A small business owner has to wear many hats. Owning your own small business often means you are the only employee, or one of a few. You have to handle many responsibilities, many of which may not exactly be in your wheelhouse. Hopefully you’re good at math, because there is an awful lot of math involved in owning a business, and if you’re more of a creative person who gets overwhelmed by numbers, you might soon find yourself in over your head.
One of the most complicated business tasks is processing payroll. Payroll management can be difficult and complicated and unfortunately, if done incorrectly, the consequences of improper payroll management can be serious and quite costly. One of the most frustrating parts of payroll management is that there are just so many little in’s and out’s to remember. Here are some tips to avoid small payroll mistakes.
- Statutory maternity or paternity payments – Make sure you track the start and end dates of any employee’s maternity or paternity leave.
- Insurance premiums – You want to ensure that the correct employer premiums are taken out.
- Understand any tax exemptions – Certain tax exemptions may apply to certain pay components.
- Benefit plans – Make sure your employees are offered the benefits for which they are eligible, when they are eligible.
- Statutory holidays and holiday accrual – Factor in holidays and calculate whatever is owed at the end of employment for accrued holidays.
- New hires and leavers – Make sure new employees are included in the system, and that everyone’s start and end dates are correct.
- Employee expenses – Some governments need employee expenses to be taken into account as taxable benefits.
- Meet important deadlines – It is very important to pay taxes and report to the appropriate government authority.
If you find payroll management to be too difficult or time-consuming, you should consider outsourcing to a payroll processing company. These companies specialize in payroll processing, and they have it down to a science. A payroll service will make sure all of your payroll tasks are performed accurately and on time, leaving you with only one report to approve, and one invoice to sign.