Article Avenue - free articles and downloads - Payroll Software- The Top Ten Payroll Software Features

Are you still manually calculating your employees’ federal and state withholdings? Tired of paying for software features you do not need or use? Small business owners do have inexpensive and effective solutions available to them. You can now find complete payroll accounting software that fits the needs of most users regardless of their payroll requirements.

The Top Ten Features of Payroll Software

1. Automatic Tax Calculations

Payroll Software should automatically calculate net pay, federal withholding tax, Social Security tax, Medicare, state and local payroll taxes. This feature greatly reduces the time to prepare payroll for business owners whom still manually calculate their withholdings. The software provider should have the most up to date tax tables and stand by their software’s calculations.

2. Customizable Deductions, Incomes and Tax Categories

Payroll software that can be shaped to fit your businesses personal needs is an asset at all levels. Your Payroll software should allow for the creation of custom made deduction categories. Also automatically calculate deduction, and tax categories that are entered into the software and keep track of all of the various categories you have created. User defined incomes and tax categories will also allow the business owner to create situations that may be unique to their specific company making it very flexible and powerful.

3. Federal Forms

Payroll forms are complex. Simplify your life by choosing payroll software which can reliably complete your federal forms including W2 forms, 941,940 and 944 forms. A W2 module with the ability to create laser substitute W2 A forms can be a tremendous plus. This can help you save time, save money, and stay in control.

4. Business Reports

Most stand-alone packages will allow you to create electronic reports of payroll that can be printed or exported in different formats. These reports allow users to get an overview of their payroll history and pull up records for various dates within the tax year. A variety of reports is useful being that each business owner needs different information for different purposes. Examples of these reports are tax liability, journal details, journal summary, and employee earning total, deposit requirements, payroll taxes, payroll details, and pay periods.

5. Check Printing

Payroll software can support two options for check printing. The first option is printing employees’ checks to a preprinted check. This will require the business owner to order compatible payroll checks. The second option is to print your own checks. Business owners who do this now know this requires MICR ink and check paper. Software that offers both options is ideal since each business owner has their own preference.

6. Direct Deposit

Today so many companies have turned to electronically paying their employees. Direct deposit is a feature many companies could utilize. The fact software offers direct deposit is a reflection that the company is moving forward with technology.

7. Sense of Security

A stand alone in-house payroll software can give business owners a sense of security. Strangers are not privy to company and employees’ personal information. The program can not be viewed online by computer hackers.

8. Technical Support

Does the software company provide technical support? Does the support come at a cost? Technical support that is free of charge, convenient hours of operation and multiple ways of communication are a benefit to the user. Cooperative, courtesy and accommodating support staff can enhance the users experience with the software.

9. Simplicity

Not too complex and not too simple is appealing to many businesses. Wizards to guide the user through the set up process of the software can only be an advantage.

10. Cost

Some payroll providers require customers to purchase multiple modules at a steep price regardless if the customer needs or will use the added features. The idyllic software will be low cost basic software that the customer can adapt to their needs. Business owners should be able to choose the features that they require and only have to pay for those specific features nothing more.

The big benefit of a using a stand-alone payroll package is that you can select and use the finest application that delivers exactly what you require in payroll processing. There are an abundance of easy to use and flexible payroll solutions available to meet your requirements.

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Lisa Heather, small business owner, provides insightful tips into payroll software. You may also visit Payroll Blog for more payroll information. Payroll Mate is an affordable and easy to use Payroll Solution.