Payroll is an important skill to have in the average small business. You need to know the best practices for paying your employees and ensuring they receive adequate compensation and all entitled benefits.
However, it can also be complex, time-consuming, and, sometimes, even confusing! Fortunately, you don’t have to endure a complicated payroll system forever. Take note of these strategies for simplifying this critical task.
Outsource Payroll
As essential as payroll is for your business, it can be a frustrating task many business owners would prefer not to do. In that case, consider outsourcing it to a certified tax agent. They can take care of everything from tax calculations and filings to compliance and cash flow management. When someone else takes care of these tasks, you can free up your time for other important business operations.
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Use Payroll Software
Manual business processes are mostly a thing of the past now. Rather than having to use pens and paper to calculate complex figures, we can use software and calculators to help. Payroll is no different. We now have access to a broad range of payroll software options to help with automatic calculations, direct deposits, and tax withholdings.
Payroll software is packed full of helpful features like reporting, compliance management, accounting integration, and employee portals. Alongside making payroll a far easier and faster task, payroll software also reduces the risk of human error for more accurate financial reporting. The more accurate your business finances are, the fewer headaches you can encounter once tax season begins!
Expand Your Knowledge
Some people find payroll complicated because they don’t have an in-depth understanding of it. The more you know about payroll for small businesses, the easier payroll-related tasks can be. Take the time to brush up on your local, state, and federal tax obligations and familiarize yourself with tax authority tax tables to know the current tax rates to use.
If you’re struggling with payroll and want to keep performing this task yourself, attend courses, webinars, and training classes. The information you learn from payroll experts can be invaluable.
Train Your Employees
Payroll might be your main job, but that doesn’t mean some of your other employees shouldn’t have the same skills. By training your employees to undertake payroll-related tasks, you can delegate when you need to. It can be important for more than one person to have payroll knowledge so there’s someone to provide cover when the main person in charge is not able to work.
Fortunately, training employees in payroll-related tasks doesn’t have to be your burden alone. While you can run them through the basics, you can also enroll them in training courses to refine their skills. They are sure to appreciate the opportunity to develop their skills.
Update Your Timekeeping System
Manual time cards can be time-consuming for payroll teams to process. You must manually calculate all hours, compensation, and tax before processing your team’s payments. The labor-intensiveness of this payroll method can mean there’s room for error.
However, technology now exists to make this process far more straightforward. Update your timekeeping system to be standardized for all employees and use time-tracking tools and similar technology to record employee hours. You can also integrate your timekeeping systems with payroll software for fast, easy, and seamless data transfer.
Simplifying payroll in your small business can be easier than you think. Expand your knowledge, train your employees, or outsource it to payroll experts. A task that was once time-consuming and stressful can become more straightforward and painless than you thought possible.
