For most small businesses, especially start up businesses, I highly recommend you hire a payroll service instead of doing it yourself. Hey, wait you say, I’m pretty competent and can do my own! You’re right, you surely can, but here’s the problem, a problem that is getting bigger every day.

In any economy, and more so in the one we live today, businesses are struggling or going broke. To keep their head above water, it’s a big temptation to not deposit or pay those withheld payroll taxes. Just “borrowing” against the amount owed, for a little while. Too often the business struggles for a while and then fails. You the owner are on the hook, personally, for all those back payroll taxes. And often that number can be huge. I see it all the time.

When you use an outside payroll service, they require you to make the deposits right away. That extra accountability is worth it to make sure you are never caught in a bad situation. It’s sad enough to go out of business after all that hard work, time and money, but then to find you have $30,000 in back taxes for unpaid payroll taxes. Too much! Don’t let it happen to you.

You can hire a local payroll service, bookkeeper or CPA. You can even go online and use a service like Paycycle.com or Intuit. Whatever you do, take action … protect yourself from a payroll disaster!