Employers Paid $4.5 Billion in Payroll Tax Penalties

The IRS recently published data saying they handed out 6.8 million fines to U.S. employers as of the end of September, 2013, because of botched payroll taxes. According to an article in The New Entrepreneur, these penalties amounted to $4.5 billion that employers owed the government.

While the IRS doesn’t say how many fines were given to small businesses, most small business employers don’t have the resources to stay on top of continually changing payroll tax laws compared to large employers.

If your small business was hit by one of these fines, it was likely a shock. But even if your business managed to dodge a payroll tax problem, it doesn’t necessarily mean your business will be in the clear forever.

How do you protect your small business?

Managing your company’s payroll is not easy; it can be very labor intensive. You have to keep up with changes in compensation and bonuses, while calculating overtime, sick time and vacation time. Plus you have to stay current on changing tax rules and regulations. When you take into consideration that from 2001 to the first part of January 2013, the IRS made almost 5,000 changes to the tax code – that’s a lot of amendments that you have wade through to determine if they affect your workplace payroll. And if your business is one of the nearly 40% of small businesses who are still doing their taxes by hand, your potential for errors can be huge.

So what can you do to reduce your company’s risk of potential payroll tax mistakes and penalties? Hire a payroll services expert like The Payroll Department located in Brownsburg, IN.

As an experienced payroll provider, The Payroll Department can improve the accuracy and reliability of your entire payroll process, reducing your small business’s risk for a payroll mistake. We also stay up to date on the latest tax changes and let you know if they affect your business. We work to proactively keep your company in compliance.

Just like you’re the expert in what you do in your small business, The Payroll Department is the expert in payroll processing and taxes. So let our experts handle your payroll, so you don’t botch the process and find yourself in a world of hurt with the IRS. Contact Teresa Ray today at 317-852-2568 for more information on how we can help you.

– Ariane of The Payroll Department Blog Team