Q. Do I have to be located in Portland, Oregon to get my payroll done?

A. No, we can handle payroll for any state that you live in. You would however be required to provide us with the information to do so by email, fax, mail or other means.

Q. What are your current prices for payroll services?

A. We bill a flat fee set at $5.00 per check or direct deposit that is completed.

Work completed for Contractor's (1099 matters) are also the same. In example, you want to make a check out for 5 employees and 1 contractor (check means either a paper check (see below) or a direct deposit advice completed. Charge would be $30.00 plus any postage for the matter. 6 checks x $5.00. Postage is additional if mailing is required.

Exceptions for above related matters:

If an employee is subject to any type of garnishment, that require a deduction from their payroll, there is an additional fee of $10.00 that is added to that check for each garnishment.

This includes making out the check or otherwise for the agency that the garnishment or otherwise relates too. In most cases you will be able to recoup this fee as many agencies will allow for you to charge this fee back to the employee. It will of course depend on the agency and the rules involved.

Examples Follow:

You give us information that 5 employees need to be paid, 2 of them will be paid by direct deposit the others are just checks. Also you need to make out a check for a Contractor. Equally, one of the Employees is subject to a Garnishment for Child Support. Fee would be as follows: $5.00 for 4 employees and contractor for a total of $25.00 (5x $5.00) PLUS $15.00 for completing the payroll relating to the employee subject to Garnishment.

Postage is additional if mailing is required.

Unless otherwise informed by the employer, in completion of the payroll all necessary taxes will be deposited at the same time the matters are completed. The 1099 related information will be saved for later work at year-end when it comes to the contractor. We will, if required, provide you a check when it is done during the payroll period in question to give to give to the contractor. Postage is additional if mailing is required.

We keep track of the Garnishment for you and provide up-to-date information for you when requested or when requested by the employee. There is no additional cost for doing so unless they need multiple copies of matters already provided.

We make out the check for the agency or complete an electronic funds transfer for you with ACH (Automated Clearing House) debit for payment of the garnishment for Child Support as noted in the above example.

Q. What is included with the Flat Fee noted above?

A. Unless stated in the questions below, the following is included with the flat fee noted:

Complete the payroll for the employee or deal with matters related to 1099 Contractors.

Draft a check or direct deposit advice for the employee or contractor.

Provide copies for the Employer / Employee / Contractor.

Provide necessary check mailing envelopes.

Make tax deposits when the payroll is completed.

Q. What is not included with the Flat Fee noted above?

A. Unless stated the following is not included with the flat fee noted:

Service under flat-rate billings, unless provided under the agreement, will not include year-end work for W2, 1099 or other matters. After initial set-up there will be a set-up fee for all new contractor or employees. There is an initial set-up fee for all new payroll accounts. And new employee's or contractor's that need to be paid. We do require an Agreement for all Payroll Services.

Postage is generally not included except for year-end instances.

See below for more information relating to the above matters.

Q. Can you pick up or drop off my payroll?

A. Yes we can do this if your business is located within the Greater Portland, Oregon area. There is a charge of $35.00 per hour for travel with a 1-hour minimum charge for doing so. We may use a courier in such case.

Q. Can you do my payroll in-house or at my business?

A. Yes. You must be located in the Greater Portland, Oregon area for us to do so. This service will be billed a charge of $35.00 per hour for travel with a 1-hour minimum, plus $70.00 per hour for payroll processing at your place of business, with a 3-hour minimum charge for doing so. This usually works well for larger employers.

Q. My business is not located in the Portland area. How do I provide information?

A. You have the following options:

Email the Information to us - Preferred Method

Call in your information.

Schedule an Appointment to drop it off to us.

Fax us the information.

Mail the information to us.

Q. If I live out of the area how do I get my payroll when it is done?

A. We will mail it to you unless you can pick it up or make other arrangements.

If you want us to just complete the payroll and you provide the checks to your employees by handwriting them yourself, then we can email the information that you will need to get that done.

If we need to make out physical checks, then it must be mailed to you. All Postage is billed to you at the current cost of mailing.

Q. If I live out of the area and you mail information, will there be charges for that?

A. Rates for mailing will be based on current USPS rates including overnight fees if necessary. We will bill you on a Separate invoice for this.

Q. I only have a couple of employees. Can I write the checks myself?

A. Yes. We can process the payroll and provide you by email, with the required information that you will need to pay your employees including any copies that must be given to them.

The emailed information will look just like a check with two stubs, one at the top and one at the bottom with the check in the middle. Of course they are not negotiable.

You can then look at this information and make the checks according to the amounts indicated on them from your Checking Account.

You would keep a copy for yourself and provide each employee with a copy for their records. We will of course email them copies for you if you wish, and keep copies on file should you need them.

The information sent to you for this looks just as though it would be a check if we had actually printed it for you on check stock. There is no difference except that it is in blank paper format and not printed on normal check stock.

The Stubs would show required year-to-date and other information relating to that pay period. Depending on the Stat’s laws, the stub may or may not contain the social security number of the employee.

We do this for various clients who live out of state. Others we will mail actual checks to them.

In most cases, if your company is a small employer, you may wish to do it this way to save time and avoid any mailing or other costs that may be necessary to actually mail the information to you for the payroll.

It is up to the company but many choose to do it this way for various reasons.

Q. What about penalties or fines. Who is responsible?

A. If we make the mistake, we will attempt to correct it and avoid such penalty or interest. If it is not possible, we will pay for our mistakes. We will not however be responsible for any additional taxes if they are assessed on the payroll as they would have been due by you anyway.

If the error is yours, we will work with you in an attempt to fix it as well, and if unable to, you will be responsible for the penalties or interest, and any additional taxes that may be the result thereof.

For the above related matters, this is one reason why we do require updated Power of Attorney or other forms for both State and Federal Agencies when dealing with any Payroll Related Accounts.

Q. What about compliance with State and other laws when it comes to my Payroll?

A. We will keep in compliance with your states laws when we do the payroll for you. We will relay any and all maters to you that may affect your account and discuss any options that are necessary to ensure that compliance is maintained at all times with both State and Federal agencies.

Q. What about tax deposits; and how does this work?

A. We will handle all maters related to that portion of the payroll when we do the payroll for you. You will however be responsible for making sure the payment of those taxes.

This will require that you provide us with signed documents, such as any Power Of Attorney or other forms for your accounts so that we can deal with State and Federal agencies when necessary.

At times, some state agencies may not allow us to work with the accounts, and require that you do so. This can be the case in situations of Worker’s Comp. accounts, to name just one.

If this is the case, we expect you to work with us to ensure that we can deal with such matters to provide the best possible service to you when it comes to problem resolution or otherwise.

In other words, if the documents that we have on file for you do not allow us to deal with certain accounts, we expect you to work with us so that we can do what needs to be done on such matters.

Q. What about contracts; do you have or require them?

A. We require a one year agreement with our payroll services. This agreement will renew automatically unless canceled by either party.

The Agreement runs for a period of 365 days beginning on the date it is entered into. It renews every 366th day thereafter.

If there are changes in the terms, for example the monthly fees etc., then a new agreement would need to be entered into before services would renew.

We do require that you sign an agreement that both your company and ours are required to enter into to do the payroll for you. And we do have a payroll set-up charge. See below.

If you choose to not use us later, which you can choose to do so at any time, you may or may not be liable for a cancellation fee equal to the mimimum monthly billing due under the Agreement, for the remaining month(s) remaining under the Agreement.

Upon termination of the Agreement, we will provide you with any information that you need to switch to another provider, and may charge for this at our general accounting rates per hour to do so according to our policies.

All incidentals are extra and billed according to our policies.

Important information relating to the above charges

At the time we complete each payroll for you, you will be provided with information and various reports, as well as check stubs, information on electronic deposits and other debits from your accounts, as well as necessary copies.

In such case, if you need to switch companies, you will already have that necessary information to do so. If you need this information again, then you will be billed accordingly for that.

The same will go for reports, you will get copies of all matters that we do for you when we do payroll for you. In most cases, there should not be any other information that you will need due to the fact that you have already received it.

The most important things that are necessary for switching (should you choose to do so during the middle of the year), are:

Year-to-date employee data; shown on stubs and reports that you will get;

Year-to-date employer taxes. shown on reports that you will get;

Year-to-date garnishment information for your employees which will be shown on the pay stubs;

Year to date tax filing documents; which you get copies of upon filing;

Year to date payments that have been made on your accounts to each agency in question; which you get copies of upon filing.

If you need these documents again later (after you have already been provided them), we will bill for them at our general bookkeeping rates.

All Incidentals that are necessary, will be billed according to our Billing Policies.