Three Tips for Avoiding Payroll Scam Companies

    Finance Tips

Benefits administration outsourcing

There are plenty of reasons a company might choose to outsource their payroll services. The IRS, for example, reports that about 40% of businesses make payroll errors, and these errors end up costing these companies an average of over $800 in fines annually. Many of these errors are entirely due to managing the payroll manually, rather than as an automated service.

Outsourcing also allows employers to work on the important tasks of making business decisions and managing a company, rather than wasting hours every week crunching numbers.

While there are many advantages to outsourcing to a payroll service company, as Business News Daily points out, companies need to remember to be on the lookout for scam operations. What, exactly, is an indicator that a payroll software company is less than legitimate? Here are three things companies should look out for.

Make Sure the Company is Trustworthy

According to Michael Raanan, a former IRS officer, not all payroll processing companies are made equal. Less than legitimate companies will “take the payroll tax from their customers’ account, and then fail to turn the funds over to the IRS and other taxing authorities,” Raanan explains. “This results in tax, penalties and interest due for the business.” However, he says that small businesses can work to avoid this risk by looking for a company that is bonded, insured, and one that provides a way for the business to monitor payment delivery.

Does the Company Operate in a Timely Manner?

Donne DeGagne works with cloud-based HR services, and she says that one thing small business owners need to double-check is that, in addition to being reputable, the payroll companies they are hiring submit taxes in a timely manner. If this doesn’t happen, there can be hefty penalties to pay — and the payroll company isn’t going to be liable, the small businesses will be.

A Good Company Should Have a Corresponding Reputation

If your intended payroll company is serving dozens or hundreds of other clients, then they shouldn’t be an internet “ghost.” In other words, it should be fairly easy to Google and see what their reputation is among other small businesses. Has their collective experience been overall positive? Familiarize yourself with existing criticism before moving forward.

Do you have tips for finding legitimate payroll processing companies? Let us know in the comments. Read more articles like this.

Ditch the Desk and Start Your Small Business Now

    Finance Tips

Building business credit

Maybe you’ve spent your whole life sitting behind a desk at work. Maybe you’re tired of your boss who seems to be Satan in the flesh who verbally abuses you and belittles you at every turn. Or maybe you’re just sick of the regular nine to five that has dictated the way you’ve lived your life for the last thirty years. And all you ever wanted was to open up a little specialty store selling clothes and accessories for small dogs and cats. Now is the time to do it. You can leave that desk, bad chair, and impending carpal tunnel syndrome behind and finally open your own business. One of the most important steps is finding the start up loans for small businesses available to you.
The economic climate of the last few years hasn’t necessarily been very welcoming to new businesses, especially businesses that are small and privately owned, but these days they are in better shape than they were before. Small businesses even make up the bulk of the businesses in America today — a surprising 90% of them. These small businesses are also responsible for more than half of the country’s sales. You and your small business can get a piece of that retail pie. All you have to do is find the small business funding you need, which is easier than it has been in the past. Small business funding may seem hard to come by, but this isn’t the case. New business funding increased almost two billion dollars in a single year, so you should start exploring the small business funding options out there. Become your own boss. Open that small pet apparel store. Now is the time to do it. Find out more here.

One Business, Two Countries — How Businesses Operating Under Two Systems Struggle With Payroll

    Finance Tips

Processing payroll

For business owners that operate a business in both the U.S. and Canada, navigating the payroll processing systems in both countries is tricky enough. But this can become even more complicated as other HR and employee management issues start appearing; for small businesses especially, even the smallest paperwork mistakes can be extremely costly.

Many business owners don’t think about the other HR issues surrounding payroll processing, and what first seemed to be a simple task can quickly become an impossible mountain to scale. A recent article published by newswire.ca discusses the new guidelines released by the Canadian Human Rights Commission — guidelines that specifically focus on health issues for Canadian employees. This guide discussed notable statistics, including that the average number of work days taken off for personal reasons was approximately 9.1 in 2010, and that disability accounts for anywhere between 4% to 12% of Canadian payroll costs.

Why Do Business Owners Need to Pay Attention to These Statistics?

For businesses that are based in the U.S. but employ Canadian citizens, it is imperative that corporate management understands restrictions and regulations imposed by Canadian legislation for employing Canadian workers. Knowing how HR regulations differ in both countries, and also how American payroll regulations differ from Canadian payroll regulations, are two imperative parts of running a business between the two countries.

Keeping track of all these differences can quickly become a full-time job, and take time and energy away from managers and owners who should be focusing on the primary core of their business. Many businesses — especially small and independent businesses — find that an easy solution is to outsource payroll tasks to a company that specifically provides payroll services. These companies can be invaluable for business owners because they not only take care of the entire payroll processing task, but they also often provide HR guidance and help owners navigate sensitive employment tasks, such as changes in employee healthcare requirements.

So when should a business owner think about outsourcing payroll? Somewhere around the time when he or she begins spending more time working on employee payroll and not having enough time and energy to focus on the core of the business. Learn more.

The Top Five Ways an Investment Advisor Can Help You

    Finance Tips

San rafael wealth management

Investing is one of the best ways an individual can grow his or her funds and save up for the future. And at a time when it’s more important than ever to build a stable retirement savings fund, there’s no reason not to try your hand at building an investment portfolio.

The best part about investing? Anyone can do it! Currently, about 52% of Americans have invested in the stock market.

But if you are new to the world of investing, it’s essential to make sure you have the best advice possible before you begin your investing endeavors — and hiring a licensed investment advisor is the best way to do this.

Here are the top five ways in which a certified investment advisor can help you optimize your finances:

1. Personalized investment recommendations: There’s never a one-size-fits-all solution for investing, which is why working with an investment advisor is such a great idea. Your advisor will look at your income, lifestyle, goals and more to determine which investments are best for you.

2. Ability to predict turbulent economic periods: Investment advisors are always looking at economic trends — and as a result, are able to predict periods of economic decline and pass this knowledge on to you. Your money will be safe from economic crashes when you work with an investment advisor who knows when it’s time to pull out from your investments.

3. Access to the best investment opportunities: The best investment advisors advise you on investing according to their own investment habits. This means you’ll be able to invest in the same companies and causes your investment advisor does, taking away any uncertainty or doubt about your investment choices.

4. Help with long-term financial goals: Whether you need help with this year’s tax planning or saving for a down payment on a home, an investment advisor will be able to help you set out goals you want to achieve and give you the strategies you need to reach them.

5. Motivation to keep investing and saving: Saving money is never fun — we’d all rather be spending our hard-earned money on the things we enjoy right now! Yet the reality is that this generation will have less access to federal retirement funds than any before it, and so we all need to be saving as much as we can for a healthy retirement. Finding an investment advisor will help you stay on track and motivated each month to keep investing and growing your savings. More research here.