The Payroll Book is the only book that demystifies payroll with clear, concise, and real-world examples on how to tackle the process.
This book is broken into three parts.
Part One is the details in setting up a payroll. Some of this you will never need in your business and some will be absolutely critical. It is a truism in the payroll business that if a payroll client is set up right it runs like clockwork forever. If the client is set up poorly, it is a disaster, and the client soon leaves.
Part Two is running the payroll and reporting. If you don’t have time right now for setup, which at some point you really need to look at, Part Two will help you get payroll done and out the door.
Part Three is a lot of miscellaneous information. Some, such as record retention, you need to know to keep yourself out of hot water next year or five years from now.
Targeted Age Group:: 35+
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
In 30 plus years of running a payroll company I have seen how small businesses struggle to understand the intricacies of payroll and payroll taxes. I wanted to level the playing field for them. This book is designed to demystify payroll and to help readers understand exactly what they need to do to get payroll and payroll taxes right. It answers key questions and provides specific, real-world guidance on important payroll topics
Book Sample
Table of Contents
Introduction
How to use this book
Icons Used
Part One: Payroll Setup
Chapter One – Business Entity
Corporation
Partnership
Sole Proprietorship
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Chapter Two – Employees and Non-Employees
You
Family Members
Employees Versus Independent Contractors
Statutory Employees and Statutory Non-Employees
Children
Volunteers
Interns
Religious Workers
Chapter Three – Earnings
Salary
Executive exemption
Administrative exemption
Professional exemption
Highly compensated employees
Additional guidance
When an Employer May Make Deductions from Salary Payroll
Hourly
Basic Provisions/Requirements
Piecework
Training Wage
Subminimum Wage Provisions
Other payroll categories
Chapter Four – Deductions
Voluntary Deductions
Involuntary Deductions
Pre-Tax Deductions
Chapter Five – Taxes
Tax Numbers
Employee Taxes
Chapter Six -Tax Penalties/
Penalties
Chapter Seven – Workweek, Pay Period, Payday
Workweek
Pay Frequency (Pay Period)
Payday
Chapter Eight – The Law
Federal
FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act)
Affordable Care Act
New Hire Reporting
Labor Posters
Davis Bacon & Walsh-Healy
The Equal Pay Act (EPA)
Part Two – Running a payroll
Chapter Nine – Collecting Time
Time Clocks
Chapter Ten – Calculating Payroll
Calculate Earnings Hourly
Overtime if a Staff Member Works Different Positions at Different Rates
Additions to Earnings
Reductions to Earnings
Chapter Eleven, Paying Your Employee
Method of Payment
State Rules
Pay Card
Wages for Deceased Employees
Chapter Twelve, Taxes Depositing and Filing
Part Three – Miscellaneous (But Important) Things
Chapter Thirteen – Record Keeping
Internal Revenue Service
Department of Labor
Family and Medical Leave Act (if you have 50 employees or more)
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disability Act of 1990
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
The Immigration Reform and Control Act
Payroll and Direct Deposit Records in General
Employee Handbook/Policy Manual
Medical Insurance
Chapter Fourteen – Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Workers Compensation
Chapter Fifteen – Payroll Security & Internal Controls
Manuals and Procedures
Hiring Who You Think
Internal Controls
Disaster Recovery
Form 944
Chapter Sixteen US Citizens Abroad, Resident and Non-Resident Aliens, Illegal Aliens
Non-Resident Alien Services Performed Outside the United States
Paying Non-Resident Aliens Inside the U.S.
Exceptions to Mandatory W/H of FIT on Nonresident Aliens
Paying Illegal Aliens
Chapter Seventeen – Other Issues
PEO
Human Resource Management or HR
Escheat
Technology / Outsourcing
Federal Laws Based on Number of Employees
The Employee Handbook/Policy Manual
Conclusion
Appendix
Payroll Tax Calendar
Glossary
Index
Introduction
This book is the summation of 40 plus years of payroll experience mostly with small business. From a Controller to a business owner to owning a payroll service bureau, I have processed tens of thousands of payrolls for thousands of companies over the years. I have the professional qualifications to go with the experience that include being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) for over 40 years and I am a United States Tax Court Practitioner which allows me to represent clients in U.S. Tax Court without being an attorney. As a member of the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council I meet with the IRS to help provide real-life recommendations to IRS problems or concerns.
All the information presented in this book is general in nature and you need to have specific situations looked at by your trusted advisors.
Payroll is vital to Federal Government operations. Over 70% of all the revenue collected by the IRS comes through payroll either as withholding or payroll taxes.
In addition, the IRS issues over six billion dollars a year in employment tax penalties on businesses large and small. Forth percent of small businesses get penalized every year with the average penalty approaching $500. However more than half the penalties get abated, I will show you how in Chapter Six.
Payroll is an integral part of your business. Do it wrong and it can cost you everything. There are lots of complexity to payroll that I will step you through and try to keep you out of trouble with taxing authorities, and keep your employees happy as well.
How to use this book
First of all, this book is designed for the small or new business. By small I mean those basically with fifty or fewer employees. I am not going to assume that you have a dedicated Human Resources Department, a Payroll department or employees on staff that are specialists.
Everything here applies to larger business as well but a large business has additional problems and regulations that are not important to the small business owner. I include a section in the back (Chapter 17) that goes through the additional laws and regulations you will be subject to as you hit employee count milestones.
This book is broken into three parts.
Part One is the details in setting up a payroll. Some of this you will never need in your business and some will be absolutely critical. It is a truism in the payroll business that if a payroll client is setup right it runs like clockwork forever. If the client is set up poorly, it is a disaster, and the client soon leaves.
Part Two is running the payroll and reporting. If you don’t have time right now for setup, which at some point you really need to look at, Part Two will help you get a payroll done and out the door.
Part Three is a lot of miscellaneous information. Some, such as record retention, you need to know to keep yourself out of hot water next year or five years from now. Other items may or may not be important depending on your business and how it and you operate.
In addition to this book there are some resources that you may find useful. There are also links to reference page, some ours and some various governmental sites. They are subject to change and some vary lengthy making them hard to just put in a book. We keep the information in the links up to date and they are available to any who reads this book
Links to Purchase Print Books
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