How do you guys do payroll?

We have been doing it manually. It's a drag.

I looked at the quickbooks module. Seems interesting, but I really don't know much more about it.

Any ideas?

Mike

payroll is done in quickbooks pro somehow. my wife sets it up all i do is input and it does the rest

ed

ADP

you mean I should be getting paid?

Paychex. About $80.00 a month

thats the good thing about illlegals, i pay them like 4 bucks a day.......lol


ditto that frank... i'm the last to get paid and only when there is something left over.

maybe i quit this custom av gig and take a city job in chicago

Quick Books Pro. Once it is set up, it's a snap. You have to pay an annual subscriotion rate - appx $200 - to keep your tax tables up to date. Otherwise, fairly painless. It generates your 941 reports, annual 940 and W-2's and W-3 annual transmitals.

How many people on your payroll?

If you are not using a payroll service or employee leasing... you are missing out. We switched to employee leasing a few months ago and love it. We now pay workers comp and health insurance weekly with no big up front deposits, no audits... call in hours on monday, checks delivered on tuesday, dated for friday.

ADP

I checked out prices for ADP a while back, they were VERY reasonable. When it comes to tax/financial matters, if I don't know it, I leave it to someone else who does.

Bucdup: what's employee leasing? I've never heard that term.



Thank you,
Damon DG
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http://www.ProRemotes.com - Authorized Dealer & Remote Programming Services

[Link: payroll.com]

Standalone for non quickbooks users @ $129 per year.

Mike, depending on how many people you are talking Quickbooks, Peachtree or what Tom recommended is probably the best way to go. We use Peachtree and I think it is like $100 per year to maintain the state and federal tax tables. Just an easier way to keep track of everything.

If you have a lot of techs (like 10 or more) then I would say use ADP, then can do stuff like direct deposit and do all the reports for you.

Employee leasing is a way for a company to make money off of you for doing nothing. Well, I shouldn't say that, they do do payroll. I was hit up for that (so was my brother) a few years ago but no one could answer the questions I had. Especially to do with worker's comp and subcontracting. Because basically that is what you are doing, subcontracting this company for you employees. I equate it to having Kelly Temps as employees. I just don't want that extra liability.

tschulte,

Not sure what employee leasing company you used, but I think you may have a so called construction labor company. We use Southeast Personnel Leasing here. We hire / fire all employees and they are leased to the company for a small fee. In return we pay W/C weekly at a great rate with no deposits, no monthly audits, do not handle any payroll or claims, do not have to pay for screening or drug testing, blah, blah, blah. One of the most difficult aspects of running a small business in this field is controlling your W/C costs. We have been an Electrical / LV contractor for over 35 years and it has been one of the best decisions we have made.

Just my opinion, I could be right... (for a change)

No, this was not Labor Ready or any temp company (Manpower, Kelly, etc., etc., etc.). This was an employee leasing company. Yeah they promised us the same stuff. No more workers comp issues, no more payroll issues, no more insurance issues. How much is the small fee? It ended up being considerable for the amount of work that they were "handeling" for us. Believe me you are paying for all of those services one way or another.

Let me make sure I get the scenerio right. You have a need for a new tech. You advertise for the position. A potential candidate comes in. You have them fill out your employment application. You think that they will do well with your company. You send them to this leasing company that in turn sends them to get a drug test. Mean time they do a background check on the candidate. They get back to you with the results, and for arguements sake, you say you want to hire him. You then tell this company what you are willing to pay. They then tell you what it will cost to lease them from you. You pay this fee for as long as this person works for you.

If all of this is correct, my question would then be, where are you saving money?

I get a great rate on W/C and pay monthly with no deposit. Have only had two site audits in 6 years. Have only had 3 W/C claims in 6 years as well. I have sat down with my W/C company and asked what would lower my rates, and they helped me establish manuals and policies that in turn lowered my rate.

Also, as I said before my general liabilty insurance company told me that these "leased employees" are now considered subcontractors because they don't work for my company. So now I have to increase my liabilty to cover them. Have you discussed this with you GL Insurance agent? That cost difference alone made it not worth it.

FP Crazy

4 employees, all great workers.

The Quickbooks seems interesting.

Don't laugh, I still use my quickbooks 99. Hey it works, and I know it's time to upgrade.

Mike