eFiling More Than a Trend...

This post is by Bruce Senti of Aatrix State and Fed Payroll Reports

Compliance will be the BIG topic for 2013.

As the recent political environment has shown, the idea that tax policy will change little in 2013 is laughable. The federal government will continue to struggle with necessary change and no one knows exactly what direction tax code and legislation will go.

What we do know is that with the implementation of universal health care and ever-growing deficits, every taxing authority is likely to be impacted.

The most obvious outcome of such volatility is that change in rates, formats, forms, and filing requirements are a certainty. Keeping up with those changes and remaining in compliance will be an even more difficult task for payroll administrators than it has been in the past.

As states attempt to comply with new federal standards and respond to their own fiscal needs, it is more likely that there will be multiple changes during the next twelve months.

Forms will change to accommodate new taxes, changing rates, and increased limits as well as new calculations required for compliance. More and more businesses will be required to eFile as agencies seek to save money by eliminating paper forms.

What administrators can do to insure compliance.

In the past it would really boil down to two options: Businesses could hire additional staff to monitor the changes that affect their business or they could rely on compliance professionals that work for filing services or payroll services and outsource their process. These two options tend to be very expensive and eliminate the ability to control their own payroll start to finish.

In the last seven or more years, a new option has emerged as payroll software companies have partnered with payroll reporting software and eFiling services to take advantage of the compliance expertise inherent in those companies to assist their customers in meeting the changing environment.

A solution that is fully integrated into the payroll software is the best choice. It eliminates the need to transfer manual reports or transcribe info to a third party. It provides a familiar interface and improved accuracy as the actual paycheck data is used to produce the filing information.

Taking advantage of a company that deals with compliance every day is the safest way to insure your company is compliant. If your software has not partnered with an eFile and compliance service you may need to re-evaluate whether different software may be appropriate.