Maybe you need to focus more on growing your business. Maybe your business has grown to the point where outsourcing certain responsibilities makes sense. Either way, you may want to outsource your payroll. Why?
First, you'll cut way back on paperwork—including the constant hassle of keeping up with tax regulations, filling out forms, and filing. Second, paying someone else to do these time-consuming tasks will free you up to focus on other responsibilities and goals.
But before you make the decision to outsource your payroll, ask yourself these questions:
- Where are you now? Start by assessing your current payroll process. Look at your practices, your employees, and existing costs in your organization. Can you identify strengths and weaknesses? This will give you a good starting point for discussions with potential payroll providers.
- What do you need? When you know what your weaknesses are, you know which processes, or which parts of your process, it would benefit you to outsource.
- Who can do it? Once you have defined your expectations of what you want and need your payroll provider to do, you can start searching for the vendor that best fits your criteria.
When you've narrowed the field, here are seven questions to ask each provider:
1. What services are included, and which are extra?
Some payroll service providers offer additional services beyond simple payroll and tax accounting. For example, at Complete Payroll Processing, we offer a number of human resources and employee benefits solutions.
2. Do you provide reports, and what information is included in them?
At the very least, your provider should be able to send you reports about your overall payroll stats. See what details can be included, such as total payouts, tax deductions or company co-pays.
3. Can you handle all different types of taxes?
One of the biggest benefits to hiring a payroll service provider is that they will process traditional state and federal income tax deductions. But if you have any employees that live out of state and telecommute, or if you're based in an area that has unusual or different tax regulations, be sure to make sure the vendor has the capability to handle those situations.
4. How will I report my payroll data, and will it be safe?
Most payroll processing companies will let you submit your information online, so you'll want to make sure their processing methods are secure.
5. What if I need to make changes after payroll is reported?
The provider should have a policy in place, such as a processing delay, to give their clients time to correct a mistake or make changes to already submitted data if necessary. Make sure to ask what that policy is.
6. Will I have an assigned account specialist or will I work with a new person each time?
Know whom you need to speak to and how to reach that person if and when you have questions. When it comes to payroll, you want to be able to resolve problems quickly.
7. How will checks be delivered, and what is the cost of delivery?
If checks are printed and sent in the mail, is postage included in your costs? Or if payments are direct-deposited electronically, will you be charged for this service?
Contact Complete Payroll Processing if you still have questions about how this works.
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