Payroll Setup & Support

Getting payroll right from the start

Payroll Setup & Support

We do not run payroll in house. For almost every small business we work with, a dedicated payroll platform does the job better and for less money than a bookkeeper processing runs by hand — and the one we recommend is Gusto.

What we do is the part that actually determines whether payroll goes smoothly: getting it set up correctly, classifying your workers properly, configuring it for the states you operate in, and making sure the payroll entries land cleanly in your books every month.

You probably need setup help if

• You just hired your first employee and are not certain what changes
• You are running payroll by hand and it is eating real hours
• You have workers in more than one state
• You are unsure whether someone should be an employee or a contractor
• Payroll runs, but the entries never reconcile against your books
• You signed up for a payroll platform and stalled partway through setup

How setup works

1. Worker classification

   Employee versus independent contractor is the single most consequential payroll decision you make, and by far the most expensive one to get wrong. We settle it before anything is configured, rather than discovering it during an audit.

2. Account setup

   Your Gusto account created and configured — company details, state registrations, pay schedules, and the tax settings that depend on where you and your people actually are.

3. Employee onboarding

   Your team added and onboarded, with self-service access so they can handle their own details, pull their own pay stubs, and get their W-2 without going through you.

4. Payroll configuration

   Pay rates, deductions, benefits, and direct deposit configured and tested, so the first real run is not the first time anything gets checked.

5. Connecting it to your books

   Payroll disconnected from the books creates reconciliation work every single month. We make sure the entries flow through correctly and stay reconciled — which is where having the same person handle both genuinely pays off.

Common questions

• Do you run payroll for me?

  No. Payroll runs through Gusto, which handles the processing, the tax filings, and direct deposit. Our role is getting it set up correctly, keeping worker classification right, and making sure the payroll entries reconcile against your books. For most small businesses that split works out better and costs less than paying a bookkeeper to process runs by hand.

• What does payroll setup cost?

  It is quoted as a one-time project based on how much work is involved — how many employees, how many states, and whether you are starting fresh or repairing an existing setup. You get the price before any work begins.

• What if I have workers in both Idaho and Washington?

  Multi-state payroll is common along the state line. Where someone lives and where they perform the work drive different withholding and reporting obligations, and we configure payroll to capture both from the start rather than reconstructing crew assignments at year end.

• Do I have to use Gusto?

  No. Gusto is what we recommend and know best, but if you are already on another platform we will work with it. The setup, classification, and reconciliation work is much the same either way.

• What about my contractors and 1099s?

  1099 filing is something we handle directly, as a separate service. You collect the W-9s from your contractors; we track the payments through the year and prepare and file the 1099s in January. It is covered on our 1099 filing page.