Payroll
Your employees are paid on time and the taxes are deposited on time.
Form 941 · Form 940 · W-2 / W-3 · 1099-NEC · state registrations
Your employees are paid on time and the taxes are deposited on time.
Form 941 · Form 940 · W-2 / W-3 · 1099-NEC · state registrations
A first hire triggers more than a salary payment. You need a state employer account, an unemployment tax registration, withholding calculated from each employee's Form W-4, deposits made on the federal schedule, quarterly returns and year-end forms.
The consequence of missing a deposit is unusually heavy. Payroll taxes withheld are treated as trust money — they are held on the employee's behalf. If they are not deposited, the penalty can be assessed directly against the business owner, separately from the company.
Classification matters as much as the processing itself. Treating an employee as a 1099 contractor to avoid employer tax is one of the most frequently examined issues, and a reclassification reaches back into earlier years.
Texas has no state income tax, so there is no state withholding to administer. State unemployment tax still applies, and registration is required once you hire. Workers' compensation is not mandatory for most private employers, but going without it carries a risk of its own.
The filing obligations are the same for one employee as for twenty. The only difference is that in a small business there is no second pair of eyes to catch the error.
We review what has been filed up to that point, tell you if anything is missing, and carry on from the current quarter. Before we take on responsibility for a period, we want to know what we are taking on.
A salary set too low invites examination; one set too high erodes the tax advantage. We arrive at it by calculation, not at random.
A conversation before the year closes can change what you pay in April. Held in January, the same conversation is only a diagnosis.
If a report was missed the position is clearer still: the voluntary disclosure programs can reduce penalties substantially and sometimes remove them altogether. The single condition is coming forward before the IRS contacts you. The moment an examination opens, that door closes.
In both cases the deciding factor is the same one: timing.
Free, about half an hour, and nothing follows from it — if your situation is not a fit for us, we will say that plainly too.