In the world of remote work, payroll has become increasingly complicated. Each state has rules and regulations regarding payroll. If you hire a new employee in say North Carolina, do you know how you would determine what taxes your employee is subject to? What about you as an employer? Even employers in one state (like Oregon) are subject to different taxes. Do you know what payroll taxes you should be paying vs. what you are paying?
This time of year we always get phone calls from business owners who have a prior year payroll tax mistakes that need fixed. Most payroll companies will not amend returns that they did not file and sometimes the fees to amend are so high it's not affordable. We get many referrals from payroll companies since we have the knowledge and the ability to fix these returns for business owners for a reasonable fee.
We were recently able to save a client money on their payroll taxes because their payroll company was filing returns for taxes they are not subject to. We amended these tax returns and in the process fix a huge mistake with the state that in the long run would have cost the business owner thousands of dollars. Now, the client can rest easy knowing all of their payroll taxes are correct and they will receive a refund. No more dread that when they check their mail they will have a notice from the state or from the IRS. No more worrying about possible penalties they may incur.
The larger payroll companies have moved to a client run payroll. Which means, they are not reviewing your payroll. They are not looking at where your employees live to ensure the taxability is correct. Many times these issues are not found until the employee attempts to file a tax return in their home state or W-2's are issued and they're incorrect. The large payroll companies expect the business owner to be the payroll tax expert and if you get it wrong, they want to charge you huge fees to correct the mistake. Are you a payroll tax expert? Probably not, but we are.
Best practice is to review the payroll tax requirements in a state prior to hiring an employee and certainly prior to the employee starting work. Don't have time? Don't understand what the states website is telling you? Feel free to call us. We offer consultations to review the state requirements so you can be confident you won't make a costly mistake. Already have a notice or payroll tax issues that you just don't know how to fix? If you already have a notice from the state or the IRS, the problem will not go away with time, your penalties and interest will continue increasing. Don't fret, we can help with these issues too. We have experience dealing with payroll taxes in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Call or email today!
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