10 Things to Consider When Incorporating Payroll Software in Your Business

Changing how you process your employees’ payroll can be quite a scary experience. Imagine if you transferred the wrong amount or skipped processing an employee’s salary?

This thought gives any HR professional pause if one considers the volume of data that they have to process manually every month. How to transfer your payroll data, and where to search for your employees’ PAN information? You need to have all the necessary information to execute a newly implemented payroll system with ease.

If you are a new employer, you may not understand all the nitty-gritty of a payroll solution – What are the latest tax rates, how to manage statutory compliance, and so on.

First things first, you need to choose which solution you want to use, scaled according to your business, and it is no easy task, I may add. You may have to look high and low to find the best payroll solution that suits your business and fulfills your requirements.

10 Things to Consider for Payroll Software in Your Business

Let’s get started with 10 things you need to consider while incorporating a payroll software solution in your business, shall we?

1. Start by choosing the right software

This is where you start and make THE most important decision as you select which payroll solution to use for fulfilling your business needs. If it doesn’t fit your business, then you’ll most likely end up being dissatisfied with your choice.

Since not every payroll software has similar features or pricing, scalability counts for a lot, depending on whether you operate a small business or a medium to large-sized one.

2. Gather all employee-related information

You need to have relevant and pertinent data with respect to your company employees to effectively run your payroll. You need each employee’s:

• Full legal name
• Address
• PAN
• Aadhaar Card

Ideally, you should gather this information at the time of induction. This information may be revised as and when your employees move places or get married.

Employees should inform and notify you of any such changes, and get the records updated in the system.

3. Determine deductibles

Dedications will be different for each employee depending on their compensation package and benefits that they will be receiving. These deductions may vary as per the pre- and post-tax deductibles of your employees.

Like for example, an employee may have invested in a LIC scheme, PPF, Mediclaim, or incurred expenses towards tuition fees which they can claim as deductions under Section 80C.

4. Calculate tax rates

Your payroll software will come incorporated with payroll and tax processing features with the prevalent tax rates of your state/country already fed into it. Through your payroll solution, you can easily process your employees’ salaries after adjusting tax deductibles.

5. Pick a pay period suited to your needs

You will also have to decide the payment period or payment frequency at which you will be paying your employees. Frequency of payment to employees can vary, though it is usually carried out on a monthly basis.

6. Pick how you want to pay employees’ salaries

There are numerous ways in which you can pay your employees, such as through cheque, direct deposit, NEFT, payroll cards, or cash. If you’ll process your employees’ salaries through cheques, you have to keep a record of the cheque details, such as the cheque number.

Also, if you use NEFT to transfer salaries, you will require the IFSC code and employee bank account details for the same.

7. Collect previous records

By collecting records of your payroll history, you can accurately synch and check the information and dates pertaining to previous payrolls that have been entered into the software.

This is helpful when you either want to switch the way you run your payroll or have to calculate or deduct taxes accurately.

8. Feed employees’ birthdays in the system

A payroll calculator also comes in handy for storing electronic records and becoming paper-free. You can store all employee-related information, such as their birthdays or work anniversaries, in one place, creating a recordkeeping system that helps you become more organized.

9. Confer access to employees

You can also grant your employees access to the payroll software and encourage them to become self-reliant. Your employees can view and access their pay stubs, leave records, and also apply for leave.

Through this payroll software solution, your employees can also keep track of their time and attendance, which means it is one less thing for you to do!

10. Check if tech support is offered or not

Last but not least, check if technical support is provided by your chosen payroll system or not. Usually, most payroll solutions offer technical support during and up to one year after software installation.

For example, Cogxim Payroll offers one year of tech support, which can be renewed annually after payment of the annual maintenance cost.

Through Cogxim Payroll, you can customize any feature to suit your business needs, making it a highly scalable and attractive option. Cogxim Payroll offers you the opportunity to get your hands on several attractive features, such as:

• Payroll and tax processing
• Direct deposit
• Customized reporting
• Job costing and tip reporting
• All federal and state tax filings
• Certified Payroll Solutions’ easy online reporting
• Human resource tracking
• Employee benefits services
• Workers’ compensation services

So, you see, installing a payroll solution would be beneficial for your business and your sanity too! And before you go, don’t forget to check out some of our leading HRMS solutions.