Payroll.  If you’re on one, great.  You’re on the receiving end of pay.

But if you are responsible for payroll, you are the one who gets to make sure – or actually does—dole out the bucks to those you employ.

Seems simple enough. Yet, like most activities in business beyond your core business, it might not be in your skill set to deal with all of the things associated with paying your employees.

So what exactly is payroll? It’s really a process, usually handled by the human resources folks in a company in concert with accounting or finance departments.  And it involves:

  • Having employees fill out W-4 forms.
  • Finding or assigning Employee Identification Numbers.
  • Setting up a payroll schedule.
  • Calculating and withholding income taxes.
  • Paying payroll taxes.
  • Calculating and including deductions and reimbursements.
  • Filing tax forms.
  • Issuing W-2s to employees (or 1099 forms to contractors).
  • Paying your employees and contractors.

Contracting with an outside company (like TFO Solutions) can make life far easier by streamlining the process—you deliver the hours to the payroll company and the do all of the paperwork and heavy lifting and issue you the checks.  You stay informed by them through reports and updates.

For more on how to manage and distribute and account for your payroll, call or write to us.  TFO Solutions is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and business owners with their finances from the back office to the boardroom.

*photos courtesy of Unsplash