Business question regarding paying employees

We have a bunch of 1099s, but have just hired our first official employee. Can you all recommend a payroll service? The calculations don't seem too much of a burden, but withholding and filing taxes, SS, unemployment, etc seem to be a PITA.

 

I used ADP and they're not cheap but it's a case of getting what you pay for. I've used them for around 6 or 7 years and I see no reason to even consider looking around at the others.

 

How do you have a bunch of 1099's? Seems like plenty of paperwork to do that right. You'd probably be better off putting them on payroll, unless it's just the nature of whatever business you're in...

What bookkeeping software do you use? Quickbooks makes it so easy that hiring a payroll service for one employee may not be justifiable.

 

We run a massage therapy business. We have about a dozen 1099s. They make their own schedule, hours, etc. We just hired a front desk person though so we are looking for a clean, easy way to withhold and pay our taxes. ADP was about $55 a month, which doesn't seem horrible, but we'd like to explore other options, especially while we just have this one employee.

 

I get that. Seems kind of normal for LMTs and Aestheticians these days. I have a friend with a bunch of salons and he does the chair rental thing. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous of him for not having the payroll expense and HR hassles.

 

ADP Run. I've used this product for a company I worked at previously and also my own business now. I think they're worth it. I think they have an additional small business product alongside Run. Only complication is whether you want to use them for worker's comp or not. If you think you might significantly expand in the future I'd consider going with the state fund (CA has a state fund, I don't know where you're at) instead. The reason is that you need several years experience before you can get private worker's comp, and the only way to get that is by going with the state fund. ADP's worker's comp pool won't count. It could be a large additional savings in the future if you greatly expand your payroll.

 

Might not hurt to ask your CPA. They probably have a feel for who works, especially in your area.

 

Can't you just make your front desk person a 1099 and tell them to take care of their own taxes? Not the proper way to do I don't guess but... that's what they do at my work

 

Honestly, I don't mind doing the calculations. That part is pretty straight forward. It's the logging into the state and federal sites every month/quarter/year and filing that's a pain. My wife really runs the show and she is slammed and doesn't want to deal with it. I have another job altogether.

 

Some CPAs offer this service. Give them the info by a certain day and pick your employees check up Friday, or do direct deposit. With Quickbooks it is pretty simple to do it yourself. You can have them pay all the taxes automatically if you like.
A 1099 is easier though.

 

I agree with contacting your CPA. Mine charges me $100 per quarter to do my payroll, reports, checks, etc. I have 12 employees.

I do currently also pay $500 a quarter for all my financial statements, retainer, questions, bla bla bla.

 

Paychex is another competitor to ADP...

 

Paychex

The owners ex-wife use to sponsor M3 Racing (Sam Gaige)

 

Yeap, the calculations and all that are easy but it's all the bullshit involved with it. I got more important things to do than deal with all that shit and it's easier to just pay someone who knows what they're doing.

 

I just switched to Payroll Data Processing out of Florida. The prices seem reasonable and they can set your employee(s) up with direct deposit, a debit card that gets charged up each week or checks if you want to pay the Fed Ex fee. They take care of all the headache filings, reports,etc. I have been using a local payroll/ employee leasing service, but recently ran into a problem because they wanted to be listed on insurance as a co employer and my new comp insurer would not do that. A friend uses Benefit Mall. I'm not sure on their pricing.

 

Oh, and to hell with WC, and the BWC. Buncha cocksuckers.

 

First off

2nd - for 1 person DIY or maube someone local, CPA, small accounting/payroll firm. etc? Might be easier to stay local.

GL with business. I just dissolved my side company after 6 years as its too much of a PITA to keep doing.

 

We use Paycor at my real work. For my small business where we only have 1 full-time employee we use a local payroll guy. I wouldn't go with one of the big companies for a few employees. It will be too expensive and they don't care about you. You also don't need many of the services they offer. With the local guy, he treats us well and answers the phone if we have a question. Plus it's cheap.