Free Payroll Software

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Before you “take the plunge” and purchase an HR software solution it is best to determine if you need the system, and if you do, what exactly will best meet your needs.  It is imperative to be brutal in your assessment. Take the time to define your organization’s goals, such as reducing administrative time spent on filling out paperwork and filing the papers, keeping more complete records, securing confidential data, being able to quickly run reports, or saving a back-up of personnel information for disaster planning purposes. 

There are many other things to consider prior to purchasing an HR software solution for your organization.  These include:

·         The need to streamline processes to devote more time to strategic level objectives

·         Increasing the communication across all management levels

·         Don’t have the physical space for all the paperwork

·         Storing historical data for both current and former employees

·         Recording performance evaluations with performance management goals, as well as historical wage rate and salary information

·         Keeping track of training, benefits, disciplinary warnings, and workplace accidents

·         Calculating time-off accruals for vacation, sick, or PTO time

HR Software solutions programs also have the capability to have multiple user-licenses, which allows for users to have specific access to the program, such as access to employee performance reviews or time-off records, for example.  More specifically, the HR manager or business owner could have full access to all employees’ information, while a manager could have access to his or her employees in their department. 

This capability is efficient and convenient for both the manager and payroll, such as if an employee calls in sick, the manager can just go into the system and make that notation, rather than trying to remember to relay that information to payroll.  Under the performance management access, the manager can write the annual review where it will be stored and backed-up without worrying if the review was saved or not.

Implementing an HR software solution into your organization is a great investment for streamlining processes and freeing up managers and HR staff to perform more strategic goals of the organization.  The system doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to be functional.

If you are an ordinary employee making your day to day living for a company, it’s an undeniable fact that you are always looking forward to the time when you would get your monthly salary.  Chances are, it is in the form of a pay slip.  You would get it after duly signing a payroll.

Well, what is exactly a payroll?  For the uninitiated, it is the sum of all financial records of salaries, wages, bonuses and deductions.  From afar, it is nothing more than a hodgepodge of accounting terms meant to confuse the ordinary folk.  However, upon closer inspection, it is actually an essential document of any firm because it holds the key to its financial health.

Let us look into its components one by one.  First, we have the paycheck.  Traditionally, it is a paper document given out by the employer to his employee for services rendered. Of course, the value of each paycheck varies with the designation or position of the employee.  High ranking officers get more than laborers or clerical staff.  Nowadays, especially in developed countries like the United States of America, Canada and Australia, the physical paycheck has been replaced by the more modern electronic direct deposits to personal bank accounts.

It is common knowledge that different levels of the bureaucracy, such as the federal or national, state and provincial, and local agencies require employers to accomplish numerous payroll functions like withholding amounts from employees’ compensation to cover income tax, social security fees and Medicare charges.  These amounts being withheld by employers from their employees’ are popularly called as trust-fund taxes because they are held in a special trust account by the government.  For the amounts being withheld by state and local income taxes, they are also held in trust by their respective state and local governments.

Next we have the pay slip. It may also be referred to as a pay stub, paystub, pay slip, pay advice or paycheck stub.  It is a significant document that an employee receives from gis employer, either through a direct deposit or as part of their paycheck.  It usually details the gross income and all taxes and any other permutation of deductions such as the ubiquitous retirement plan contributions, health and life insurances, garnishments and all other charitable contributions subtracted out of the gross value to arrive at the final net amount of the take home pay. In addition, it may also include the year to date totals in some special circumstances.

The third component is the payroll card.  It is an unavoidable fact that some employees, for one reason or another, do not have an easy access to a bank account.  It could be due to a bad check history or maybe they are not in close proximity to any bank.  The solution to this common problem is offered by a lot of Payroll Service Providers.  So this time, instead of receiving a check which the employees can encash for a rate of 5-10%, they can have a direct deposit poured into a so-called debit card.  In this situation, the company saves on costs because they don’t have to print out checks anymore.  They won’t have to worry also about check frauds due to a lost or stolen check. This system is highly convenient because the card can be used at any accredited automated teller machine in the area.  It is usually a single account in the employee’s name.

These are the important things you should know about payrolls so that the next time you receive your monthly salary, you won’t be confused as to how much you receive or where your money goes.

For most small businesses, outsourcing is the practical way to go when it comes to payroll processing. This is primarily due to the fact that most small businesses do not have the finances to purchase a payroll software as well as the infrastructure to accommodate such solutions.

You might have heard much about what you need to consider when looking for a payroll services provider. However, aside from making sure that your provider has enough experience to handle your company’s payroll, you should also get to know just what goes on inside the contract that you would be signing. After all, this contract would spell the difference between a stress-free payday and a headache-filled one.

As with all business contracts, the contract between you and your service provider should clearly indicate what services would be rendered by them. As much as possible, spell out the different reports you would need from them as well as the deadline for each. It is also recommended that any penalty for late submission of reports should be indicated. You both should also indicate the turnaround time for each payroll period.

Make sure that there is a clause indicating what the penalties for the payroll agency should there be errors in the computations as well as late filing of forms. Keep in mind that without this clause, your company would be the one responsible for checking the correctness of the figures as well as the timely submission of reports.

Do some pencil pushing and check what the monthly fee coves. If there are none indicated, ask your provider if there would be additional charges when they manage payroll of expanding companies. Ask also if your monthly payment already includes miscellaneous expenses such as postage, upgrades of software and fraud prevention. This would also be a good time to negotiate for a lower rate if you would be signing for a longer contract with them.

Lastly, your payroll agency should indicate the specific payment terms or their services. There should also be a clause stating how the contract can be pre-terminated, what the effect of pre-termination is, and what happens if there is a breach of contract.

Whether you’re starting up a new company, making the jump from books to computer, or looking for replacement payroll software, it’s important to get payroll software that is going to do everything you need it to and fit the needs of your company. Here are 15 questions to ask about any payroll software you are considering purchasing for your company. When you have answers to all these questions, you’ll easily be able to identify the right payroll software.

1. Does this software have current tax information for your state?
Most software has this information, but make sure you’re not buying a previous year’s edition that has outdated tax information.

2. Does this software have flexibility to add local tax info?
If your company is in a region with local income taxes, this is an important feature.

3. Will you need to options for pre-tax and/or post-tax deductions?
If your company offers health plans or retirement plans or something similar, then you will need this option.

4. Will you be printing on blank checks or checks preprinted with your company and bank info?
If you want to be able to print on blank checks, which are less expensive than pre-printed checks, you’ll need software that can print your company and bank identification information on the checks.

5. Do you want to print signature images on checks or sign checks by hand?
Signing checks by hand is more secure, but can be time consuming if you print a lot of paychecks every week.

6. Which tax forms will you need to print using your payroll data? i.e. Form 940, 941, W2, 1099, etc.
Make sure your software can print the forms that you need or at least has an add-on component to allow you to print them.

7. Does this software support your payroll period, i.e. daily, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly?
Some companies may even pay some positions in one period and other positions in another period, i.e., paying hourly workers weekly or even daily while paying salaried management positions monthly or semimonthly. Make sure the software you purchase has the flexibility you need.

8. Will you need to be able to calculate tips and or commissions?
This is particularly important for restaurants and companies employing commissioned sales reps.

9. Does this software support printing for the check format you prefer?
For example, do you use check-at-top, check-at-bottom, or check-in-the-middle formats for your blank checks and stubs?

10. Does the software offer year-to-date payroll data entry?
If you are changing software or making the jump to computer-based payroll in the middle of a year, you’ll want to enter year-to-date information for employees instead of having to enter every previous pay period by hand.

11. What level of technical support does the software developer offer?
Usually, unlimited technical support is best, but it is not offered by all software titles.

12. Will you need to do payroll for more than one company?
If you run an accounting firm or own multiple businesses, this is an important consideration.

13. Does this software have a trial version you can test drive?
There’s no better way to make sure the software you buy is right for you and your company than to give it a trial run. Look for titles that let you try the software for free—companies that don’t let you try their software risk free are afraid you won’t like their software.

14. Are there any hidden fees?
Do you need to pay extra money if you need to update your tax tables in the middle of year or if you need to handle multiple companies?

15. Are database back-up and restore features included?
Software without these features can cost you thousands of dollars if something happens to your computer or your data becomes corrupted. Back-up and restore features will allow you to get back to normal operations with a minimum of fuss.

Answering these questions will help you identify software titles that are likely to work well for your company. Taking extra time before you buy to get the features you need, will save you time and money while reducing frustration down the road.
One software title that includes a variety of options for all these situations is ezPaycheck 2010 from Halfpricesoft.com. ezPaycheck is available for a free 30-day trial to ensure that it has the features your company needs before ever paying a dime. It’s available for download at http://www.halfpricesoft.com.

For More Information Please Contact:
halfpricesoft.com P.O. Box 17067 Louisville, KY 40217 USA
email: contact@halfpricesoft.com
Fax: (866) 909-6448

I just started my business and have 5 employees and i pay them with my personel checks is their a program that i can use or what do i do.

I need a program that mangers can compleat for each employee to send to the Payroll dept. That keeps a on going balance of days off and vacation days for the year. But they can also enter the hours worked and commsions for that payroll. It would be a sheet that is used to key in the actual payroll for the employee each pay period. This would used only for geting the info prpred not the actual program that write the checks. Thanks