Let's face it, gone are the days of just data entry and rarely communicating with your customer. And to that, I say "thank goodness!" Our job as an accountant or bookkeeper has changed significantly in the last few years. With automation, we can serve our clients with more of a partnership-type relationship. They trust us!
When our client grows, we smile! Nothing makes me smile more brightly than when a client hires their first staff member. The decision to hire staff is scary, and our client needs our guidance.
Here is the starting list of the "To do's" when hiring staff:
- Obtain an employer identification number
- Sign up with the state for unemployment account and state taxes, if applicable.
- Sign up for a payroll service.
- Get workers' compensation insurance
- Have your new employee fill out IRS Form W-4, Withholding Allowance Certificate.
- Fill out Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification for each new employee.
- Report your new hire to your state's new hire reporting agency.
- Post the labor law poster.
- Adopt workplace safety measures
The first two items are simple. You go to the client's state's department of revenue website. Most are pretty easy to navigate by going to employees or taxes page and following the steps to sign up.
But when you get to item 3, you may think to yourself, "where do I go?" to get a payroll service?
If you are a QuickBooks Online user, Intuit makes it simple to handle right within the program. With just a few clicks, you can get the payroll program started.
QuickBooks Online Payroll
You can click here to see the options of QuickBooks Online payroll. Intuit recently announced a new lineup of payroll products. See this recent article by William Murphy (aka Murph) for the changes.
Now that the payroll is in place, what are the steps to find a good worker's compensation policy for my client?
Worker’s Compensation by AP Intego
Not only has Intuit made it easy to sign up for payroll, but also very easy to sign up for worker's compensation. Intuit has partnered with AP Intego. You can sign up right within the QuickBooks Online product. It is just one tab away from QuickBooks Payroll!
Learn about converting your existing workers' compensation policy over to a PAYG policy with QBO Payroll and AP Intego by registering for Insightful Accountant's webinar on March 4, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, presented by Lynda Artesani and Matthew Fulton. Click here to learn more and register for 6,500 Reasons to Review Your Workers' Comp Policy.
Signing up could not be easier. Just follow the prompts and fill out the pages. If you don’t know an answer, and an AP Intego agent will help you complete the process.
Even if the company you work with already has a current worker's compensation policy in place, AP Intego can provide the client with a quote. Not only does AP Intego provide competitive pricing (they work with multiple insurance companies), but it instantly gives you an estimated quote. The formal one typically arrives within 24 hours. If their pricing is less than the current policy, you are a few clicks away to an insurance broker change page and saving your client money! Now that's value!
But wait....there's another benefit! AP Intego has the best feature called “Pay as You Go" With Pay as You Go, you pay your premium based on the current actual payroll. So, no more paying a large upfront deposit and even monthly payments based on the prior year's payroll figures.
This one perk alone will improve your client's cash flow by eliminating the large upfront deposit. I've worked with clients who struggled to find the funds to cover this deposit if it falls in a time when their business is cash strapped. In Florida, where I live, a seasonal business with a worker's compensation policy period that falls in our offseason can be difficult. I've had clients that have had to transfer funds from a Line of Credit or provide a loan from officer just so their company could afford the upfront deposit and still have money to pay their employees.
Set up is simple. You find that code for the employee from your insurance provider and enter it in the workers>employee>edit employee>employment setup tab.
The program does the rest of the data mining and calculations with each payroll run. It also makes the painful annual audit a breeze. It's been my experience that these audits result in a much more accurate result.
Again, this is providing value to your customers. You will save time in the audit process. The client pays a real-time premium and is not given the annual surprise that is the "guesstimate" policy. Remember the one with the big upfront deposit doesn't end with a big .... "whoops, we guessed wrong," and you owe us "this" to make up for the inaccurate policy premium.
IRS Compliance forms
For items 5 and 6, the irs.gov website is your best friend. These forms are required by the IRS. So is number 7, the new hire form. There are links in the list above. Here is what the forms look like:
There are plenty of resources for workplace safety. You can reach out to your AP Intego broker for help. I have worked for construction firms in the past and the local builders association used to help the contractors by presenting workplace safety classes for their members.
As you can see, Intuit and AP Intego make it very easy to add payroll and stay compliant with adding worker’s compensation insurance for your customer’s firm. This type of advisory service will elevate your practice and keep your customers happy. Remember happy customers means more referrals!
Learn about converting your existing workers' compensation policy over to a PAYG policy with QBO Payroll and AP Intego by registering for Insightful Accountant's webinar on March 4, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, presented by Lynda Artesani and Matthew Fulton. Click here to learn more and register for 6,500 Reasons to Review Your Workers' Comp Policy.
Lynda Artesani
Author Bio: Lynda Artesani is the president of Artesani Bookkeeping where she uses her expertise and organizational skills to help her small business clients grow their firms, thrive and become profitable. Her specialty is working with attorneys, real estate clients and start-ups. Lynda was recognized by Intuit and invited to be a member of the Intuit Advisory Council and the Intuit Trainer Writer Network. Additionally, she is the first Expert Columnist for the QB Community forum. She also co-admins a Facebook group with Matthew Fulton to help other business owners with QuickBooks, marketing, apps, workflow challenges and much more. The group is called QB Community Live! Originally from Rhode Island, Lynda relocated to Estero Florida. She is a registered yoga teacher and teaches two classes per week. Connect with Lynda on Facebook or Twitter @lynda_artesani and subscribe on YouTube at Artesanibookkeeping.