What are payrolling services?
Payrolling services are when a company automatically processes payroll calculations for your business. It can include:
- calculating payroll
- remitting statutory amounts
- produce year-end employee tax forms
- filing your taxes electronically with the Canada Revenue Agency (or Revenue Quebec for those in Quebec).
Employers will often use these services to make sure everything is done on time and that employees are always paid the correct amount.
Related: Employers Guide to the T4 Slip
For full-service payroll service providers will do more than just payroll calculations and may also provide some administration and HR services. For example, it will also perform payment garnishments for income tax, Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance or the Quebec equivalence.
Some services will also handle uploading new hires, making sure all the appropriate paperwork is done and they can start getting paid right away. Also, some payrolling services will handle parental insurance plans and health services funds and local remittances such as the Ontario Employer Health Tax. These plans can be customized to your exact needs meaning less time and effort on your part.
Services can even distinguish between part-time, full- time or freelance/independent contractors making the process a lot easier. Companies that have both employees and independent contractors, have to figure out what type of deductions would be needed as there are different rules depending on the role.
Related: How to Open a CRA Payroll Account
Why payrolling services are important
Employers must manage payroll so that employees are paid correctly and on time. They also have to make sure that government taxes are calculated properly so that remittance is done properly.
By having a payroll service provider you will see the following benefits:
- Improved accuracy– services will be more error-free when performing the required calculations for payroll and taxes. This means that no time needs to be given to correcting errors.
- Robust reporting– if your company were to ever have an inquiry by Canada Revenue Agency, you would be safeguarded by the type of reporting that services can provide.
- Time savings– having a service provide payroll means your time can be spent doing other tasks. This can be a huge time saver meaning you are less stressed and can provide the appropriate support to your employees.
The above benefits are just a few of the reasons why you should think about getting a payroll service provider
How to choose a payroll service provider
There is a lot to consider when deciding on getting a payroll service provider. You want to make sure that the service will work well for your company. The following are criteria you should look for when deciding.
Easy to use
Payrolling services come in a variety of forms, but whatever type you choose to use you need it to be user-friendly. One of the main reasons to get a payroll service provider is to free up your schedule for other tasks. If you need to spend extra time either fixing mistakes or clarifying numbers then what is the point of having the service?
If for example, you are outsourcing this task to an individual who is an expert, then there shouldn’t be a need to clarify what needs to be done. Instead, they should be able to operate independently with limited input from you.
For the software payroll service provider, you want to make sure that the software is easy to understand and will not take a long time to learn. If you are confused by the software, it is likely that your staff will be too, meaning you will be spending your time fixing mistakes, which, of course, is also something you want to avoid.
All-in-one solution
Instead of picking a payroll service provider that will simply work with the monetary numbers, try to find one that will work on all levels. There are payrolling services that will take care of some of the HR and time management tasks that make up the calculations for salaries.
These services will provide ways for each employee to be in charge of reporting their hours worked each day which will then be calculated by the payrolling service.
This can be a time-consuming task so if there is a way of combining the effort with the salary calculations, it makes it easier for your company to accurately pay their employees.
Another aspect of this is HR tasks such as onboarding new employees. Some payroll services will take that task off your schedule as well. That way you can rest assured that all the information needed will be in place and their salary calculations will be correct.
Security
You want to make sure that the company you choose for payroll services is at the top of its game when it comes to security. Check to see if the company has any reported data breaches before you decide on using them. This will indicate the level of security they have within their systems and will show you that you can trust them with very sensitive information.
It also might be good to pick a payrolling service because of the added security. If your company has its own server, it can be difficult to make sure that everything stays safe if technological mishaps start to happen. Having the payroll information off-site might help you keep your information safe.
Customer service support
Having good customer service is extremely important when choosing a payroll service provider. This is because if you do end up having issues with the software or program, you want to be able to solve the problem right away. Since you are dealing with people’s money, you do not want to be dealing with bad customer service if you have a question or a small issue that comes up.
Something you can ask yourself when looking into a company’s customer service is: do you get to talk to a real person when you call? This can make all the difference when dealing with a problem and can mean the difference between good customer service and bad customer service.
You also want to check when customer service is available. If their customer service lines are only open during times that are not convenient for your company, you might want to look for a different payroll service provider.
The last thing you need when trying to solve a problem is to be stuck calling a customer service line that isn’t open and having to figure out when you can call back.
Technology runs smoothly
You want to pick a payrolling service that is easy to use on the technology side. What this means is that you want as few disruptions to service as possible. For example, updates to the software should not happen during business hours as this could cause complications in the usability of the service.
By that same measure, you do not want updates to happen all the time. If there are too many updates, you run the risk of losing information or not having time to input your hours as the system is constantly running an update.
Though something like this can sound small, when you are coming to the end of a pay period and your staff is looking to submit their hours, the last thing you need is for the software to be stuck in an update.
Having scheduled updates is the best way to make sure that the payroll software is working well and will not cause issues for you or your staff.
By looking at the above criteria for a good payroll service provider, you should be able to pick one that is convenient and works well for your company.
