Monday, June 30, 2008

Creating Payroll Checks

It is time to create my first payroll. I have already input my employees information through the employee set up wizard. The set up wizard is a step by step guide to inputting employee information.

This Software Solution prints on preprinted checks. I start by clicking on pay. This brings up a check details page. My employees are paid per hour so all I do is put in the number of hours worked. The Software Solution automatically calculates all related taxes and deductions. The check details page does ask for the pay period dates and the pay date. In this Payroll Program , as I understand,the pay date is important. The pay date is the date all the reports are generated around. Remembering this fact is very helpful in utilizing the reports in the program.

Naturally, printing the checks for my employees is the next step in the process. I have the choice to print each check individually or print multiple checks at one time. The easiest choice for myself is to print all my checks at once. I click on that option and choose my dates, again according to pay date. I can then preview the checks. Better safe than sorry. Once I’m completely comfortable with this program I’m sure I will not need to preview.

Once printed, the check has two pay stubs, one for the employee and one for my paper records. The Payroll Program does save all created checks for reference if need exists.
One additional note about creating checks the check number and pay date cannot be edited. If I need to edit those entries on a check I will need to create a new check and delete the previous check.


You can download a free demo if you want to from the link below:
Payroll Software Download

Monday, June 23, 2008

Adding Categories to Payroll Mate

The Payroll Program allows you to add income, tax and deductoin categories. This feature is nice. Not all companies have the same income, tax and deductoins. This step is simple. You basically fill in the fields that pop up.



To give you an idea how the process works 1. Start by going to the Company Setup. You can do that by clicking on the “Company” icon on the left side of the application.2. Now Click on the “Tax Categories” Button.3. Click on Add to create a new Tax Category.4. Fill in the different fields. Below are suggested values:a. Title: School Tax.b. Abbreviation: School Tax.c. Calculation: Fill in the way you will calculate this deduction.e. Select OK to finish.5. Go to the employees list by clicking the “Employees” button on the left side of the application.6. Select the employees to whom this tax applies and click edit.7. Continue clicking next until you reach the “Taxes” Page, you should see the tax you added as one of the listed taxes. Make sure you check the box next to it. Click next and then Finish to finalize your changes.




I am finding this Payroll Program to be very easy to use. I am getting ready to complete and file my 941 form. My first step was to recreate my payroll for the year. I needed to have my employees current year to date information in the software. I did this by creating dummy checks for each month. When creating checks you can override the tax calculations the program computes if need be. If I were to create my entire payroll per pay period I may not have had to override the withholdings. This week I will be working on generating checks for my current pay period.




You can download a free demo if you want to from the link below:
Payroll Software Download This payroll solution is very easy to use and very affordable.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Starting a New Payroll Software

I am a small business owner. Many payroll softwares are getting to be overpriced for my needs. I have done my research and decided to purchase Payroll Mate 2008. I found Payroll Mate at www.realtaxtools.com. Before making a purchase I reviewed the program using a trial version of the
Payroll Software
. There is no charge for the trial and it allowed me to view the features of the program before commiting to buying the product. I did call the company to ask a few questions. A real person answered the phone right away. She was very helpful and reassured me that I could call back if I had any other questions. You can contact them through email, live chat or a phone call. I haven't tried live chat yet; I can let you know how that goes when I do.
I did order the program by download, which came right away, but for those who prefer the company can ship a program CD.

At this point I have entered my company and employee information with no problems. The program does have some built-in income, tax and deduction categories but I will need to add some of my own. I will let you know how I progress with the software.

For those who would like to try here's a link to the Payroll Software Download .