Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

Internet Payroll, The Future is Here Now

By Charles Read, CPA and author

There was a time when payroll was handing out cash at the end of the day. That time is long gone. Payroll management has become complex and full of traps for the unwary or uninitiated. By outsourcing your payroll processing you are avoiding risks and taking advantage of all the advances in technology to save time and money. Here are a few advantages to having someone else manage your payroll.

Save Time
Using an Internet payroll provider will save you time. You will be able to input time anywhere and anytime from any Internet connected computer.

Your provider will process the payroll and can distribute it electronically. You won’t waste time and money distributing checks and payroll payment vouchers. You will never have to reissue a lost check or replace one that was run through the washing machine.

W-2’s are posted via employee self service on a secured and password protected server for your employees to view and print.

Save Money
Some business owners don’t realize the true cost of doing payroll in house. They don’t add up all the hours that are spent on various aspects of payroll and related activities that an Internet payroll provider would do.

Your internet payroll provider guarantees accuracy on calculating and filing your payroll tax reports and payroll tax deposits and will pay any penalties or interest charged to you through their error.

Your employees will no longer have to pay exorbitant fees just to cash their paycheck. Many can use Direct Deposit or payroll debit cards at any ATM or as a Point of Sale card with no cost to the employer.

Your Internet payroll provider will draft your company bank account for a single draft item eliminating the cost of payroll checks and the cost of reconciling of payroll checks.

Utilizing a paperless payroll solution they will send you all reports electronically, without delivery fees. There are no storage costs for old reports or costs to finally destroy them.

The cost for all this is lower than you think. It is a much lower cost than the cost of people, software, hardware, security and systems, training, forms, accounting fees, penalties, answering IRS inquires, etc. necessary to do a professional job in-house.

A good payroll provider will also be current on all changes in payroll and payroll tax laws and regulations and will have CPAs on staff that can give advice.

Greater Control
Your level of control increases with an Internet payroll provider.

Your complete reports are secure from prying eyes. They come to you via email or on the net. They are password protected and only you decide who gets to see them and when. Employee vouchers are on the Internet so you will never find them lying around on a desk again.

Greater Security
Paperless reports reduce the potential for identity theft. If someone gets a hold of your paper payroll reports with sensitive information about your employees, you may be liable for the damages.

Few or no paper paychecks reduces the chance that a criminal will target your company for a payroll check fraud scheme.

Conclusion
Internet payroll providers bring technological advances to the small businessman that only major companies used to enjoy. They make your payroll cheaper, faster and safer than ever before with greater control. This is one area where the Internet hype is not overdone.

About the Author
Charles J. Read, CPA has been in the payroll, accounting and tax business for 30 years, the last fifteen in private practice. Mr. Read is the author of “How to Start a New Business.�? To find professional internet payroll service at a budget price go to www.PayrollonaBudget.com a paperless internet payroll company. For a full service payroll bureau with CPA’s on staff visit www.CustomPayroll.com . See an excerpt of Mr. Read’s interviews from William Shatners “Heartbeat of America�? television show on the web sites linked above.

Posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Money/Finance, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.