Selecting a Payroll Service Provider

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The time has come. You want to avoid tax penalties that can easily affect your bottom line, and stick to what you do best, which is not payroll! Selecting a payroll service provider will streamline the payroll process and significantly limit your personal investment of time and effort toward administrative tasks.

But where does one begin? There are countless options for outsourcing when it comes to payroll. Employer Solutions Plus recommends the following when selecting a service provider.

First, make a list of payroll-related services you believe your company needs. Below is a list of examples:

  • Calculation of payroll and tax obligations for each employee (how many employees do you have?)
  • Direct deposit
  • Automatic check signatures
  • Check printing
  • Quarterly and annual tax form preparations
  • 401k/Section 125 fund plans
  • Integrated or specialized software

When meeting with a payroll service provider:

  • Ensure the company offers all payroll services requested
  • Request client references
  • Request a written contract stating who is responsible for penalties due to late or non-filed taxes
  • Confirm how local taxes are calculated and who is responsible for paying them
  • If you are filing electronically yourself, what assistance will be provided by the payroll company?

Pricing: Beware of the fine print! Payroll service providers typically charge a standard fee per pay period in addition to a small fee per check issued, but employers may find themselves faced with additional fees when it comes to year-end W2s, set-up fees, adding employees, dropping employees and more. Be sure to request a proposal that outlines any and every cost including future costs for services that are not needed at this exact time.

A PEO may be a more cost effective solution than a payroll-only service provider if you have other HR and employee administration related tasks to be outsourced, since PEOs often build payroll administration into their all-encompassing HR support contracts. Whether or not your company can benefit from PEO services can be determined upon an analysis of your employee management needs. If a PEO solution is in fact a good fit, Employer Solutions Plus has a separate list of recommendations for selecting a PEO.

Running through this process with multiple service providers is a lot to handle on top of your current day to day operations, which is why Employer Solutions Plus manages the entire vendor selection process on behalf of its clients.

Employer Solutions Plus is skilled at determining which payroll outsourcing solution is the best fit for your company – whether that is a payroll-only solution, or a comprehensive full suite employee administration solution such as a PEO.

We represent multiple providers in each product category– This allows us the flexibility to customize a cost effective solution to meet the individual needs of our clients.
Please contact us today to learn more about payroll administration solutions.