Outsourcing: Payroll Services

By Charles Read

Why outsource your payroll?

There was a time that a business payroll was handing out cash at the end of the day. That time is long gone. Payroll, payroll record keeping, payroll tax reporting has become both complex and full of traps for the unwary or uneducated. The process can be very time consuming and expensive. By using payroll services you are avoiding risks and taking advantage of all the advances in technology to save time and money.

Save Time

Using a payroll service provider will save you time.

Your payroll service provider will process the entire payroll and if you use a paperless payroll solution all net pays will be distributed electronically. No longer will you have to waste time and money distributing checks and payroll payment vouchers Your unbanked employees will no longer have to pay exorbitant fees just to cash their paycheck. No longer will employees have to run to the bank to deposit or cash their paycheck and get stuck in long lines. No longer will you feel obligated to cash checks for your employees. No longer will you have to reissue checks that are lost or run through the washing machine.

Your payroll service provider will complete and file all payroll tax forms with all government entities you have to report to. Not only will your payroll service provider do all this they will guarantee that it is done correctly.

Your payroll service provider solution will provide all employees with payroll payment vouchers.

Save Money

Some business owners don't realize the true cost of doing payroll in house. They don't add up all the hours that are spent on various aspects of payroll and related activities that a payroll service provider would take care of. Some of the saving in money takes place because of the following:

Your payroll service provider guarantees accuracy on calculating and filing your payroll tax reports and payroll tax deposits and will pay any penalties or interest charged to you through his error.

You will never have to pay for a software upgrade or for new tax tables your payroll service provider should provides all of that as part of his payroll services

You will never have to pay to get a Form W-2 reprinted for an employee who lost or did not receive their Form W-2 because your payroll service provider posts them on a secured and password protected server for your employees to view and print them.

Your payroll service provider utilizing a paperless payroll solution will distribute all net pays to every employee electronically. No lost checks to replace. No cost of delivery of checks or payroll payment vouchers. No shipping checks to employees in other locales.

Your payroll service provider utilizing a paperless payroll solution will send you all reports electronically, no delivery fees. No storage costs for old reports or costs to finally destroy them.

There are numerous other places, some of which you probably have already thought of, where time and money can be saved by outsourcing. Why doesn't every one outsource payroll then? Here are a few reasons why people don't outsource payroll and answers to their concerns.

Q: Cost

A: The cost is a lot less than most people think, check out payroll pricing. It is a lower cost than the cost of people, software, hardware, security and systems, training, forms, accounting fees, penalties, answering IRS inquires, etc. necessary to do a professional job in-house.

Q: Loss of control

A: Actually your level of control increases. You have time to review. You have complete reports that are secure from prying eyes. You have payroll service professionals, sometimes CPA's, to answer questions and help you avoid pitfalls you don't even know exist.

Q: My payroll is unique

A: It may have unique aspects, some payrolls do. Payroll service providers are use to that and have very sophisticated software that can handle almost anything. In fact a payroll processor is more likely to have software to handle unique circumstances than the average small business.

By  business-man.biz