Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly turning to professional employee organizations (PEOs) to handle their payroll administration. It’s not difficult to see why. Payroll administration is a time-consuming, complex and often tedious task that can pull your talented team away from your core business. Six of the most burdensome payroll-related tasks include IRS-compliance, direct deposit, check printing, payroll software upgrades, time-and-attendance bookkeeping, payroll adjustments, and special reporting requirements. Below we take a closer look at how a PEO can handle each of these six payroll administration tasks for you.
Meeting IRS payroll requirements
Small and medium-sized businesses often complain that payroll-related mistakes are costing them hundreds, even thousands, of dollars annually in IRS penalties. When a PEO performs payroll on your behalf, you have professionals in charge of every aspect of the payroll process to ensure that you will meet all your IRS requirements, penalty-free.
Handling direct deposit
Increasingly, employees are asking their companies to pay them through direct deposit. This saves your employees the task of having to go to the bank and wait for their check to process. It also saves your business the hassle and overhead associated with paycheck-handling. A PEO will handle your direct deposits automatically, making life easier for you and your team.
Performing on-site check printing
Although direct deposit is quickly emerging as the new standard, there are still many times when printing a paycheck on-site is preferable, or even necessary. A PEO worth its salt will offer on-site check printing as part of its suite of services, and you will no longer have to struggle with printing paychecks again.
Purchasing and updating payroll software
In order to properly and efficiently handle payroll in 2017, businesses require robust payroll software capable of handling direct deposits, tax records, timekeeping, complex reporting and so on. This is a significant upfront expense, and the costs increase with each necessary upgrade. To further complicate the matter, you need to worry about keeping all of your payroll data 100% secure and your software 100% up-to-date. With an experienced PEO, however, the expense of payroll software, along with all of the concerns that come with payroll data, is outsourced to professional payroll experts.
Maintaining time and attendance records
Don’t let the maze of time and attendance bookkeeping get you down. You don’t need to master all the ins and outs of this demanding area of payroll administration on your own. Put your trust in a seasoned PEO that will have the experience and the advanced software to handle even the most complex scheduling and time-keeping demands without a hitch.
Performing complex payroll adjustments
Handling deductions and wage garnishments is best left to the payroll professionals. Let an experienced PEO take over these tedious tasks so that you can get back to your business.
Generating special reports: job costing and certified payroll
In the context of payroll, job costing is a method for associating employee work hours and labor costs with specific jobs. Certified payroll, on the other hand, applies to construction projects funded by the government and is a government-required payroll report. Needless to say, job costing and certified payroll reports are special cases that require a great deal of expertise. When shopping around for the perfect PEO, always look for one that doesn’t have hidden fees for these special payroll reporting services.
Outsourcing payroll to a PEO: a smart move
Outsourcing payroll to a PEO is becoming an increasingly preferred solution for small and medium-sized businesses. With the considerations above taken into account, it’s not difficult to see why. We’ve looked at six of the most demanding payroll-related tasks that PEOs can unburden from your business, including meeting IRS requirements, offering direct deposit, handling on-site paycheck printing, performing payroll software upgrades, handling time-and-attendance bookkeeping, automating payroll adjustments, and meeting special reporting requirements.
If you want to get started with a PEO that provides all of the above and more, contact Harbor America for a free consultation.