Before the offer turns into payroll
Confirm that the legal employer is the entity you intend to use, that the entity has an EIN, and that it is registered for the federal and state employer accounts required in the employee's work location. Hiring in a new state can create payroll, unemployment, workers' compensation, income-tax withholding, and entity-registration questions.
Collect the employee records
Build a secure onboarding packet for Form W-4, Form I-9 and employment-eligibility procedures, state withholding forms where applicable, direct-deposit authorization, and benefits elections. Payroll contains sensitive personal data, so access should be limited to people who actually need it.
Set the payroll calendar before the first run
Choose pay frequency, pay dates, cutoff dates, and approval ownership. Configure earnings, reimbursements, bonuses, and any taxable fringe benefits correctly. Make sure the company knows whether the payroll provider is actually filing and depositing each tax or merely calculating it.
Bookkeeping integration
Map gross wages, employer payroll taxes, benefits, reimbursements, and payroll liabilities to the chart of accounts. Each payroll run should post in a repeatable way, and the monthly close should reconcile payroll-provider reports to the general ledger.
Recurring calendar
- Payroll tax deposits according to the employer's assigned deposit schedule.
- Quarterly Form 941 in the common case.
- State withholding and unemployment returns on the applicable state cadence.
- Annual Form W-2/W-3 reporting.
- Annual Form 940 for FUTA where applicable.
- Employment tax records retained for at least four years.