How PEO Payroll Services Benefit Your Business

Running payroll by yourself can feel like a full-time job, especially when dealing with multi-state regulations, payroll tax calculations, and compliance headaches. If you’ve ever found yourself drowning in paperwork or second-guessing tax filings, it might be time to consider a PEO payroll provider to help streamline the entire process.

This guide walks you through PEO payroll services and how they can benefit your business in the long run.

What are Payroll Services?

A payroll service can be software or a third-party company that manages the entire payroll process, including salary and wage distribution, calculating and deducting employee and employer payroll taxes, and maintaining compliance with local labor laws. The best payroll service option depends on your company’s specific needs.

For some businesses, HR software is a cost-effective, self-managed approach to payroll. Others with more complex payroll setups, such as multi-state employees, complex tax requirements, or a global workforce, may prefer working with a third-party service that can handle everything on their behalf.

What is a PEO?

Professional Employer Organization (PEO) is a company that provides comprehensive Human Resources (HR) solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. By partnering with a PEO, you enter into a co-employment arrangement, meaning the PEO becomes the employer of record for payroll tax purposes, allowing you to maintain complete control of your business and employees.

PEOs offer a range of benefits designed to save time, reduce costs, and improve employee retention. Here are some reasons why partnering with a PEO can benefit your business:

• Access to health benefits: PEO’s group buying power allows you to offer high-quality employee benefits from top-tier regional and national carriers, often at more competitive rates than you could source independently.

• HR tools: Managing your team from one platform with

  powerful HR tools and software helps simplify time tracking, compliance, and reporting. Additionally, real-time data from the PEO’s platform can help you make smarter (and quicker) business decisions.

• Attracting and retaining talent: Did you know that companies who use a PEO have 10-14% lower turnover? With a PEO, you can offer a more competitive benefits package to attract and retain talent, ultimately leveling the playing field when competing for talent in your industry.

How Can PEO Payroll Services Help My Business?

PEO payroll services offer all the benefits of traditional payroll solutions, with the added advantage of the co-employer partnership. Small businesses can minimize payroll errors, stay compliant, streamline HR administrative tasks, and improve employee satisfaction by working with PEO payroll providers. Here’s a deeper dive into the benefits of working with PEO payroll providers:

• Automated payroll: No more manual tax calculations or paper checks. PEO payroll providers automate the payroll process, including tax withholdings, direct deposits, payroll processing, and year-end tax forms. This way, you can shift your focus from tax calculations to driving the growth and success of your business.

• Compliance support: Having an automated payroll and HR solution means you don’t have to worry about keeping up with compliance support. PEO payroll services are regularly updated to reflect new rules, filing deadlines, and tax rates. This ensures your business stays compliant at the federal, state, and local levels, reducing the risk of errors, penalties, and costly fines.

• Taxes: With a combination of PEO services and automated payroll, tax payments and filings are seamlessly managed on your behalf. Many PEO payroll providers handle essential filings, such as IRS Form 941 (Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return) and IRS Form 940 (Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return), while facilitating employee payroll tax deposits to the IRS. Additionally, they generate year-end tax forms, including Form W-2 for employees and Form 1099-NEC for contractors. Thus, when tax season rolls around, you have one less task to worry about.

• Time-consuming tasks: PEO payroll companies eliminate the need for manual administrative work such as processing payments, managing employee time-tracking, handling retirement and health insurance contributions, and overseeing onboarding and offboarding checklists. By automating these routine duties, you save valuable time and reduce the risk of human error, ensuring that tasks are completed accurately and on schedule.

• Employee satisfaction: With PEO payroll services, errors, missed deadlines, or discrepancies are flagged and addressed before payroll is processed, facilitating accurate and timely payments. Furthermore, many PEO providers offer automated, self-service portals where employees can easily access their pay stubs and tax forms, providing greater convenience and transparency for your team.

To gain a deeper understanding of these solutions, let's consider the case study of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). Before Justworks, the CDT team used a spreadsheet to manage time-off requests. However, after receiving feedback from their employees, they realized the need for a more efficient solution.

The CDT team wanted a platform that allowed employees to access critical documents such as pay stubs, tax forms, and their employee manual while managing time-off requests in one place. Switching to Justworks provided their employees with centralized access, enhancing team efficiency and significantly boosting overall employee satisfaction.

Justworks: Your PEO Payroll Provider

Managing payroll can feel daunting for a business owner, as it involves complex calculations, tax compliance, and the risk of costly mistakes. All of these take valuable time away from running the business. Justworks eliminates the hassle of running payroll and staying compliant with constantly evolving regulations.

Justworks PEO handles all payroll-related tasks and compliance, helping you lighten your administrative load and reduce the risk of payroll errors. It simplifies complex payroll tasks and seamlessly schedules payments. Its integrations and add-on features offer a tailored payroll experience that meets your business needs. Ready to learn more about how Justworks can help you run payroll seamlessly so you can focus on growing your business? Contact Justworks today to get started.