Payroll and Employer Tax Services
Payroll tax is the one area where the penalties are personal and the deadlines are unforgiving. We run it so the deposits and returns are never the thing that goes wrong.
Payroll and Employer Tax Services with EvoTax
Payroll tax carries harsher consequences than almost anything else a small business deals with. The employee portion you withhold is trust fund money held on the government's behalf, and failing to deposit it can attract a penalty assessed against responsible individuals personally rather than the company. Deposit schedules are semi-weekly or monthly depending on your history, quarterly Form 941 and annual Form 940 have fixed dates, W-2s must reach employees and the Social Security Administration in January, and each state adds its own withholding and unemployment registrations. EvoTax runs the payroll, calculates and files the deposits and returns, produces the year-end forms, and keeps the worker classification question in view, since treating someone as a contractor who is really an employee is where the largest assessments originate.
Benefits & What You Get
Deposits made on your actual schedule
We determine whether you are a monthly or semi-weekly depositor and meet that schedule, avoiding the steepest penalties.
All returns filed
Quarterly Form 941, annual Form 940, and the state withholding and unemployment returns each state requires.
Year-end forms handled
W-2s to employees and the SSA and 1099-NEC to contractors, filed by the January deadlines.
Multi-state registration
Remote employees create obligations in their state. We register and file where your people actually are.
Classification reviewed
We flag contractors who look like employees before an audit does, since that is where the largest bills come from.
How It Works
Set up and register
We register you for federal and state payroll accounts and establish your deposit schedule.
Run each cycle
We process payroll, calculate withholding and employer taxes, and produce payslips.
Deposit and file
We make deposits on schedule and file quarterly and annual returns federally and by state.
Close the year
We reconcile the year and issue W-2s and 1099s by the statutory deadlines.
Pricing
Processing, deposits and filings
Including multi-state where needed
Per quarter, you run the payroll
Per form, filed with SSA or IRS
Final pricing depends on the complexity of your case. Contact us for an exact quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
What payroll taxes does an employer pay?
You pay the employer half of Social Security and Medicare — 6.2% and 1.45% of wages, matching what you withhold from the employee — plus federal unemployment tax under FUTA and state unemployment tax. Separately you withhold and remit the employee's income tax and their half of Social Security and Medicare, which is their money held in trust, not an expense of yours.
When are payroll tax deposits due?
Either monthly or semi-weekly, determined by your reported tax in a prior lookback period. Monthly depositors pay by the 15th of the following month; semi-weekly depositors pay within days of each payday, on a schedule keyed to which day of the week you pay. A separate next-day rule applies once accumulated liability reaches $100,000. Getting your schedule right matters, because depositing late is penalised even when you pay in full.
What is Form 941 and when is it due?
Form 941 is the quarterly return reporting wages, withheld income tax and Social Security and Medicare tax. It is due by the end of the month following each quarter — 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January. It is a return, not a payment: the tax itself is paid through your deposit schedule during the quarter.
What is the trust fund recovery penalty?
Where withheld employee taxes are not paid over to the government, the IRS can assess the unpaid trust fund portion personally against individuals responsible for collecting and paying it — owners, officers, sometimes bookkeepers. It pierces the liability protection of your entity, which is what makes unpaid payroll tax categorically more dangerous than most other business debts.
Can I treat my workers as contractors instead of employees?
Only if they genuinely are. Classification turns on the degree of control you exercise over how, when and where the work is done, not on what the contract says or whether the worker prefers it. Misclassification exposes you to back employment taxes, penalties and interest for every affected worker and period, and it is an area of active enforcement. If a worker looks like an employee in substance, treating them as a contractor is a liability rather than a saving.
Ready to get started with Payroll and Employer Tax Services?
Talk to an EvoTax expert today. Free consultation, transparent pricing, no obligation.