Payroll and tax responsibilities can be time-consuming and complicated. While many businesses prefer to manage their payroll accounting internally, other business owners have come to rely on the benefits of outsourcing payroll to a professional payroll provider. This allows such businesses not only to leverage their professional expertise but also sufficient time and resources such as reducing the paperwork associated with manual processes and reducing the number of hours HR employees spend on payroll tasks to focus on their core functions.

What Is Payroll Outsourcing & How Does Payroll Outsourcing Work?

Payroll outsourcing is when a business hires an external processor to complete payroll processes on behalf of the business. The external payroll provider can manage taxes, direct deposits, and other routine processes such as garnishments, salary adjustments, and calculating weekly payroll. They can also provide special tools that make it easier for businesses and employees alike to have 24/7 visibility into payroll calculations.

The decision to outsource may depend on the size and complexity of the business and its needs. For larger companies with more complex payroll needs, including having multiple employees in multiple states, outsourcing payroll often makes sense financially and operationally. However small to mid-size businesses may benefit from outsourcing payroll as well; after all, regulations around payroll often change, and staying up to date on requirements might present a significant challenge. Professional payroll providers are obligated to track changes in rules, regulations, and tax rates for all geographic locations, and may prove to be a wise investment for business owners of all stripes.

Why Outsource Payroll: 6 Benefits for Businesses

Wondering whether the benefits of outsourcing payroll could help your company?

Below are some common advantages of outsourcing payroll services, areas of your business where a provider may be able to help, and how this approach could make sense for your business.

1) Potential Time Saved

Handling payroll function is no cake-walk. Payroll department has to look into several intricate and minutest of details such as garnishments, new hires, terminations and benefit deductions to name a few. Plus, any changes in federal and state regulations just makes it even more complicated.

Managing payroll internally is quite a taxing task and each year organizations doing so end up consuming precious labor hours. Outsourcing payroll accounting to a professional firm unburdens you from worrying about these

Outsourcing payroll accounting to a professional firm unburdens you from worrying about these time-consuming tasks requiring 100% precision. It also frees up your HR department’s time which can be utilized for core functions which are strategically more important for your business.

Strategic resource management is one of the reasons, organizations prefer to outsource payroll accounting, which gives them a competitive edge as well. Simply because payroll is not a one time thing. One payroll period follows another and the working hours in between never seem to be sufficient.

No matter how many employees a business has, processing payroll demands time and attention to detail. This often comes at the cost of valuable time that could otherwise be spent on more pressing business priorities, such as building revenue or serving customers. By outsourcing payroll to a reputable provider, owners may have more time to focus on what matters most. In many cases, they’ll also have a variety of options available to maximize time saved throughout the pay period. Additional tasks, such as new hire reporting or benefits administration, can be easily added into the outsourcing mix, and business owners can specify how often they’d like to be contacted with payroll-related updates. Unless there are discrepancies or problems, payroll outsourcing service providers will likely only need to reach out once per pay period.

Common Time-Consuming Payroll Responsibilities

Once a business has hired its first employee, payroll responsibilities will continue every pay period as long as the business is in operation. The complexities of payroll processing may require a considerable time commitment on a daily and weekly basis — time you can’t make up elsewhere. Whether it’s calculating payroll amounts, generating in-house reports, preparing and remitting state and federal payroll taxes and returns, or simply printing, signing, and distributing paychecks, the demands on your time can be costly.

Think of the time required for each of the following:

Calculating Payroll Each Time Period

Each pay period, employees must have their hours totaled, verified for accuracy, and multiplied by their designated pay rate(s). Then the appropriate amount of taxes must be calculated and subtracted from the gross pay to determine a net amount.

If the employee also receives any benefits or has other deductions, such as child support or retirement plan contributions, additional calculations must be made. Multiply each of these calculations by the number of employees in your business, and it’s easy to see why calculations alone can take a sizable chunk of time out of your week.

Printing, Signing, and Distributing Paychecks or Pay Stubs

Once the pay amounts for each employee are calculated, the physical checks may need to be printed, signed, and distributed. Some employees are likely to have direct deposit, so those amounts must be verified and processed electronically, but pay stubs still must be made available to the employees. In addition, these records must be securely maintained for tax and reporting purposes.

Generating Reports for In-House and Accountant Use

At the end of each payroll period, the amount of pay earned by all employees, any benefits or miscellaneous deductions withheld, and all payroll tax amounts must be carefully recorded for future accounting purposes.

Depending on the size and structure of the business, payroll reporting may be included in any fiscal year-end reports, especially if the business is publicly traded or currently looking for investors. Even if those reports are not required, many business owners evaluate previous payroll reports to make hiring and staffing projections.

Payroll figures are also necessary for tax purposes, both for business year-end income tax filing and for quarterly and annual payroll tax reporting. Keeping this information organized and easily accessible for future reporting or delivery to an accounting professional can take additional time each period.

Preparing and Remitting Payroll Taxes and Returns to Government Agencies

Even after the payroll figures are organized and recorded, there are still additional payroll tax responsibilities each quarter and at the end of each fiscal year. Business owners or designated administrators must calculate amounts and complete a quarterly payroll tax form to show that the proper amount of payroll tax has been withheld. This form must then be submitted, along with the proper amount of withheld taxes, to the IRS each quarter.

At the end of the year, businesses must submit a year-end payroll tax statement that verifies each of the quarterly figures and calculates any remaining taxes due. Like individuals, businesses must also complete a yearly income tax return, and payroll figures are included as a deduction on these forms. When evaluated on a per-payroll period or a monthly basis, a time/cost analysis may well demonstrate the benefits of working with a payroll service provider.

2) Mitigate Payroll Mistakes

Payroll errors can be frustrating and costly to both employers and employees. For employees, a mistake in state tax deductions can require an unexpectedly sizable tax deduction from an employee’s final paycheck of the year, at a time that typically coincides with the holidays. Missed hours or improper pay rates can also inadvertently decrease an employee’s pay, which may cause frustration and lasting resentment. These mistakes can negatively affect your employees and ultimately result in employer/employee strain.

For the employer, payroll errors can cause fines and penalties for improperly calculated tax obligations. Generally, business owners are not experts in government tax regulations. At the same time, they may be legally responsible for cases of misrepresentation or a failure to accurately report employment taxes to federal and state government agencies.

These mistakes can lead to audits and penalties — situations no business wants or needs. Given these complicated tasks and the potential for mistakes, processing payroll on your own can cost you more overall than what you may save initially.

3) Enhanced Security of Payroll Data

Payroll processing is a complex and potentially risky business operation. Even with trusted partners, there is a risk of identity theft, embezzlement, or tampering with company records for personal gain.

Outsourcing payroll to a stable, experienced provider can offer a “safe haven” for your confidential payroll data. In addition to redundant backup and multiple server locations, a quality payroll provider invests in state-of-the-art systems for storing and protecting data because they understand the importance of security to clients.

4) Compliance With Government Regulations

Businesses understand how critical compliance is in their operations, but it can be a time-consuming process. Whether you have three employees or 30, having to track every employee’s pay rate, hours, and employee status can be stressful and can lead to inaccuracies. Additionally, understanding employee deductions for federal, state, and local taxes — as well as programs like Social Security can be challenging. These taxes must be set up correctly before employees are paid.

When you outsource payroll, you can simplify these processes and streamline your employee and payroll information. Surveyed businesses that leverage a technology-based payroll solution report considerable time savings*: 37% of businesses surveyed saved between 60 and 120 hours annually in preparing and filing taxes. Although business owners are ultimately responsible for meeting payroll accuracy and tax filing requirements, having a provider on hand often helps them feel more confident about staying up to date on regulations. Government rules and regulations often change, and small business owners can’t always stay on top of the latest requirements. Professional payroll providers, on the other hand, are focused on staying current with rules, regulations, and changes in tax rates for all geographic locations.

5) Payroll Expertise

A professional payroll company employs individuals who know payroll processing inside and out. These individuals specialize in the complexities of payroll processing and taxes. It’s what they’re trained to do and part of the service they provide. While occasional errors are bound to happen, payroll experts are also particularly good at verifying accurate data, finding mistakes, and correcting them before penalties or fines are assessed.

6) Potential to Integrate Payroll and Benefits Data

Many companies offer benefits to their employees, and employee contributions for elective benefit programs must be deducted from payroll. If your company offers multiple healthcare plans, each with different contribution amounts, managing these figures can become quite complicated. These contributions are further impacted by an employee’s status (single vs. married, dependents vs. none, part-time vs. full-time, etc.) as well as their salary level.

During the benefits enrollment period, employees may register for multiple types of benefits: health insurance, dental insurance, retirement contributions, life insurance, and other perks. Each of these may require separate contribution amounts for both the employee and the employer to ensure the benefits programs stay active and properly funded. Most benefits programs also require payment amounts to be sent to different companies, which can be handled by the payroll outsourcing company.

Outsourcing the payroll process helps ensure that your deductions are aligned, that what you’re offering complies with regulatory guidelines, and that payments to providers are sent on time to avoid interrupted benefits coverage. Reputable payroll companies can provide an integrated benefits platform that allows a business owner to easily add and remove employees from the benefits programs, properly calculate the amounts deducted from each paycheck, and provide benefits information directly to the employees without requiring the owner to handle individual employee benefits issues directly.

7) Direct Bank Deposit

Employees working in small scale companies always want direct bank deposits to be made; however, for small companies it is quite difficult to do so. They have to roll out paper checks every month and also have to manage plenty of paper work to keep a record of rolled out payroll checks. Outsourcing payroll allows you to eliminate plenty of paper work and also eliminates the possibility of any fraud. It’s also less time consuming and error free which makes life easy for small enterprises.

8) No Risk Of Losing In-House Payroll Employee

Outsourcing payroll functionality will help you streamline payroll process without much complication. Also, an overworked payroll employee doing multi-tasking may quit his/her job anytime and walk out with the knowledge acquired during the tenure.

The risk always looms large particularly on small businesses relying on an employee to manage multiple responsibilities. Outsourcing payroll accounting to an outsourcing service provider relieves you from this stress. Also, output in terms of quality and accuracy will always justify your investment giving you ROI manifold.

Contact Kharis Global Group for all your payroll needs. You can send us an email at info@kharisglobalgroup.com or contact us on +233208102763, +233501484460.

Source:

Outsourcing payroll, www.adp.com

Top 9 Reasons To Hire Outsourced Payroll Company, By Pratik H, Oustsourcinginsight.com

Benefits of Outsourcing Payroll, www.paychex.com