MBA News - Payroll Outsourcing

What is a payroll system?

MBAHRO — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:44:00 GMT

What is a payroll system?

As a payroll outsourcing company, many times when we sit down with clients, they initially ask “What is a payroll system?” This is a great starting place for planning how your payroll system will, at a minimum:

Gather your employee work hours
Cut checks
Stay in compliance with taxes and withholdings on a federal, state and local level.

Companies generally handle creating their payroll system in a few popular ways:

You can have employees fill out time cards and use your internal accounting staff to handle all checks. While this is a popular strategy, pay attention to some of the shortfalls of this system:

It usually doesn’t scale easily as you grow your business
It can be unmanageable to keep the accountant up-to-speed with state and federal withholdings and compliance issues
You’re dependant on one person for your system. This makes the person very hard to replace if the need should arise for any reason.

You can automate much of the process in-house using time clocks and software.

This helps the system to scale.
There are usually some features built into the software to try to stay in compliance with federal withholdings and such, but support dwindles as the focus turns to state and local withholding and taxation issues.

You can use an outsource to handle your payroll processing. (Full disclosure: Modern Business Associates is a payroll service.) These services:

Can easily scale with your business.
Have major data safety policies regarding the backing up of data and recovery, if necessary.
They have experience with many clients that have the same compliance issues.
It is their primary business to keep their services enabled to adjust to the most recent changes in federal and state regulations regarding taxation and withholdings.

If you consider an outsource for your payroll processing, you will need to spend effort to properly identify a good payroll processing firm that you are comfortable with. In addition, plan to spend time adjusting to new routines to get your staff’s timesheets and withholding data into their system to get the ball rolling.

If you are asking, “What is a payroll system?”, why not contact us at MBA to talk it over. It’s the kind of question we get asked every day.

Modern Business Associates is an HR company that focuses on payroll and HR outsourcing. We routinely work with clients to help with all kinds of HR and payroll issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

What are Strategic HR Services?

MBAHRO — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:06:00 GMT

What are Strategic HR Services?

When we get asked, “What are Strategic HR Services?”, we usually provide the following explanation. From our experience, strategic HR services try to save business owners from spending too much money and time on HR capabilities. The HR services should be focused on letting business owners grow the business, not logging excessive hours with HR issues. HR services should provide:

Legal and Compliance Coverage to help avoid employee claims and to avoid fines.
Employee Policy development, documentation and communication to let employees understand what they need to know.
Benefits program development to create an appropriate set of benefits to retain employees and be in sync with the company’s corporate culture.
Recruiting, Hiring and Terminations best practices to help personnel get through these stages quickly so the company can focus on growth.
Employee coaching and counseling to help the company and employees keep the same expectations.
Payroll Processing Issues are frequently seen as an HR service. Outsourcing your payroll can help to off-load the complexities with taxes, deductions and governmental filings.

These are some of the most common services mentioned when companies call us and ask, “What are strategic HR Services anyway?” Please search through our tips and news areas of our site to see more about each topic, or call for a consultation. We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about these kinds of services.

Checklist for Payroll Processing

MBAHRO — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:43:00 GMT

Checklist for Payroll Processing

Are you arranging for your employees to be paid for the first time or organizing your current process? A great way to go, is to create a written payroll processing checklist. Payroll processing can be made easier by checking the following items to make sure you have them addressed in your written process.

Having a payroll checklist can help you avoid oversights that can lead to legal penalties and embarrassing hassles fixing mistakes on paychecks.

Payroll Planning:

Which employees are on an annual salary, and which ones are being paid hourly?
How are the hourly employees recording their time (time clocks? Time Sheets?)
Will you cut checks, or offer direct deposit?
What deductions will you handle? Benefits? 401(k), health insurance, disability?
How will you factor in overtime and bonuses?
How often will you cut checks?
What is the process for getting new-hires into the system?
How are pay changes and terminations handled?
Who is allowed to make schedule changes, and changes to pay rates?
What are your policies for missing work? (sick days, holidays, maternity leave, vacation pay, etc.)
Will you outsource your payroll processing so you can stay focused on your sales?

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with payroll outsourcing. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Companies that offer payroll services and what to look for

MBAHRO — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:02:00 GMT

Companies that offer payroll services and what to look for

When looking for companies that offer payroll services, some top things to look for include:

Top-notch Customer Service. How they interact with you during the courting/selling phase of the relationship can be an early indication of their ability (or lack of ability) to get you through the tough times. If you need to call them twice to get an answer about their payroll services, move along.
Ability to grow with your expanding needs. Does the company have the ability for you to outsource any other HR needs?
Do they have experience working with other companies like yours?
Can they clearly explain the initial set-up process, and is it acceptable? Do they seem to have a good process leading up to the first paycheck run?
What is the ongoing level of work required by your staff to use the system? What tools will your staff be using to enter timesheet information and how easy are they to use?

Atricles on Payroll Services

MBAHRO — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:08:00 GMT

Atricles on Payroll Services

Come see our extensive library of articles about Payroll Services. These articles are specifically designed for C-Level executives and business owners to help decide if payroll outsourcing is a good alternative for their business.

Our award-winning payroll and HR outsourcing services have given us great insight into what kinds of questions need to be answered for a business owner to make a great decision about their payroll service.

Modern Business Associates is an HR company that focuses on payroll and HR outsourcing. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Free Employer Advice and Tips

MBAHRO — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:35:00 GMT

Free Employer Advice and Tips

We strive to make the Modern Business Associates free tips area a wealth of quality articles that can benefit you with your daily concerns about running your business. Please click on our list of topics on this page to see more articles to address your specific current needs and offer some advice. Also, click in the “search” box to type in keywords to look for more free employer advice and tips. Some of our most popular articles include:

A free template for a letter confirming employment

Cons of Hiring an intern

Where’s a good payroll calculator?

U.S. Child Labor Law changes that may affect you

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with outsourcing HR and Payroll functions. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Articles on Payroll Services

MBAHRO — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:53:00 GMT

Articles on Payroll Services

We offer a wealth of free articles on payroll services. What to look for. Mistakes to avoid when selecting a payroll service. How to prepare your staff for the transition to a payroll service. Tips for vetting payroll services before you commit.

Come see our extensive library of articles on Payroll Services.

Our HR outsourcing services track record has given us a great view into what kinds of questions need to be answered for a business owner to make a proper decision about their payroll service. Our articles on payroll services focus on helping you through those decisions.

Designing an Internship Program

MBAHRO — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:19:00 GMT

Designing an Internship Program

Designing an Internship Program can create a great way to pave the way to create relationships with local schools and pave the way to boosting your recruiting program. It’s not uncommon for over 20% of a company’s new-hires to come from its internship program.

Then designing an internship program, several factors should be considered:

Strategic Planning

Will your internship program be available year-round? Post openings at least eight weeks from the start date.
Will they need workspace?
Will they need computer access?
What kinds of meaningful projects will they participate in?

Supervising

Since internships are generally a training type of program, they will typically need a greater amount of supervision than the normal employees.

Each intern will need to be welcomed to the company and taken through many of the normal employee orientation efforts, like security, facility accommodations, punch in/out procedures, etc.

Compensation/Legal Compliance

Make sure you get advice on how to stay in compliance with federal and state laws regarding if your interns need to be paid. Generally, it is much harder to create a compliant unpaid internship program.

Whether the intern receives course credit for their efforts is also part of the equation when determining compliance. In an article by Patterson (1997), the author highlights information provided by the NACE general counsel on academic credit. Each local university will also have their own guidelines for internships taken for course credit.

Compliant Hiring of an Intern

Equal Employment Opportunity laws apply to the hiring of interns. You will want to check with your state to see if workers’ compensation laws cover interns. Just as you would a regular employee, it is important to provide interns with information on your safety and harassment policies, as employers may be held liable for intern safety and harassment issues.

Set and document goals for the Internship

Documentation is very important for effective learning to take place. It is strongly advisable that an employer and intern create mutually agreed upon learning objectives. Well documented learning objectives provide clear direction and targeted goals for the intern. This ensures both parties envision the same experience and reduces the possibility of misunderstanding and disappointment.

Feedback

Each internship program should include two-way feedback. The intern should be able to receive feedback on their performance. In addition, you need to get feedback on your internship program directly from the participants to understand if it is meeting the goals you have for your program. This feedback should come from the interns themselves, as well as your full-time staff that worked with the interns.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with employee and intern programs. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Restaurant Employee Benefit Service Tips For the Small Restaurant

MBAHRO — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:09:00 GMT

Restaurant Employee Benefit Service Tips For the Small Restaurant

Small restaurant owners often find it difficult to compete for talent with larger restaurants regarding employee benefits. In an industry where 100-precent yearly turnover is the norm, most independent restaurants do not offer extensive benefits packages. By outsourcing your payroll and HR responsibilities to a professional employer organization (PEO), a small restaurant can level the playing field, and offer its employees the same benefits as a chain.

Frequently, things as small as direct deposit and a small benefit plans for dental and vision contribute to increased employee retention. Many restaurants see a change by letting an employee benefits service focus on these things for them.

Lower Premiums

The economies of scale provided by PEOs are helpful when procuring and administering health insurance benefits. By pulling all of its clients’ insurance premiums together and aggregating all of its worksite employees, a PEO can contract with providers all over the country and keep annual premium increases lower than average yearly double digit increases currently being experienced.

Better Benefits for Your Staff

Forty percent of businesses that use PEOs upgrade their benefit packages with supplemental health-care choices, including vision and dental care, employee assistance programs and even adoption assistance.

This was the case with Howl at the Moon franchisor, Lee Jerousek, who switched from employing a full time HR manager to PEO, Modern Business Associates, two years ago.

Better communications with staff

Employee benefit services are professional communication experts in being able to help bring new employees onboard. They also help with your communications plan to keep all the employees up-to-speed with the benefits offerings, to help retain them.

Avoiding Employee Claims

Many restaurants have predominately young males and females working together late into the night. This environment tends to create problems in the form of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. A PEO is uniquely suited to train and develop managers, as well as institute proactive procedures for dealing with problems as they occur.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with employee benefit services. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Will your PEO have what it takes lower your employee turnover?

MBAHRO — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:17:00 GMT

Will your PEO have what it takes lower your employee turnover?

As a large business executive, you may be considering outsourcing your payroll or HR issues. Savvy Professional Employer Organizations have developed specialized services and delivery systems that cater to needs specific to larger companies.

A common requirement from large businesses working with professional employer organizations is for the PEO to be able to deal with HR issues like employee morale and turnover.

You probably consider your employees as your most important asset. You should view your PEO selection as a choice to further protect this important asset. As opposed to small sized companies, your large business probably needs constant attention for HR issues.

We’re talking about needs beyond the traditional human resources services such as policy development, background checks, drug testing, compliance, discipline, termination, and employee relations.

Large companies also expect their PEOs to provide value-added services that make it a true strategic human resources solution. Businesses like yours are increasingly expressing their desire for long-term strategic human resources programs and practices that benefit the bottom line, as well as short term.

Through human resources assessments and strategic discussions with businesses like yours, PEOs have discovered that the "missing link" between human resources and the bottom line has been the absence of employee involvement. As a result, large PEO clients are requesting strategies in critical areas that impact their bottom line:

Human resources recruiting
Selection
Retention
Turnover
Absenteeism
Morale
Development
Performance
Complaint resolution
Communication management.

Are these areas of need issues in your company, too? Try to get a sense of whether your PEO has a history of solving these kinds of issues relating to human resources.

Recruiting of your own HR people to help work on these issues should be an area of expertise. Ask them about it. Your internal HR team should anticipate working with the PEO in developing and implementing proactive human resources services. Make sure the PEO you’re considering has the capability to do this in a professional, organized and timely way. Exposing your HR people to an unprofessional representative from the PEO is a quick way to lose their confidence.

At Modern Business Associates, our knowledgeable Florida HRO team includes HR specialists with legal backgrounds, employment tax professionals, certified payroll processors, licensed insurance agents and award winning customer service professionals. Our products and services are designed to offer you back-office support so you can focus on new revenue.

Payroll Service Companies – Common Features They Offer

MBAHRO — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:44:00 GMT

Payroll Service Companies – Common Features They Offer

Payroll service companies provide a common suite of core services. As in introduction to what payroll service companies do, consider the following core services.

Calculating Payroll for each employee
Calculating tax obligations for each employee
Printing Checks for payroll
Service companies also deliver the checks
Creating Reports for Management

Additional services sometimes include:

Affordable 401 (k) plans to offer employees. Payroll service companies help level the playing field with the benefits offered by your larger competitors.
Employee Manuals provided and customized by Payroll Service Companies keep you from trying to reinvent the wheel and stay up to date with state and national legislation to more effectively avoid employee claims.
Automatic check signature can save your team time each payroll by not requiring an executive to sign the checks, one at a time.
Direct Deposit with an issues voided payroll statement instead of a check. Gives you control over when the funds are distributed from your business checking account, instead of waiting for the checks to be mailed and individually clear.
Your selection of paycheck distribution, whether it is by 1st class mail, Priority Mail or another selection.
Access to forms and reports via the Internet.
Individually Tracking Days Off – Payroll Service Companies can keep track of important events such as sick days, vacation days, salaries, and benefits levels for each employee in your company, in addition to regular payroll information.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) help manage issues such as diversity, workplace violence prevention, and sexual harassment prevention and education.

When looking at payroll service companies, many businesses consider Modern Business Associates. As a payroll service company in this competitive industry we focus our efforts on not only providing the most efficient services to your business, but also leveraging our top-notch customer service to quickly establish a trusted relationship.

Outsourcing Payroll Processing In Florida. PEO Options

MBAHRO — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:48:00 GMT

Outsourcing Payroll Processing In Florida. PEO Options

As a business executive in Florida, outsourcing your payroll processing may be one of your biggest decisions this year. One aspect to evaluating outsource candidate companies is their location. If your company is in Florida, wouldn’t you like the increased trust factor in knowing your payroll processor outsource is also in Florida and intimate with issues specific to your state?

MBA has been a shining star in Florida area over the last ten years. You should know that we’ve received multiple awards drawing praise for the services and support we provide our clients. As your fellow Florida PEO, we have unique aspects to our services to better serve your company:

Better understanding of your own employees and how to take action required based on issues specific to Florida. (like, “I have an employee that has dual citizenship, how does that affect my payroll responsibilities?” Or “The new Florida unemployement insurance rates are changing. How does that affect my payroll and documentation responsibilities?”)
More personal process to learning about how our Florida PEOO can help you and starting a relationship together via face-to-face conversations with our new account staff.
Lower live training costs, due to less travel being required by MBA staff based in St. Petersburg, Florida.
A PEO based in Florida means more personal attention to your account.
We’ll have a better understanding of Florida state-wide issues, and your county financial factors.
Better understanding of future legal and financial developments (like state laws and rate changes that affect your payroll policies, etc.)

Our knowledgeable Florida PEO team includes certified payroll processors, HR specialists with legal backgrounds, employment tax professionals, licensed insurance agents and award winning customer service professionals. Our products and services are designed to offer you back-office support so you can focus on new revenue and avoid getting bogged down in paperwork.

Will your Professional Employer Organization bring top-notch human resource software to the table to meet your large business HR system needs?

MBAHRO — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:49:00 GMT

Will your Professional Employer Organization bring top-notch human resource software to the table to meet your large business HR system needs?

As a large business executive, you may be considering outsourcing your payroll or HR processes. Savvy Professional Employer Organizations have developed specialized services and delivery systems that cater to needs specific to larger companies.

A common requirement from large businesses working with professional employer organizations is for the PEO’s technology platform to meet the HR system needs of a large company.

Prior to pursuing a PEO relationship, you’ve probably already made a substantial capital investment in human resource software , sometimes called an HRIS system.
Therefore, as you look at partner companies to help with things like your payroll processing and benefits administration, here are some great questions to ask:

“Why do you believe your technology system will provide reliable data?”

Have the PEO explain their expertise in providing reliable data, and how their HR technology is backed –up. Getting a message that payroll processing will be unavailable for a few days can cost you employee angst. Also, finding problems with data that their system is feeding yours, months after the integration, can be a nightmare to fix.

“Does your HRIS system have the features I need, and what features should I be using?”

Making sure the PEO’s HR system has the features you need is an obvious question, but also taking to time to get the PEO’s advice on what features you could benefit from can provide valuable insight. For example, larger companies are increasingly seeking human resource software platforms with an integrated self-service station that assists with leave administration and that provides employees with access to information such as workplace policies and procedures.

“Can you show me why you think your HRIS platform is an integrated solution, and not a jumble of independent software and online tools?”

Many PEOs arrive at the meeting with you prepared to talk about all their HR technology and online services they have for you, but if they don’t talk to each other, you may get frustrated with extensive training for your people to learn all the different systems. There may also be a need to enter data more than once, which is a data management sin.
For example, can the system handle all of the payroll, benefits, and human resources information needs too?
“In case it’s needed, how customizable is your software package, or online service?”
Understanding that there’s room to customize the software for your specific needs helps you feel more confident in a PEO choice.

“Can your system integrate with what we are already using?”

Seeing the greats features of the PEO system can be exciting, but if it doesn’t tie into pieces of your current HR technology that you will continue to use, then what’s the point?

“How hard is it to train my staff to use the HR system tools?”

In addition, large clients want an HRIS platform that allows for easy access and operation by the end users — both management and non-management workers alike. Get the PEO to paint a picture of how the training is performed and how much time it will take your employees to finish it.

“How will you adapt to our future needs?”

Asking for example of how the PEO has adapted their HR system for a client’s changing needs can help you understand the PEO’s process for changes their offerings to meet your needs and to execute any additional integration and staff training that may be needed.

Payroll deductions should include state income tax and payroll insurance deductions

MBAHRO — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:52:00 GMT

Payroll deductions should include state income tax and payroll insurance deductions

As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients ask us to handle their payroll responsibilities including two of the most talked about deductions: their state income tax and payroll insurance deductions.

The state income tax is part of the statutory payroll tax deductions.

As required by law, statutory Payroll Tax Deductions are payroll taxes that must be withheld from your employees paycheck. You must hand these withholdings over to the multitude of tax agencies on all levels of government.

Local tax withholdings (city, county, or school district taxes, state disability or unemployment insurance).
State income tax withholding
Federal income tax withholding
Social Security tax withholding
Medicare tax withholding

The payroll insurance deductions are part of the Voluntary Payroll Deductions

Voluntary deductions pay for various benefits which the employee has chosen to participate in. Voluntary payroll deductions are withheld from an employee's paycheck only if the employee has agreed to the deduction.
Voluntary payroll deductions include the following:

Retirement plan contributions (such as a 401k plan)
Health insurance premiums (medical, dental, and eyecare)
Life insurance premiums
Meals, uniforms, union dues and other job-related expenses
Employee stock purchase plans (ESPP and ESOP plans)

Voluntary deductions can be paid with pre-tax dollars or after-tax dollars, depending on the type of benefit being paid for.

As a business owner, decisions you make about state income tax and payroll insurance deductions issues are important ones to make correctly. Always consult with your HR advisors when these issues come up.

At Modern Business Associates, we deal with state income tax and payroll insurance deductions as a daily part or our business. Our clients outsource their payroll processing to us. We take pride in working with our St. Petersburg and Tampa clients, as well as clients from across the nation. Please contact us for more information about utilizing an HR company and any specific questions about our services. Our goal is for you to make the best informed decision for your St. Petersburg or Tampa-based company.

Payroll Providers – Top Three Things to Ask When Evaluating Payroll Providers

MBAHRO — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:53:00 GMT

Payroll Providers – Top Three Things to Ask When Evaluating Payroll Providers

Evaluating outsource payroll providers, is a big decision whether you are switching from one to another, or investigating partnering with one for the first time. Here are some tips on what to ask potential payroll providers:

What else can I outsource to you, down the road?

Many companies start using an outsource for payroll processing, and within a year, are looking for more HR functions to outsource. It can be a great time-saver to work with an outsource company that offers a portfolio of outsource HR and payroll functions. That way, you can add-on services and already have confidence in their customer support and their understanding of your business. Help with layoffs, ex-employee lawsuits, and employee insurance packages are all common outsource needs.

Can you handle the complexities of my business’ payroll?

The locations of your employees can be a big factor in selecting payroll providers. Are your employees in the same state? What state-specific regulations need to be followed? Also, the frequency of when they get paid are just a few of the unique things about your payroll. Make sure you consult with your staff to make a list of the particular things that need to be supported from an outsource.

On a weekly basis, how will my staff work with the payroll processor?

You need to understand the online tools your staff will be logging into on a weekly basis to process they payroll. Check to see if the payroll provider’s customer service is up-to-par. What hours of the day is support offered, in your timezone? These weekly interactions of your staff are critical to the long-term success of your payroll provider choice.

Modern Business Associates is a professional employer organization. We provide payroll processing as part of our suite of offerings to clients. When evaluating payroll providers, why not give us a call to help with this decision?

Worst mistakes you can make when selecting an online payroll service.

MBAHRO — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:59:00 GMT

Worst mistakes you can make when selecting an online payroll service.

When selecting an online payroll service, there are many mistakes to avoid. Here are the top things to avoid:

Not evaluating the online payroll service’s customer service.

Let’s say you select your online payroll processing service because they offer the best rate. Then, a week into getting the system initialized for your particular business, you realize there’s no live customer service available. You’re waiting two days to get an email returned from them. Always ask about live customer service capabilities and whether customer service is an additional fee, or hourly rate.

Not asking the online payroll service about ongoing fees or yearly tax table updates.

Services with ongoing fees can be a fair situation, depending on how well the online payroll processing service meets your needs. But, you just don’t want to be surprised about them.

Selecting a young service because of price

There are hundreds of online payroll processors. Picking one that is new to the industry and that has few clients means using a service that has not had years of feedback from companies to refine their service features.

Not having your staff go through the demo of the service

Don’t ever purchase a payroll processing service without having your staff (the people that will actually use the service every week) go through a demo. They are the ones that can best identify the best features for your company, or if any are lacking. Let your team help you.

Modern Business Associates is a professional employer organization. We provide our online payroll processing service as part of our offerings to clients. Why not give us a call to help with this decision?

What does PEO stand for?

MBAHRO — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:57:00 GMT

What does PEO stand for? What is a PEO?

If you’re asking yourself, “What does PEO stand for?”, then you should know that, professional employer organizations (PEOs) are in the business of being an outsource for companies that want to focus on their core business model. PEOs provide the ability to outsource:

Human Resources
Employee Benefits
Payroll
Workers’ Compensation

Many businesses today see the value in outsourcing the parts of their business that don’t focus on their expertise at revenue-producing and operational efforts.

A few benefits of using a PEO are:

Lower payroll processing costs with higher reliability concerning documentation and regulatory requirements
Using their HR legal resources to lower their risk of employee lawsuits
Professionally dealing with compensation and unemployment insurance claims.
Improved employment practices, compliance and risk management to reduce liabilities.
Access to a comprehensive employee benefits package, allowing clients to be competitive in the labor market.

“What does PEO Stand For?” – Let Modern Business Associates help you through the process of understanding how a Professional Employer Organization can help your bottom-line this year. As a PEO, Modern Business Associates provides a wide range of personnel management solutions through our team of HR and payroll professionals. Contact us about your PEO questions today.

Employer Payroll Taxes – How to stay out of trouble

MBAHRO — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:03:00 GMT

Employer Payroll Taxes – How to stay out of trouble

Many growing companies have questions like, “How do employer payroll taxes work?” At Modern Business Associates, many of our small clients come onboard with our payroll processing to let us handle their entire payroll processing burden, which includes payroll taxes. Our systems are set up to ensure your business does not get into trouble by missing withholdings or taking the wrong amounts.

As background, you should know that employer payroll taxes are the state and federal taxes that you, as an employer, are required to withhold and/or to pay on behalf of your employees.

After having each new employee complete their IRS form W-4, we’ll use this information to calculate the amount of federal income tax to withhold from the employee’s wages. Most all of the states have income tax structures that are based on the federal blueprint, so you will use the same W-4 to calculate the amount of state income tax to withhold as well.

You are also required to withhold social security and Medicare taxes from your employees' wages.

Social security and Medicare taxes (FICA taxes) must be withheld from your employees' wages.

You are required to withhold the social security taxes from the employee’s wages, and to pay a matching amount in social security taxes until the employee reaches the wage base for the year. At higher salary levels, there is a cap on the total amount of social security tax per year that must be paid per employee.

You will withhold the Medicare portion of the FICA tax and pay a matching amount. There is no cap for the Medicare portion of the FICA tax. Both the employer and the employee continue to pay Medicare tax, no matter how much is earned.

Employer payroll taxes also include State and Federal unemployment tax.

The employer also must pay State and Federal Unemployment Taxes (SUTA and FUTA). There may be some tax credits available for some businesses for the FUTA amounts.

Generally, your SUTA tax rate is based on the amount of unemployment claims that are filed by employees that you have terminated. Generally, when your business is brand new, your SUTA tax rate is at its most, and declines as you build a history of few unemployment claims.

Modern Business Associates is an outsource company that deals with payroll processing and employer payroll taxes all the time. If you are considering a payroll company, why not call us to help answer your questions and offer important information for making this kind of decision?

Free Payroll Calculator – Taxes, deductions, withholdings? Where’s a good one? Here!

MBAHRO — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:09:00 GMT

Free Payroll Calculator – Taxes, deductions, withholdings? Where’s a good one? Here!

Many of our clients here at Modern Business Associates ask us about whether we have an online payroll calculator. Taxes, deductions and withholdings can be difficult to figure out. We can now answer, “Yes, we do have a payroll calculator: taxes, deductions, and withholdings are incorporated into the tool for you!” Further, it’s free of charge. To gain access to our payroll calculator, just click on the little “Register” link on the right-hand side of any page on our site. After completing the single-page registration form, you’ll be able to click on the “Resources” tab and get to the “Paycheck Calculator.” The calculators include the ability to take into account the federal, state and city level complications involved with calculating payroll deductions and taxes.

Selected Features:

Variety of payroll frequencies (weekly, bi-weekly, etc.)
State specific taxation rules are in this payroll calculator
Tax elements specific to cities
And the Ability to accept withholdings

At Modern Business Associates, you can partner with our available resources including our free payroll calculator, HR staff and payroll processing professionals. Please contact us for more information about utilizing our payroll services.

Large company benefits management needs from a professional employer organization

MBAHRO — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:36:00 GMT

Large company benefits management needs from a professional employer organization

A common requirement from large businesses working with professional employer organizations is for exceptional benefits support.

In today's competitive job market large businesses know that a strong benefits package is a major inducement for attracting and retaining top talent.

Large businesses use PEOs to offer benefits beyond the standard health, dental and as 401(k) plans. A more comprehensive benefit package provides you with a way to distinguish your company from competitors and gain a competitive edge.

In addition to the standard offerings, large clients are requesting a broader array of benefits, such as health savings accounts, employer assistance programs (EAPs), pet insurance, homeowner's insurance, and Section 529 pre-paid college plans.

Make sure you ask whether your PEO has relationships with service providers to make these standout benefits available to your employees.

Modern Business Associates as your PEO – Tampa, Florida

MBAHRO — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:02:00 GMT

Modern Business Associates as your PEO – Tampa, Florida

If your business is in Tampa, Florida and you are considering a PEO, why not use a local leader in the PEO business? MBA has been a shining star in the Tampa Bay area over the last ten years. You should know that we’ve received multiple awards drawing praise for the services and support we provide our clients. As your neighborhood Tampa Bay PEO, we can unique aspects to our services:

Better understanding of your own employees and how to take action required based on local Tampa Bay events. (like, “How would your HR dept handle a hurricane? Do you have the right processes in place?” Or “What do you do when an employee demands to go home during a summer downpour because they live in a flood area?”)
More personal process to learning about how our Tampa PEO can help you and starting a relationship together via face-to-face conversations with our new account staff.
Lower live training costs, due to no travel being required by MBA staff.
More personal attention to your account.
We’ll have a better understanding of Florida state, Hillsborough county and Tampa legal and financial HR factors.
Better understanding of future legal and financial developments (like state laws that affect your Tampa-based-company HR policies, etc.)

Modern Business Associates lets you outsource:

Payroll Administration
Human Resources
Workers’ Compensation
Benefits Support
And possibly most importantly, monitoring legislative changes and keeping your HR procedures and policies up to par.

Our knowledgeable Tampa Bay PEO team includes HR specialists with legal backgrounds, employment tax professionals, certified payroll processors, licensed insurance agents and award winning customer service professionals. Our products and services are designed to offer you back-office support so you can focus on new revenue.

Get upfront PEO-contract clarity on HR and Payroll Outsourcing fee structures from a professional employer organization, to prevent hassles down the road.

MBAHRO — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:03:00 GMT

Get upfront PEO-contract clarity on HR and Payroll Outsourcing fee structures from a professional employer organization, to prevent hassles down the road.

With the changing business environment and the need to focus on generating revenues, many business owners are considering outsourcing the payroll, tax, insurance and employee benefits support tasks for their businesses. Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) are designed to take on these duties for you. It is not uncommon for one PEO company to structure its fees differently from others. Building trust with your HR outsourcing company is critical to the relationship’s long term success.

When looking at a PEO contract, here’s a list of things to ask upfront, to prevent misunderstandings down the road.

“Do you bundle your fees?”

Traditionally, PEOs bill their service package in either a bundled or unbundled format.

PEOs opting for the unbundled invoice method list the services individually on the invoice.

The payroll amounts
Employment-related taxes (FICA, FUTA, SUTA)
Workers' compensation premiums
Administration fee charged by the PEO
Benefit costs

PEOs using the bundled invoice approach combine all the service fees, occasionally breaking out the Benefit Costs. Either method is fine, just be sure that you understand what is included in a bundled fee.

“What if the workers’ compensation rates or group health insurance premiums change during the contract? How will those changes affect my bill?”

It’s in the best interest of the PEO company to secure the best rates from insurance carriers, but those rates do change. You need to have a clear understanding regarding how those rate changes will affect the PEOs fees during the contract period.

“Does your Client Service Agreement cover all of these questions?”

A PEO agent should be able to provide a well drafted client service agreement (CSA) that outlines the responsibilities of the PEO and identifies all services for which the client is being charged. Just like with any other contract, it is important that you, as a business owner, understand the agreement you are entering in to.

“Do you utilize an IRS Section 125 plan in calculating payroll taxes?”

PEOs can use an IRS Section 125 plan to reduce the tax liabilities for your company, which means they can calculate the payroll taxes based on the reduced taxable wages. Check to see if the PEO utilizes a Section 125 plan and find out how the tax reduction is reflected on your invoice.

The PEO contract should be drafted in such a way that little question can be raised during the contract period of how fees will be applied. The partnership between client and PEO can be mutually beneficial, provided these considerations are addressed early in the business relationship.

At Modern Business Associates, we handle these kinds of questions every day. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to professionally answer any questions you may regarding this topic and how it applies to your specific company.