If your small business is just starting out, then chances are that you are either doing everything yourself, or you are sharing duties with just a few other people. At this stage everyone needs to be something of a jack-of-all-trades, but once your business grows to a certain size, you should consider outsourcing things like payroll in order to give yourself more time to focus on the things you are best at. In this article, our team at Goodson & Taylor CPAs will go over a few things that our small business payroll experts want you to know.
What Payroll Involves
Payroll involves, first and foremost, paying your employees their correct wages on a regular schedule. In addition, you will need to withhold the right amounts for federal and state income taxes, for insurance premiums, and for retirement plans. As you can see, there are a lot of numbers to crunch, and you can save yourself a lot of time and stress by turning these calculations over to experts who specialize in this kind of work.
What You Need to Set Up Small Business Payroll
In order to set up your small business payroll system, you will need the following information:
- Accurate pay rate information for each employee
- Each employee’s:
- Name
- Address
- Social Security Number
- Tax filing status
- And information on their deductions and contributions
- Your business’ legal name
- Your federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)
- The state tax withholding ID number
- The state unemployment ID number (SUI)
- Other local tax ID numbers
- And your state unemployment tax rates.