Join the Raymond Chamber and A Step Up Bookkeeping on May 10th

A Step Up Bookkeeping Services, LLC

285 Calef Highway, Suite 12A, Epping NH

Come help A Step Up Bookkeeping celebrate our first year anniversary in our new space. Easy to find on Route 125 in Epping!

We’ll have food, fun, and libations and door prizes to give away. Network with your colleagues and fellow business owners as you enjoy a pleasant evening of celebration.

A Step Up Bookkeeping has been providing bookkeeping and payroll services, as well as QuickBooks Training, to small businesses since 2005.  In May of 2010, we doubled our space by moving to a brand new office building right on Route 125 in Epping.  We help new businesses who have just purchased QuickBooks and need help setting it up and learning how to use it, established businesses that need to navigate the maze of adding employees, and small business owners who do it all and need to offload their bookkeeping tasks.  Our mission is to help small businesses improve their cash flow and increase their profitability. Owner Debbie Moulton is Advanced Certified in QuickBooks and is a member of the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers and the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Greater Raymond Chamber.  For more information, visit our web site at www.StepUpBooks.com.

As always, bring plenty of business cards for networking.  Please RSVP to A Step Up Bookkeeping Services at 679-2022.

Open House & Business After Hours Event

Tuesday, May 10^th, 5:30-7:30pm

Employee or contractor? A taxing question for employers

Hiring workers as employees or independent contractors has a profound impact on how much additional cost your business must bear, what documents and information workers must provide to you, and what tax documents you must give to them. It also affects the amount of taxes you withhold from their pay.

With employees, the employer must pay Social Security, Medicare, state unemployment and federal unemployment taxes. Employers are also required to carry workers’ compensation insurance and sometimes liability insurance. They must file new hire reports and quarterly payroll forms. Employees also expect benefits such as health insurance, holiday pay, sick pay, and vacation pay.

Contractors incur none of these costs because they pay both halves of Social Security and Medicare taxes, buy their own liability policy and generally are not paid for the time they don’t work.

Since the benefits of using independent contractors are so significant, the IRS looks closely at this to prevent exploitation of workers who should really be considered employees.

A number of tests exist to determine whether workers qualify as general contractors:

1. They provide their own tools and supplies.
2. They work independently. They are told what result is desired, not the individual steps  necessary to do the job.
3. They do the same work for other firms.

If you have the right to control both what is to be done and how it is done, your workers are employees. If you can direct only the results, you are working with contractors. It is also important to know how workers perceive the relationship.

Although there are certainly benefits to both groups, it is important to adhere to IRS law about how they are classified.

Employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors can end up with substantial tax bills as well as penalties for failing to pay employment taxes and failing to file required tax forms.

Knowing the proper worker classification can be critical to your business, so don’t guess. Visit the IRS.gov website to be sure.