Year-End Payroll is Complicated by New/Changed Laws for 2020

Year-end payroll isn’t only about generating a paycheck – it’s an important time to verify forms, employee information, tax changes, your accounting, and all payments, including anything your employees earned that wasn’t part of your regular pay schedule. 

For a company with one or two salaried employees, it can be a pretty straight forward process. The more complex your compensation, the more complex your year-end tasks may be. For example, bonus pay, handwritten checks, and paid time off can complicate your accounting. Especially if you haven’t processed payroll regularly, because of COVID.

This year, the COVID pandemic created more payroll changes than usual that may impact your small business, including:

• The CARES Act
• A new Form W-4
• FFCRA-qualified leave
• Social Security tax deferral
• State and local changes
• And more!

Experts recommend starting year-end payroll in October to process changes, get up to date on new laws, and give yourself extra time meet deadlines. If you’re already behind, Amador Accounting can get you caught up.

Learn more on our website or call Lisa Amador at 734-330-0907.

Is Year-End Payroll Slowing You Down?

If you’re worried about how new payroll laws will affect your business, too busy running your business to take on the accounting, or just need a hand, Amador Accounting is here for your payroll needs, including: 

• Updating payroll software, rates and elections
• Reviewing and updating PTO balances and rollovers
• Verifying wage and contribution limits
• Reporting fringe benefit information
• Verifying tax rates
• Filing forms with the IRS

We know how important accurate payroll accounting is to you and your employees. When you trust your payroll to Amador Accounting, you can rest easy knowing your records are accurate and filed on time. And when you don’t have to worry about payroll laws and forms, you can focus on what matters most to your business: its future.

Learn more on our website!

Are You Prepared for Year-End Bookkeeping?

For a small business, year-end bookkeeping is a way to wrap up the past year, calculate your tax obligation, and reflect on your business needs moving forward. It’s also one of the most notoriously complex and disliked parts of owning a business. Its complexity is compounded by complicated laws that can change from year to year. Failing to keep up with the laws or with the bookkeeping can leave you in debt or in trouble with the IRS. 

Many business owners just starting out plan to do their own bookkeeping to save money, but often find that bookkeeping involves more than they expected. Year-end bookkeeping isn’t as simple as reconciling a checkbook. It is a multi-faceted process that requires a basic understanding of laws that affect your business. 

Before you begin to wrap up this year, it’s important to take an honest look at your bookkeeping habits, needs, and level of comfort with the tasks you’re about to tackle. Ask yourself:

• Am I organizing my paperwork and accounts efficiently every month?
• Am I confident that I understand the tax laws that apply to my business and how to complete the appropriate bookkeeping?
• Do I have time to do this myself, or would it be more beneficial for me to focus on my business and hire a bookkeeper? 

If you’re not sure, visit Amador Accounting or call Lisa Amador at 734-330-0907.

Don't Leave Year-End Bookkeeping to Chance

There are probably as many different ways to store your business records as there are unique businesses. Maybe you keep your paperwork in an accordion file or drawer in your office. Maybe it’s neatly online, every receipt scanned and filed. Or some variation in between. Whether you’re high-tech or old-fashioned, chaotic or orderly, Amador Accounting can help. Your specialty is your product or service – ours is your bookkeeping. 

We don’t mind sorting through your boxes of receipts or investigating the errors in bookkeeping software, and we know exactly how to close out your year end.

When Amador Accounting takes the bookkeeping off your hands, you can focus on your business knowing we’ve got your back. Learn more

COVID Slowed Down the IRS! Amador Accounting Can Help

COVID-19 has affected the day-to-day operations of the IRS just as it’s affected our lives at a more personal level.

If you’re concerned about a paper payment, your tax return, or correspondence you mailed or received during this pandemic, you might be tempted to call the IRS immediately. We recommend you wait. Call volumes are very high right now as many others are in the same boat and are calling with their concerns. Rest assured that the IRS is working to get all the mail opened and processed, and all taxpayer accounts updated.

However, if you haven’t received your Economic Impact Payment (otherwise known as the stimulus check) you can check your status on the IRS Get My Payment web page. The web page can help you figure out your status, type of payment, and if you meet the requirements to receive the stimulus check. 

As the country moves forward into the new normal, the IRS will continue to assess and respond to the impact that COVID has on taxpayers and on the health and safety of its employees. 

If you have questions as you move forward, you can call Amador Accounting for help, at 734-330-0907. 

For more information, visit our website.

COVID Creates a Backlog of Mail at the IRS Affecting Tax Services and Stimulus Checks

Did you receive a late notice for a tax payment you know you mailed on time?

Are you wondering what happened to your COVID relief stimulus check?

You’re not alone! COVID-19 has affected the day-to-day operations of the IRS just as it’s affected our lives at a more personal level. During the height of the pandemic, the IRS took measures to protect the health and safety of the public and of IRS employees the same as many of our own employers, schools, and other services did. Telephone assistance, tax services, processing of paper returns, and answering correspondence were all impacted by stay-at-home orders.

While health and safety are paramount, the result was a backlog of unopened paper returns, payments, and other correspondence – and a great deal of anxiety for the public wondering about payments, penalties, and services.

Don’t worry! Now, as the country slowly returns to some kind of normal, the IRS is also taking steps to ensure the backlog is caught up as soon as possible and that the public is not penalized because the IRS couldn’t open its mail.

Visit Amador Accounting for more information.