Anytime you’re dealing with payroll, there is risk involved. Workers understandably care a lot about it because their livelihoods are involved and the government cares because they have rules and regulations in place both to get the taxes they are due and also to protect workers. The two most important factors of a successful payroll program are accurate/on-time payments and compliance with federal, state, and local regulations.
What Makes Compliance Challenging?
States and localities are constantly introducing new legislation, and with each change, payroll procedures change, too. Mistakes in income tax withholding rates, unemployment tax rates, minimum wage and labor laws can lead to costly penalties. The more states a business operates in, the more risky the compliance aspect becomes because the rules vary from place to place.
As the employment landscape has changed and many workers have shifted to more of a hybrid or remote situation, it has only complicated the matter further. If an employer doesn’t have an established entity to pay employees appropriately in a given state, they aren’t in position to have employees there at all.
What Can Employers do to Prevent Problems?
We all know that prevention is the best policy, but some companies are quick to start auditing their process and procedures only after they see a problem. The businesses with the smoothest processes have proactive auditing measures in place to stay on top of changes, identify and solve gaps in their processes, etc.
Manually managing all of these complex details is impossible. Businesses should take compliance very seriously to reduce their risks. If their internal team doesn’t have the bandwidth or tools to manage it accurately, they should engage a partner with the tools, methods and processes to help. They should also be in position to address the concerns that come up when employees have questions about their paychecks. If you’re wondering if a partner would help with your situation, let’s chat. This is our speciality.
