How to Do Payroll for a Small Business: The Basics Explained

Business

Written by:

Are you a small business owner who needs help doing your payroll? If so, you may be shocked to learn that the process is pretty straightforward. By implementing the steps detailed below, you can make sure that your business payroll is done right and your employees get paid on time. 

Read on to learn more about how to do payroll for a small business:

Register for an Employer Identification Number

An employer identification number is much like a social security number. It’s an identifier for your business that the IRS uses for payroll taxes. This first step is fairly easy, and you can apply to get an EIN on the IRS website at no cost.

Plus, it only takes a few minutes to receive an employer identification number. If you need a popular rostering, attendance, and payroll system, then visit this website.

Figure Out a Business Payroll Schedule

Every business is different, but you need to decide how often you want to pay your workers. The schedule in which you pay your employees affects how your income tax withholdings are calculated.

In most states, there is a minimum frequency to which you have to pay your employees. For instance, you can’t decide to pay your employees every three months. It has to be more often than that.

But as long as you meet the minimum requirement for your schedule, that’s fine. For the most part, most employers pay their workers biweekly.

Have Your Workers Fill Out a W-4 Form

Every employee that you hire must fill out a W-4. It’s for the IRS, and it’s referred to as the Employee’s Withholding Certificate. This particular form details how much federal income taxes will get taken out of the employee’s check based on their marital status, income, and number of dependents.

Calculate the Gross and Net Pay for Each Employee

As you’re doing payroll, it’s important to calculate exactly how much each worker will take home after taxes, benefits, and other deductions. Give yourself enough time every pay period to do all of the math required to make sure that employees get paid on time. 

You can also use contractor payroll services software or hire a payroll company to do it for you. 

Using a company for payroll services is often a good idea once your number of employees increases and the burden of doing payroll becomes too great.

Pay the Payroll Taxes

It’s your job as the employer to pay the tax deposits that are deducted from your worker’s paychecks. The frequency for how often you’ll have to pay payroll taxes depends on the amount owed during the lookback period. For convenience, you can always pay federal payroll taxes online using the electronic tax payment system.

How to Do Payroll for a Small Business

Small business payroll is certainly something that can be done independently without hiring a payroll company to do it for you. However, if you struggle to do the services accurately, you can outsource the work instead. But as long as you follow the steps listed above, your business payroll should flow smoothly.

If you learned how to do payroll for a small business by reading this article, feel free to read more of our website. We have a variety of topics for our readers to enjoy.

(Visited 77 times, 1 visits today)