroll is the process in which companies pay their employees for the work they’ve done. While payroll is necessary, it’s not something you want to spend a lot of time on as a business owner. Luckily, there are ways you can get payroll help.
Check out this guide to learn how to get payroll help for your business.
Get All of Your Documents Together
In order to process payroll, there’s some information you need from each of your employees. First, you need to have your employees fill out a W-4 form.
A W-4 form allows employees to document their filing status, keep track of personal allowances, and claim dependants. The more dependents or allowances a worker has, the fewer payroll taxes are taken out of their paycheck for each pay period.
You also need to set each employee up with an employee identification number, also known as an EIN. An EIN is kind of like a social security number, and it helps the IRS identify your small business for tax purposes.
Figure Out a Pay Schedule and Salary Status
You also need to figure out how frequently you’re going to pay your employees. In addition to figuring out how often you pay your employees, you also need to figure out exactly when you’re going to pay them.
For example, you may decide to pay your employees every other week on Thursday at 4 pm. Or, you may decide to pay them every Monday at 2 pm. You also need to figure out whether you want to pay your employees an hourly rate or a salary.
Some companies choose to hire a combination of salary and hourly employees.
Decide On a Payroll System
Once you’ve done all of this, it’s time to set up a payroll system. While doing your payroll manually will help you save money, it can be a very time-consuming process.
If you’d still like some control of your payroll, you can purchase payroll software. Payroll software is an application that helps you organize, manage, and automate the employee payment process. This software tracks and maintains all payment records.
Payroll software helps you avoid costly mistakes, understand payroll methods, issue paystub receipts, and much more. Your third option is to outsource your payroll.
This involves hiring another person or company to handle your payroll for you. They’ll take care of everything from employment taxes to payroll taxes to tax deposits.
Are You Ready to Get Payroll Help?
Now that you know how to get payroll help, it’s time to get started. As we mentioned earlier, getting help with your payroll can give you more time to focus on your business.
Be sure to check back in with our blog for more ways to help your small business grow!
