

Ask HN: US Payroll, employee benefits - kannan

I want to learn about US payroll, employee benefits (Health insurance, 401 (K)) etc from an entrepreneur &#x2F;employer perspective. Is there a good book or blog that will help me get started?
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davismwfl
I don't have any book recommendations, but I can tell you it is best to
utilize a service to manage it for you. There are a lot of little details to
know and follow.

Overall it isn't super difficult, but takes time to manage it correctly, and
if you cross state lines (e.g. have employees in more than 1 state) it can get
more complex. And in states with state income tax it gets more complex still,
mostly in the number of filings you have to make. I am by far not an expert in
this regards, but I did try and manage it internally for awhile, but by the
time you are done managing the payroll process, direct deposits, hourly
employees, insurance deductions, reimbursements etc it is so much cheaper to
pay for a monthly service.

You might check out blogs from companies like Xero and Freshbooks, Intuit etc
and see if they have some details around what you are looking for. Also I
think zane benefits blog might have some details too.

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kannan
Thanks for the suggestion! We have currently outsourced to someone but I am
afraid they wont be able to handle our scale soon. I am currently reviewing
zenefits and Zenpayroll, but thought will be worthwhile to understand the
details before making a decision.

~~~
davismwfl
Zenpayroll can handle pretty significant size, but if you are concerned and
want more proven capability and scale you can always use a company like ADP or
PayChex. They handle payroll for some of the largest US companies, and they
can handle filing the payroll statements in all states, and the IRS quarterly
forms and taxes etc. Plus they have teams that help with the benefits
management and open enrollment periods etc.

If you are < 300 people though, I'd say Zenpayroll or any of those comparable
services would likely be sufficient, at least for most common situations.
Also, just an FYI, I brought ADP into a company about 10 years ago and we did
some integration to them to automate timecard submittal etc. but anyway, ADP
really wasn't that expensive in the end, for ~300 person company we were
paying like $40-$45k/year for benefits and payroll management. IMO that is
cheap, as all we had to do is make sure the hours and benefit enrollments were
validated and submitted on time.

