Could You Handle Different State’s Payroll Taxes and Regulations?

I was really excited for a colleague who got a big contract that was going to expand his company this year. He was excited because his small business would no longer be just a local business, but would now be a business that worked nation-wide. We celebrated with a congratulatory lunch. It wasn’t but a couple of weeks later that he called and was obviously down. I was afraid he’d lost the deal. But no, he said it was worse – it was about payroll taxes.

When he was negotiating with the new customer, he was thinking about the work his business would be doing, how many people he would need to send to their facility, and how he would accommodate meeting their needs. Never once did he think about how working in another state would affect him, his employees or payroll.

The customer casually mentioned to him that they were dealing with a new local payroll tax and were glad that they didn’t have to expand their workforce for the project.

That comment triggered an explosion of red flags for my friend and he called me. I explained that there were some things that payroll experts know when it comes to national work situations:

• Every state has different payroll rules and regulations.
• Every state can have different payroll tax
• Every state can have different payroll tax reporting rules.
• Local towns and counties can also have payroll taxes and regulations.

• And employers, no matter where they are located, must comply with them.

I could tell he was close to the ledge, so I did what I knew to do. I told him it was OK, that this was a normal situation for professional payroll services – we know what to do. It is part of our industry to understand that there are a lot of variables when it comes to working in different states. Here at The Payroll Department we are equipped to get the information needed for employers to do business in whatever state their work takes them and their employees.

We want employers to pay attention to building their business. We will pay attention to the changing labor rules and regulations that apply where they do their work. It’s not a mystery, we keep our national businesses apprised of the requirements. In fact, we work with companies whose workplaces are outside of the state of Indiana. We can do that because we have the ability to provide our payroll service virtually. We haven’t seen some of our customers, local and miles away, face-to-face for a long time. That doesn’t mean we aren’t in touch, they just don’t have to physically pick-up or deliver anything.

But back to my friend. He calmed down and within days his payroll was set up and ready to handle his new adventure.  Since then, he’s taken on customers in another state, but this time, he calmly called me with the news. We still celebrated over lunch!

No matter where you are, or where your employees do their work, outsourcing your payroll to The Payroll Department is a decision you can be confident in making. Contact me today to see how we can streamline your payroll services and alleviate your concerns.

Teresa Ray, owner, The Payroll Department