Payroll Update: Goodbye Oldschool Payroll Service, Hello New Technology!

Staying in-the-know on innovations in the accounting industry and how we can harness those innovations to make our team more effective and efficient is a responsibility that I take seriously. I'm constantly on the lookout for new technology that can make our services better, but I'm also careful to implement things slowly just in case the innovation doesn't perform as promised.

In summer of 2018, we started testing a new payroll software, first moving our own payroll onto this system so that we could determine if it was going to be a good fit for our clients. After a few months of it working well for us, we gradually started moving our clients to the new software.

Since then, we've transitioned over 40 payroll clients onto this system and it's been a great success on each and every one. It improves the way we deliver payroll services, and makes the entire payroll process easier for both our clients, their employees and our team.

For that reason, we've decided to transition the remainder of our clients to the new system and will no longer be supporting payroll "the old fashioned way." All existing payroll clients will be transitioned to the new system by March 31st, 2020.

We know you'll love the new system as much as we do.

Have questions about the transition? Here's a quick FAQ. If the following doesn't answer your questions, give us a call and we can walk you through everything.

Q: What's the cost of the new system?

A: The current pricing in our new system is $65/month (regardless of pay-date frequency). This includes direct deposit, all tax filings, employee portal for all employees and annual filings of W2s and 1099. The $65/month covers the first 2 employees, and additional employees can be added for an additional $5/month. The payroll service fee will be auto-paid from your bank account monthly and will appear as "payroll service" on your bank statement.

Q: Is there a cost associated with transitioning to the new system?

A: For new clients, we charge a $200 implementation fee. For existing CSA Accounting clients who are moving to the new system we are waiving that fee.

Q: Will running payroll still work the way it always has?

A: If you would prefer to send our team your payroll information and have us enter it into the payroll system, then we can absolutely continue doing that. However, if you would like, you can enter the payroll information into the system directly. It's totally up to you.

Q: What does this do to my cash-flow?

A: The main difference between this system and our old ways is that the new system takes the wages and the associated payroll taxes from you business bank account at the exact same time.

The wages are automatically direct deposited to your employees, while the payroll taxes are automatically remitted to whichever government agency is owed.

This means no more setting aside the tax money to be sent later, know more writing checks to the IRS or State, and no more quarterly reports. It's all automated. This does mean that you must have cash available at the time of payroll for both wages and taxes.

Q: If I'm not interested in moving to the new system, can I still stay on your old payroll service? Unfortunately, no. Since we're migrating to the new system, CSA Accounting is going to stop paying for the software licenses associated with the old ways of doing payroll. As of March 31st 2020, CSA Accounting will no longer be supporting payroll services "the old fashioned way." If you're not a fan of the new system, we're happy to help you transition your payroll to another provider.