Employers in North Carolina have a lot on their plate, from navigating a tough economy to ensuring regulatory compliance, retaining top talent, battling inflation to keep costs down, and a host of other issues. The way things look, it won’t be getting easier any time soon. But one thing an employer can offload from the list of to-dos is payroll.
Payroll can prove to be a major challenge for many companies, not only because it is complicated but because it has the potential to put an employer at legal risk. This is why payroll compliance matters – the consequences of doing it wrong can be severe. Third-party payroll services let your business eliminate this risk, ensuring compliance and saving you time and headaches.
What does a payrolling service do, exactly, and how does it benefit your organization? Let’s take a closer look at the details.
How Do Payroll Service Providers Benefit Employers in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina?
A payroll service provider assists with or assumes all aspects of payroll on behalf of another business (yours). For the employer, this arrangement saves time and ensures that employees are paid accurately, on schedule, and with proper taxes withheld. It also frees up the employer’s core team to focus on important business objectives rather than dealing with the ins and outs of payroll every week.
What kind of services does a payroll provider offer? Services include things like:
- Automatic payroll processing – The provider will calculate wages and pay your employees accurately and on time.
- Tax withholdings – Payroll providers ensure that all appropriate taxes, wage garnishments, and other necessary payroll deductions are withheld from wages.
- Payroll reporting – Your organization will receive detailed reports covering all the details of payroll operations, including hours worked, taxes withheld, and much more.
- Compliance knowledge – Third-party payroll services keep up with regulations and tax laws that could affect your business, including overtime and minimum wage laws.
- Insurance costs – Payroll providers are responsible for workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance costs.
- Year-end reporting – Payroll providers assist with year-end reporting, including year-end earnings statements, and prepare employment documents like W-2 and 1099-NEC forms.
- Employee self-service – A self-service option for employees allows your workers to review their pay stubs, update withholdings, change personal information, and more. The ability for employees to do this themselves, on their own time, without assistance from HR or a manager, is a huge time savings.
Another advantage of using a payrolling service is the security it offers for your sensitive company data. Providers use sophisticated technology to protect employee records and other important information, ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to the account. This is also essential for complying with employee confidentiality regulations – your business is at risk if sensitive data isn’t properly protected. Relying on a payroll provider helps you alleviate this worry, too.
If your organization hires temporary, contract, or direct-hire employees, offloading the burden of payroll for those individuals can be a huge time and administrative savings. And because your payroll provider serves as your trusted partner, you can rest assured they’ll be there to answer any questions you may have about compliance, taxes, regulations, or other parts of payrolling.
What is the Importance of Choosing the Right Payroll Service Provider for Your Business
Are you in the market for payroll processing services in North Carolina? You’ll want to be sure you’re choosing the right provider for your business’s unique needs. Things to consider include the following:
- Expertise. Ask the provider about other businesses similar to yours that they’ve helped and what outcomes they’ve achieved for them. Inquire about their knowledge of complex tax law and compliance issues.
- Support. Will you have 24/7 support available when you need it? How easy will it be to reach a human being when you have a question?
- Scalability. If your business grows, your payrolling system needs to be able to grow with it. You’ll want to make sure your service provider can scale up as needed.
The Advantages of Using a Payroll Service Provider for Tax Compliance
We’ve discovered what payroll service providers can do for your business and how to go about choosing the right one for your needs. Let’s discuss some of the everyday advantages of using a service like this to outsource your payroll.
Third-Party Payroll Services Help Employers Save Time
How long does your HR or admin department spend a week on the payroll? Hours? Days? Think of all the time that could be saved if you outsource these tasks. Your core team can focus on business objectives, not paperwork – whether it’s hiring great people, maintaining positive company culture, or getting important revenue-producing work done.
Professional Payroll Service Providers Have Compliance Expertise
Service providers are experts in this area; they know everything there is to know about payroll and compliance. When utilizing temporary workers at your organization, classification is important. Misclassifying a contract worker as a W-2 employee, for example, can have serious consequences. When you outsource your payroll, you’ll ensure compliance is adhered to at every stage.
Provide Peace of Mind
Members of your HR team might not be experts on the particulars of complex tax law – and that’s okay. Payroll service providers make it their business to be experts on these topics, so you don’t have to worry about it. The peace of mind this provides is well worth it – you focus on running your business while your payroll provider ensures compliance across your organization.
How Payroll Service Providers Help Businesses Stay on Top of Changes in Employment Laws
When was the last time you checked in on the latest federal employment law changes? If you’re like most, probably not recently. The fact is that it’s difficult to keep up with the ever-changing employment laws, but it still presents the risk of misclassification and non-compliance. So, what’s the solution? A payroll service provider eliminates the risk and ensures your business stays up to date with all necessary regulations and laws.
Payroll Service Providers Stay up to date with Changing Regulations
Payroll service providers make a point to stay updated on relevant applications of laws like the Affordable Care Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, among many others. Your core team doesn’t have time to keep up with the ever-changing governmental regulations – and they shouldn’t have to. Allowing a third-party provider to handle it for you eliminates the need to worry about what new law or regulation has been passed that could affect your payrolling.
Ensure Accurate Tax Filings
Payroll providers also ensure accurate tax filings when tax season rolls around. Not only are business taxes a huge administrative headache but there can also be serious consequences if you file incorrectly or incompletely. Your payroll provider can take care of the federal, state, and local filings on your behalf, which doesn’t just save you time and effort but ensures there aren’t any mistakes made.
Help with Employee onboarding and offboarding
Did you know that a payroll provider can even help with onboarding and offboarding employees? These are crucial times in the employment lifecycle, and getting things wrong could have consequences. Your payroll provider will work closely with you to get new employees set up in the system and ensure that paychecks, tax withholdings, and other parts of payroll are handled correctly. In the same way, when an employee leaves, your provider will assist you with all necessary tasks, including final paychecks, tax documentation, and more.
Partner with North Carolina’s Payroll Professionals: Career Foundations for Efficient Payrolling Services
If you’re searching for a North Carolina payroll service provider, look no further than Career Foundations. Our payroll processing covers every aspect of the payroll and administration process. This gives you peace of mind that your payroll is completely handled and allows your team to get back to doing what it does best: growing your business.
Our payroll services include all employee paperwork – including I-9s, W-2s, 1099 Contractor forms, and more – as well as check distribution, payroll processing, unemployment, and workers’ comp costs, year-end earnings statements, and more. We are the full-service payroll provider to turn to whether you’re adding contract or temporary workers to your team or bringing on a full-time team member.
Ready to get started with us and alleviate the burden of payroll by outsourcing? Contact our team today to learn more about our payrolling services and speak to a payroll professional.
