Full-service payroll

Why it goes wrong

Most business owners do not fully understand payroll, so they do not stay compliant. Not out of carelessness — the filings are numerous, the deadlines are unforgiving, and the penalties arrive long after the mistake.

What full service means here

We understand the process and we take it over: you do not have to worry about what gets filed, when it is due, where it goes, or — most importantly — the payroll taxes themselves.

• Setup, including the state unemployment and withholding accounts a new employer needs
• Processing each pay run
• Federal and state filings, on time
• Payroll tax deposits
• Ongoing monitoring, so a problem is caught by us rather than by a notice

If you own an S corporation, reasonable compensation matters

An S-corporation shareholder who provides services to the business generally must receive reasonable compensation — through payroll, subject to employment taxes — before taking non-wage distributions. Get the number too low and the IRS can recharacterize distributions as wages; set it too high and you have handed over payroll tax you did not owe.

We prepare a great many 1120S returns, and we would rather work the number out with you in January, and document how we got there, than argue about it in an audit. What counts as reasonable depends on your role, your industry and what the business actually earns, so it is a conversation rather than a formula.