Three key steps towards complete payroll confidence
James_Hudson
Member Posts: 121 admin
Whether you’re just getting started with Payroll by Wave or you’re a Payroll vet, it’s good to know that you’re doing the right thing every time you approve a payroll. Our three key steps towards complete payroll confidence will help ensure that your employees are paid correctly, accurately, and on time.
Get all of your business and employee information in Wave Payroll by Wave, or any payroll software for that matter, is at its core nothing more than a calculator. The answers that you get will always be correct as long as the right details are entered in the first place. Head to Settings > Payroll > Tax Profile. Here’s where you can input any taxes that may affect your business - Employer Contributions. Provided the frequency, rates, and any account numbers are right, you’re good to go. We'll handle the calculations. Each of your employees also has a tax profile called the Tax Details page. You can find it by clicking Employees, and selecting Edit next to their name. Let's say, for example, a member of your team has just gotten married and their filing status has changed. This is where you would enter that in Wave. Still with us? Great!
Review the payroll and know what to look for It’s nearly time to approve your payroll, but before you press that Approve button you still have time to make sure anything on your employees' pay stubs is good to go. Take a minute to scan the calculated payroll to ensure that everything you added above is now accurately reflected on each employee pay stub. Here’s where we see how it can affect the ‘real life’ of your business and employees. This is a good opportunity to think about the real-world events in your business over the course of the pay period. Did any of your employees earn bonuses? Take a vacation? Did you have to reimburse anyone? Reviewing your payroll gives you a chance to make sure that what you see on your employee pay stubs lines up with what happened in the real world.
Approve on time Paying your employees on time is always going to be everyone's highest priority, but approving on time goes beyond just making sure your employees never get paid late. Running payrolls in line with when they occur in the real world is a key control to keep your tax calculations accurate. Keep in mind that the pay day that you choose determines which month a payroll will count towards. If you approve a November 2017 payroll with a January 2018 pay day. From here, the information on your year-end forms, remittances, and withdrawals will all be based on the pay day you choose. Running regular payrolls will keep every payment and filing that you make to the government that much more accurate and consistent. It might be tempting to run one or two payrolls, and just use the same numbers from those to pay your employees with each pay period, but small changes in a specific tax rate over the course of a year can mean big changes in how much is owed to the government. Running payroll every time you pay your employees means you get to let Wave worry about keeping on top of tax rates to that you don't have to. Finally, if you're paying your employees with Direct Deposit, remember - you'll have to approve Payroll at least three business days (US) or four business days (CAD) in advance of your desired pay day. Keep this timeline in mind so that you have ample time to review each payroll, and make any changes you need before clicking Approve.
Did you make it all the way through? Thanks for sticking with us! We hope this was helpful. If you have any feedback or questions, please share below.
