If you are a business owner, no matter what business you’re in, you probably have or will have employees.
In general, Payroll is payments made to employees and in this case, those payments are required to be reported to state and federal agencies, such as the IRS, Social Security Administration, Illinois Employment Security Department, and Illinois Department of Labor & Industries.
Most individuals you hire are considered “employees” by law. These include:
Temporary workers
Friends, relatives, and others receive anything of monetary value in exchange for their work
Any independent contractors
Payroll is the process the company goes through to pay the employees and this process has several different parts:
Calculation and distribution of paychecks to employees each payday
Keeping financial records for employee wages and salaries, withholding, deductions, bonuses, and other items on employee paychecks
The record of total earnings of all employees for a company in a fiscal year
Payment of payroll taxes to government agencies
Why do you need to do it?
When you started your business, you started to receive income and spent money on expenses. Let’s review two companies A and B. Both Companies have $50,000 in gross sales and have only one owner. Company A hired their president as an employee. Company B has no employees. Company A pays its payroll taxes every quarter and Company B, doesn’t pay anything during the year, only Income Taxes at the end of the year. When companies spent money on their expenses, it is obvious that Company A has an employee and the employee needs a phone, gas, computer, and internet. In this case Company, A has legitimate proof that expenses were used by an employee. Company A pays its piece of the pie to the government every quarter.
On the other hand, Company B is in the opposite situation. Has no employee, not making payments to the government, hard to prove who was using a telephone, who was driving the car, and who deposited money in the bank.
So, by all means, Company A is in a much better situation, and in the case of audit who do you think will be audited first? Correct, Company B will be the first to be audited.
Company A | Company B |
Gross Sales $50,000 | Gross Sales $50,000 |
Owner Yes, one | Owner Yes, one |
Employee Yes, one | Employee one No |
Pay payroll tax Yes | Pay payroll tax No |
Please review your company’s operations and contact us to start a payroll as soon as possible.
What do payroll taxes include?
These taxes are taken out of employee pay, are collected by employers, and paid by employers on behalf of employees and themselves.
Federal Payroll taxes include Federal income tax withholding, and taxes paid for Social Security, and Medicare.
State payroll taxes include State income tax withholding, and state unemployment tax funds. State disability funds, and State worker's compensation funds (not in each state).
State payroll taxes apply to your business depending on where your employees work.
After the Payroll process is complete, you must:
file required forms
make payment to the IRS
make payment to the State
make payments to the Unemployment Department
Here are some Federal Forms that are included in the payroll:
Form I-9: This form is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States.
Form W-2: This form shows the amount of taxes withheld from your paycheck for the year and is used to file your federal and state taxes, the due date is January 31.
Form W-4: This form tells you, as an employer, how much federal tax you need to withhold every pay period.
Form 941: Filed four times a year, this form documents the total amount withheld for Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes each quarter.
Deadline for Quarterly Form 941:
1st Quarter – April 30
2nd Quarter – July 31
3rd Quarter – October 31
4th Quarter – January 31 of the following year
Penalties? HUGE!
If you don’t pay payroll taxes, you are on the IRS’ radar!
The IRS makes it clear that if you use a payroll service or someone else to do your payroll work, including reports and deposits, this does not relieve you as an employer of the responsibility to see that tax returns are filed on a timely basis and that all taxes are paid correctly and on time.
An employer is required to withhold federal income and payroll taxes from employees’ wages and pay them to the IRS. If you are an employee in your own company, you will be paying both payments, because you are an employer and employee.
When an employer withholds taxes but fails to send payments to the IRS, the agency gets serious.
If you fail to pay and are a “responsible person” for the company, the IRS can pursue you personally.
In fact, the IRS can assess a Trust Fund Recovery Assessment, also known as a 100-percent penalty for every responsible person, even if you aren’t an owner of the business.
Payroll tax violations can even become criminal. Peter Labovitz plead guilty to willfully failing to pay income taxes and Social Security taxes. He was sentenced to six months in prison for failing to pay employment taxes.
The IRS doesn’t like excuses even in civil cases. Pay your payroll taxes on time, and don’t cheat, this is the best advice for all business owners.
Options to Run Payroll
You can do payroll by hand. This option can be the most difficult for you. You should have some accounting experience. Small business owners spend an average of eight hours a month performing payroll functions. You could spend this time generating sales, improving products or services…
You can use payroll software. In this case, you will also spend a lot of time. To complete this process, accounting experience is required.
You can use a trustworthy accountant. Use this method and your payroll will always be accurate and on time. We know how it works and how to do payroll the right way.
Are you currently frustrated by your current provider’s services? Keep your payroll stress-free. Fortunately, switching payroll providers is an easy option.
Why you should choose us:
Our pricing structure is simple and transparent, so you understand exactly what services you are paying for
We guarantee, that your confidential information will be secured
We provide customer support. That means you’ll always talk to a real person when you call with questions.
We have the necessary education, skills, and experience serving business owners for more than 10 years.
Contacts us to set up an appointment if you have any questions:
United States Tax Services: Tax Preparation, Payroll, Accounting, Tax Planning contact@unitedstatestaxservices.us
https://unitedstatestaxservices.us/
Call us at (800) 913-0809 or send an SMS at (224) 676-3577 if you have any questions.