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Is This Your Situation: Feeling Overwhelmed with Payroll Regulations

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Your company is growing, and that’s great! You now have an office full of employees—and the headaches that come along with that: figuring out each person’s tax liability based on their W-4 forms, calculating overtime for nonexempt staff and more. Did you know you can outsource this whole task to a third-party provider?

Here are some of the advantages:

  • It frees up your time to do other things, like product development, sales and marketing.
  • You don’t have to become an expert. Managing payroll requires specialized knowledge and there are a lot of pitfalls that can lead to regulatory nightmares.
  • You don’t have to depend on one employee. Even if you have a staff member handling payroll, if that person suddenly leaves or is absent for an extended illness, you’ll find it nearly impossible to bring someone in immediately to take over. Meanwhile, problems will crop up.
  • You can actually save money by doing by outsourcing. Let’s say you and perhaps a staff member—both untrained in the nuances of payroll—incorrectly file paperwork. Before you know it, you could find yourself hit with penalties ranging from $500 to $1,000. The penalty costs will soon be higher than outsourcing would’ve been in the first place.

Of course, some companies try to save money by handing payroll over to an outsourced administrative assistant, who may be organized but unfamiliar with payroll rules. You’re still not off the hook! Even if this assistant makes a mistake, in the eyes of the law, you’re still responsible as the employer. You need an outsourced provider that is familiar with the many payroll rules.

To find out a little bit more about what the IRS requires, have a quick look at the payroll section  on the IRS website. If nothing else, it should convince you this is one task you don’t want to take on all by yourself. Give us a call today, and we’ll be happy to have a no-obligation talk about your particular situation and how qualified outsourced payroll solutions can help—no matter how small you are today or how big you’ll be tomorrow.

“Copyright 2018”

Investigating the Advantages of Outsourcing Payroll

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As fulfilled and engaged as your employees may be with their jobs, if they have any issues with their paychecks, it won’t take long for them to become frustrated. Some companies have dedicated payroll departments and others find it useful to outsource this process to one of many companies that specialize in payroll. How do you know which option is right for you? Here are some things to consider.

  • How big is your company? One of the biggest concerns when it comes to answering this question is how many employees your organization has on staff. However, the answer isn’t cut and dry. Small companies like to use payroll services so they don’t need to employ a dedicated payroll department. Larger companies like to use them to maintain consistency.
  • Do you need more than just payroll? There are other reasons to consider an outside vendor, especially if your small company also wants insurance or other services. An outside vendor may be able to meet a wide variety of your needs.
  • Are your employees exempt or nonexempt? Exempt employees are traditionally paid an annual salary. Nonexempt are usually hourly employees who receive hourly pay and qualify for overtime. The more complicated the payroll process, the more important it might be to outsource it.
  • How often is payday? Another thing to consider is how often you pay your employees. Salaried employees are frequently paid twice a month. Hourly employees might be paid every two weeks or every week. This is something a payroll service can work out with you to be the most effective for your type of business.

Do you have more questions about outsourced payroll? Call us today! 916-550-8174

Copyright 2018

Is This Your Situation: Concerned About Time and Attendance Tracking

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What do you do to keep track of your employees: a program, old-fashioned time cards or just a yellow legal pad and a pen? No matter what you use, do you really take the time to study the results and consider whether you’re losing money due to inefficiency? Did you ever bother to calculate how much money you may be losing just in one month? It may be time to think more strategically.

First of all, you have to become more sophisticated. An automated time and attendance system isn’t a guarantee of perfect efficiency, but it’s a start. If your employees are still filling out time cards, it could be costing your business a lot more than just the cards themselves. Are you thinking a new system might be expensive? Just think about how much such a system could save you, and you might be surprised at how it might actually more than pay for itself.

Meanwhile, no matter what method you use, consider the following headaches you may be giving yourself:

Headache #1: Too much time spent by supervisors approving time sheets. Is there a way to create a more automated system?

Headache #2: Employees who don’t always write down their true time worked. How can you fix this?

Headache #3: Hand-keying issues that lead to errors and fraud. Again, automation may be the key.

Headache #4: Managing overtime. How can you keep employees from going into overtime hours before you even know about it?

Headache #5: Perhaps the worst of all, exposure from an audit or employee complaint.

A better scenario evolves when you convert to an automated time and attendance management system — and learn how to interpret the data. Consider the benefits:

  1. Classifications, labor contracts and policies are automatically applied when processing each employee’s paycheck
  2. Easier determination of benefit eligibility under the Affordable Care Act.
  3. You’ll pay employees for their actual time worked, avoiding lawsuits and back wages.
  4. Payroll errors from manual data entry are virtually eliminated.

How much less stressful would it be to run your business knowing that you are not only saving a considerable amount of money by automating, but you are also protecting your assets from potential employee lawsuits and maybe, even worse, an IRS audit?

Give us a call. We’ll show you how to choose the right system for your particular needs and how easy it is to integrate that new system into your business. Even more, we can teach you how to interpret the results.

Source: Industry Newsletters A Division of Home Actions LLC

How LCAF Payroll Can Help You Handle Loan Advances

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Unexpected life expenses happen to us all. Whether it’s a medical bill, car issues or some other legitimate expense, these unforeseen bills can be stressful and difficult for any employee to take care of. When employees are put in this position, it helps if their employer can assist with loan advances. Read more

Workers’ Compensation Audits: What You Need to Know

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Workers’ compensation audits—what are they and what do they mean for your business? Simply, they’re a yearly audit on your workers’ compensation insurance policy. The audit’s purpose is to ensure your business paid the correct amount in insurance premiums based upon the gross wages in a policy period. Read more

Things to Know About Employee Direct Deposit

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Day in and day out, your employees live busy lives. They juggle competing responsibilities that quickly fill up their calendars and eat away at their time. Any way that business owners can help lighten their load will go a long way to garner the employees’ appreciation. Perhaps the easiest means of accomplishing this comes in the form of a direct deposit. Directly depositing your employees’ pay into their bank accounts can save them the hassle of rushing to the bank before closing time when they have other items they could attend to. Read more

Let LCAF Payroll Handle Your Payroll Taxes

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Payroll taxes can be a certifiable nightmare for many business owners, which make hiring a professional company to deal with the mess of state and federal laws a must. The time saved alone is worth having us take care of your payroll tax filing needs.

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