Payroll Service 1 - Payroll Basics

NOTE: This skill snack series was first presented in the Tax Bytes Practice Mentor video newsletter. It is still available to all new subscribers and those who have All Access Membership.

Many practitioners are asked to provide payroll services to their small business clients but don't know where to begin. Others wish to supplement their practice's income with a payroll service which also serves as a great way to get additional corporate and personal tax return business. That being said, many new practitioners don't know where to begin. Well, that is what this, and upcoming, Skill Snack seminars is all about. Setting up, administering and delivering a payroll service to clients.

This Skill Snack seminar will take you through the basics of offering the service to clients and what you need to consider when offering these services.

A review of the 4 phases of the payroll cycle including:

1. Client Interview - Gathering information from the client and what you'll need

2. Process Payroll - Doing the periodic payroll - How to calculate deductions and determine net pay

3. CRA Remittance - What to remit to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and when

4. Year end Reporting - Preparing T4 slips for employees along with the T4 Summary for CRA

After we go through the ins and outs of what's involved in each of the above phases, I take you through a simple example of payroll from beginning to end, including the process of determining the statutory deductions and consequent net pay for a 2 employee payroll, all the way to the end of the process where we prepare the T4 slips and T4 Summary for these employees.

This is the first in a series of Skill Snacks to be released covering payroll. We start with the basics, and then build in complexity.