Archive for December, 2009
In order to meet federal requirements you will need to know payroll records and procedures to follow. Below are the basic steps that you need to know:
1 – file IRS form SS-4 (FEIN)
2 – Have each employee fill out an IRS form W-4
3 – Determine the gross salary or wage for each employee. Complete an employee payroll record and prepare a quarterly payroll time sheet
4 – Consult the tables in IRS Circular E (Employer’s Tax Guide)
5 – Open a separate bank account for handling your business payroll tax deductions and payments
6 – Pay your employees and record the deduction information on the employee’s Employee Payroll Record
7 – write a check for all the employee’s deductions and for the total amount of the employers share of taxes and deposit it into your business payroll tax bank account
I would spend hours a day on the internet playing games, reading news and reading blogs. So it was only natural when I opened my first eCommerce website. It was tough at first figuring out what I needed to know to make the search engines notice my snow boarding site. I was able to get sales with alot of patience and a little bit of research.
Then I had to keep track of the sales, pay taxes to the IRS and file a business tax return. Now here was a situation that I did not like and did not want to deal with. Then I found that there is QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Help online. Now I can do something that I don’t enjoy in a way and place that I can spend all day in. I still don’t like to do accounting but at least now I can get it done.
When you run a business it is always important to mind your cash flow. Having been in the advertising industry for 15 years I have seen talented agencies fold up due to debt. There are countless hot shot creative agencies that produce the best campaigns but can’t seem to manage their overhead costs and expenses. In ever business there should be somebody managing and controlling the accounting. You don’t need to set up a whole accounting department, all you need is an accountant and QuickBooks accounting.
QuickBooks accounting is the best solution for small companies who need help with their accounting. The program helps you with your balance sheet, ledgers and income statements. Accounting need not be difficult anymore. Anyone can use this. You do not need to hire an accountant anymore to handle your everyday entries and movements.
If you want your company to run smoothly, the best way to do it is to minimize unnecessary costs. More companies now are outsourcing their departments. A small company can use programs instead of hiring 3 or 4 people to do the work. One such program or software is QuickBooks. QuickBooks has accounting programs which you can use to save you the hassle of hiring an accountant. You can also take advantage of the QuickBooks integrator to help you consolidate all the QuickBooks programs such as accounting, checks and credit card processing.
If for instance you run a retail company, QuickBooks integrator can help you with more than one function. You can use QuickBooks credit card processing to help with payments done using credit cards. Then you use QuickBooks accounting to do your entries. You can use this to track your payables and your receivables. You can also avail of QuickBooks checks program to create check payments.
I was never good at math in grade school and high school. In college I barely passed my accounting and finance subjects. Today nearly 15 years since I left college, I find myself doing accounting for my own company. I initially taught I would have to hire someone to do my accounting and prepare my checks. Fortunately, today there’s QuickBooks to help me with my accounting and QuickBook checks to make check writing automatic.
QuickBook checks is easy to learn and very convenient. You can choose from several check options. There are voucher checks, standard checks, manual checks and wallet checks. These check options will depend on your needs. If you need to settle accounts payables and do your employee’s payroll.
When the economy goes sour, we all have to do our share. We all have to make sacrifices and hope that one day it will all pay off. However some decisions should be pondered upon seriously. I for instance had to decide whether to hire an accountant and a payroll clerk to do my finances or simply buy a program that could do their work. I quickly learned that QuickBooks was not just about ledgers and balance sheets. By utilizing QuickBooks integration, I am able to manage a lot of work faster and easier.
Several programs have already been developed to ensure a smooth QuickBooks integration with other programs. Since QuickBooks is the leading program for accounting matters, other programs that work with accounting could easily be integrated. If for instance a software to monitor real time sales of all my stores could be integrated with my QuickBooks program, this would be very efficient. A program on human resources could also be integrated with the QuickBooks payroll program. The more integrated the different departments are with one another, the smoother the performance of the company.
Accounting used to involve a lot of paperwork. It was also prone to error. Accounting and bookkeeping were traditionally done on lots of paper. Accountants used to do spreadsheets using a pencil so that mistakes could easily be corrected. Today companies have the option to subscribe to QuickBooks bookkeeping and save them a lot of time and paper work.
QuickBooks bookkeeping is ideal for businesses who want to eliminate paperwork. The program allows you to do all the entries online. You can do your spreadsheets easily. You can also manage your ledger easily. Reconciling accounts payables should be easier and faster.
Times sure have changed. When I was first employed, our payroll was given to us in cash. We had to fall in line every payday and count the money in front of the payroll officer. A couple of years later, our salaries were immediately credited to our ATM cards. There was still a payroll officer assigned to do this. Today the company I work for uses QuickBooks standard payroll, an online prepaid subscription service.
QuickBooks standard Payroll is a one year service that is part of the QuickBooks software. This system can automatically calculate how much each employee. The program automatically processes deductions and taxes. This is more accurate than if the payroll were done manually. This eliminates errors and saves you a lot of time.
I was an employee in advertising, real estate and retail for 15 years. Three years ago, I put my own graphic design agency. At first we were very small. We only had 5 employees including myself. Doing the payroll was easy and simple. Today we are thirty employees and I now rely on QuickBooks payroll to make sure everybody gets their salaries.
QuickBooks payroll helps me manage my employees’ salaries, wages, deductions, and taxes. This tool is very important to my company. It saves me from having to hire someone to manage the payroll. This program is also very helpful to other companies who want to cut down on their staff. The program is easy to learn, to install and to use.
Yesterday I put a post about what to do if you make a mistake when preparing the W-2 or W-3 forms for your employees. But that post was only if you did not file with the IRS yet. If you make a mistake with the wages or payroll deduction on the W-2 or W-3 and they have already been filed then you have to follow these steps:
Prepare Form W-2c for each employee who received an incorrect W-2 form. Also prepare Form W-3c to accompany the W-2c forms. File the W-2c forms and the W-3c form with the government.
Note: QuickBooks does not print Form W-2c or W-3c. For these forms, visit the IRS Web site. A Payroll Summary report or the previous W-2 or W-3 can be used to fill out the W-2c or W-3c.
Issue the W-2c form to each employee who received an incorrect W-2 form. You do not have to issue a W-2c form if the original was correct.
If the employee has not yet filed his or her tax return, the employee should file Form W-2c along with the incorrect Form W-2. Form W-2c only reports corrections to Form W-2 and may not have all the information necessary to complete the tax form.
If the employee has already filed an incorrect W-2 form, the employee should file an amended return, using Form 1040X and the new W-2c form. For these forms, visit the IRS Web site.
If your company has submitted incorrect W-2 forms to a state or local agency, file W-2c forms with the appropriate correction form as required by your state or local agency. Contact your state or local tax agency to confirm the correct procedures.