An intelligent construction payroll system should automate paycheck calculations, wage reporting and compliance management. It should help small business owners avoid costly fines caused by manual errors and processing time delays.
Construction companies need payroll software that is flexible enough to handle multiple jobs and locations with varying wage rates and tax laws. It should also allow contractors to manage shifts and overtime pay.
Accuracy
If you are a construction company, you must ensure that your payroll software is accurate. Accurate payroll reporting can satisfy legal requirements and reduce workers’ compensation insurance premiums. It can also help you stay on top of union policies, tax withholding and labor pay regulations.
Regarding accuracy, construction companies need a comprehensive solution that includes everything from certified payroll with prevailing wage rates and union reporting to garnishments, ACA and W2 forms. Time2Pay by Accuchex is an excellent example of construction payroll software that simplifies these processes while making it easy to verify accuracy.
Another critical component of a quality construction payroll software system is support for date-sensitive reporting. This feature can make it easier to reconstruct past reports, which is crucial in the event of a labor audit.
In addition, you should ensure that your construction payroll software allows you to distribute employee pay rates based on job and phase cost codes, helping you get an accurate view of the work and where your dollars are going. This is important for calculating hourly labor costs and determining what you have left over for the remainder of the project.
Access to a system that supports automated, single paycheck printing is also essential for busy construction payroll departments. This will save time and reduce the chance of human error in the printing process.
Some construction payroll systems also include printing and sending employee paychecks electronically. This can be especially useful for employees working in remote jobs or who need a bank account to receive their checks.
The best construction payroll software solutions offer the right mix of features to handle all your needs without paying for customizations you may not need. In addition, these solutions should provide fast customer service and priority assistance in case of an issue.
Time
A construction payroll management software will help save you time and money by streamlining the process of calculating, verifying, processing and sending out paychecks. It will also keep your business from the headache of dealing with different timecard data and tax rates between job sites.
The software should also provide features that ensure accurate pay calculations for your employees based on local labor standards and taxes. This is especially important for your remote workers who are not located in your office.
For example, it should have tools to calculate federal withholding taxes and manage 1099 contractors. It should also be able to handle the payment of royalties and other fees.
It would help if you also looked for a system that provides time tracking and employee scheduling tools. These will make sure your workers are working efficiently throughout the project.
It should also offer benefits support to simplify the administration of employee health, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts (FSA) and health savings accounts.
The best construction payroll software will also have a robust HR solution to help you onboard and manage new hires. It should have tools to generate recent hire reports, collect online onboarding and PTO, track background checks, and more.
Lastly, it should be able to submit union and certified payroll reports. This will keep your construction company compliant and reduce the risk of a fine.
Some top construction payroll solutions include Gusto, Rippling, and ADP. These are all cloud-based and feature extensive payroll and HR support.
Taxes
Construction payroll is a highly complex process that requires automation and intelligent data transfers. Contractors and their employees often have to enter a lot of data to generate accurate paychecks, meet prevailing wage and labor standards, and comply with government contracts.
Fortunately, some solutions address these challenges. The right payroll software will help you handle multiple projects, calculate pay rates, and provide easy-to-use reporting.
The right solution should also be flexible enough to accommodate a variety of employer burdens, including FICA, FUTA, and SUTA taxes. It should also allow you to track overhead expenses such as insurance, garnishments, and employee loans.
A sound system should allow you to set up deductions based on time, trade, job classification, and state/job/trade designations, and it should give you the ability to define how those deductions are computed (hourly, a fixed percentage of gross or a percent of hourly earnings).
Finally, construction-specific payroll software should be able to automatically generate various construction reports, such as WH347, EEO, and city-specific pay rate compliance and union employee reports. Another solution is QuickBooks, which has various features designed to help you keep track of your finances. Its end-to-end automation and same-day deposit feature help you get paid on time, and its tax filing options help you stay compliant with federal, state, and local tax laws. The right software will also enable you to manage payroll for contractors, subcontractors and full-time employees easily. It should support online onboarding, PTO tracking, time and attendance, background checks, and other HR processes. It should also help you automate benefits management and enroll workers in health, dental, vision, and flexible spending accounts.