Questions about filing federal and state forms oneself
My apologies if this has been asked before (I looked) and please point me to the relevant question. I put my S-Corp on hold for a while (3 months) starting in March. From January to March I was using Paychex to do payroll and process the government forms (941, state forms, w-2 at end of year). But I really found it expensive and felt it was overkill for a 1 man consulting firm. I'm seriously thinking about going for it myself this time. Can someone point me in the right direction for what forms need to be filled out and contact numbers for the feds and state of california? I'll get the discussion started with some answers and questions
- Quarterly form 941 must be filled out. Available online I believe
- I believe the feds informed me long ago that I must make payroll tax contributions monthly (due to my gross company income). There is some sort of electronic filing system to use (reference? phone # of person to speak with?)
- 940 for year must be filled out for feds.
- Form EDD 11250 must be filled out for State of California quarterly. Any other state forms? How to know how much disability, unemployment, taxes to pay and how? Is there a phone number/website to get started?
- W-2s must be generated at end of year. How?
Any pointers, links, flames are most welcome!
Dave
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Intuit has a $25/mo service to do that, doesn't it? Its a can of worms. Your accountant may be of help is well. DON'T do it yourself. This is not the thing to play with. – Littleadv 11 years ago
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Thanks for the comment. Paychex was more like 50-60 month and there were additional fees (year end stuff, w-2, etc.). And of course I had to do payroll monthly so that's $720 or more per year which is not chump change. Perhaps I should post a separate question ask for advice on the best service (PayChex, Intuit, etc.). – Dave 11 years ago
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Ahhh. Just checked with Intuit. To get comparable service to PayChex is $79/month. With their 29.00/month, they do not calculate how much unemployment insurance, etc. you should pay. It's little more go directly through the fed/state sites. – Dave 11 years ago
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Unfortunately advice for the best service is more polling and not a good fit for the stackexchange community. – Randy E 11 years ago
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@Dave this service is expensive for a reason... As I said - its a can of worms. Your accountant may be able to provide this service to you cheaper, but I doubt how significant your savings are going to be. Making a mistake on these forms may very quickly escalate to a criminal charge, so I'd say get it done by professionals. You may want to reconsider S-Corp organization, you wouldn't have all these troubles with an LLC entity. – Littleadv 11 years ago
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I don't see where your business form (S-Corp) makes any difference at all for employment tax purposes. Intuit's QuickBooks Payroll will let you calculate a pay check for youself (or others if you get employees), it will figure the federal and state withholding and other items. You can make the monthly deposits of those moneys you withheld if you have to. The 941 and CA's form (I guess) are filed quarterly. I have my accountant do quarterly accounting - which is primarily to create these forms. But even these can be done by you if you need to. You just have to remember to do it all on time. – Patrick Moloney 11 years ago
1 Answer
You are in California and an S Corp. I am a California CPA who does some programming on the side. I do payroll for a local independent pilot who wants to be paid no more frequently than quarterly. I think the quarterly fees are about $75. Maybe if you talk to your accountant, he or she can work a similar deal.
If not, let me know where you are in the state. Maybe with faxes and scans we can make this easy for you. You can contact me via my website at www.rodenhi.com.
And, if you just want some pointers to keep you from falling off the edge of the world, contact me and I think I can help.
