Calculating withholding and employer contribution on employee payroll is one of the least desirable and time consuming aspects of running a small business.  For each employee you must look up their rate, calculate their withholding amount, and add in the employer contribution.

Then, when it comes time to file the reporting forms and taxes you must aggregate these amounts.  All of this is a thankless and unpaid part of operating as the government's tax collector.

I found a web based service called PayCycle that automates this entire process.  Each pay period I get an e-mail reminder and after logging in I simply enter the amount of hours worked per employee for that pay period.  The service automatically calculates the withholding and keeps track of my total amount including employer contribution. 

Calculating Payroll

A paycheck report is calculated for each paycheck itemizing the deductions and I simply print it and write out the check.  There is also an option for automatic deposit which you control for each paycheck.   The whole payday process takes just a few minutes.

There is some minor setup the first time you use this service to enter in your Employer ID Number, payroll tax percentage, and employee information.

Paying Taxes and Filing Reports

A week before taxes are due I get a reminder email to file the state and federal reports and tax filings.  After logging in I just need to review the amounts and click to send both the electronic forms and the taxes as automatic deposits.  Again this is just a minutes work.

There is some setup time, albeit minor, to get federal and state authorization for both electronic filing and automatic tax payment from my bank to my federal and state tax accounts.  PayCyle makes this process simple and it took me about a week to hear back that these were accepted.

The total cost for this service is so nominal for the amount of time it saves that I cannot urge you strongly enough to go ahead and set up your account today!