Payroll, bookkeeping, workers' compensation and tax strategy for Orange County business owners. We run it correctly, we handle the California rules that catch people out, and when you call you get a person who knows your account.
Serving Lake Forest • Foothill Ranch • Portola Hills • Mission Viejo • Rancho Santa Margarita • Laguna Hills • Laguna Niguel • Aliso Viejo • Irvine • Trabuco Canyon • San Juan Capistrano • Tustin
Most payroll companies process payroll. That is the easy part and everybody does it. These are the three that actually cost Orange County owners money.
Most contractors pay an annual estimate and find out what it really cost at the audit. If your headcount moved, or your job mix changed, that reconciliation can land badly.
Pay-as-you-go calculates the premium from each payroll, on what you actually paid. No year-end estimate, no surprise audit bill.
California is stricter than most states about who can be a 1099, and the test is not the one most owners think it is.
Getting it wrong is quiet for years and then arrives as back taxes, penalties and interest at once. We look at the roster before anyone else does.
Same day response, from a person who knows your account rather than a queue and a ticket number.
Four of our thirteen Google reviews thank Anika by name. That is not an accident and it is not something a call centre can copy.
Run, filed and paid on time. Federal and California, direct deposit, wage statements that meet the state's requirements, quarterly and annual filings.
Books kept current so you can answer what you made last month without going and looking. Clean records at tax time rather than a scramble in March.
Pay-as-you-go premiums calculated on real payroll, correct class codes, and support through the audit when it comes around.
Our CPA team looks at what you could be deducting before the return is filed, not after. Planning, not just preparation.
If you have run payroll in another state, or your provider does, most of what follows will be unfamiliar. Every one of these is somewhere an out-of-state processor gets a California employer in trouble.
California withholds it. Several neighbouring states do not, which is where the assumption usually comes from.
California has its own withholding certificate, alongside the federal W-4. Both are needed.
Payroll tax runs through the Employment Development Department: unemployment insurance, employment training tax, state disability and income tax withholding.
State disability insurance is withheld from employees. There is no equivalent in a lot of other states.
Overtime past 8 hours in a day and double time past 12, plus seventh consecutive day rules. Federal law counts by the week only.
A missed meal or rest break is owed as an hour of pay, and it counts as wages, so it belongs on the wage statement.
Itemised and specific, under Labor Code 226. The formatting itself is a compliance question.
Mandatory from your first employee. Not a threshold you grow into.
People put this off because they assume it is disruptive mid-year. It is not, and the reviews on this page are mostly from people saying so.
Thirty minutes. We look at what you are running now, what it costs you, and where the exposure is. No quote at the end of it.
We handle the transfer, the prior quarters, the filings and the account setup. You approve; we do the paperwork.
Payroll goes out, taxes get filed, and workers' comp updates with each run. You call a person when you need one.
Pulled from our Google profile. We do not choose which ones show, which is the only thing that makes a review worth reading.
Matt, Anika and the entire team at Profit First Payroll are fantastic! They process our payroll on time, make sure all the necessary taxes (employee / employer) are allocated properly, submit payroll to my bookkeeper and my work compensation policy. They are readily...
10 out of 5 stars if I could give them! Matt has gone above and beyond to make sure not only my payroll is perfect, but he has also shared some IRS rules that have allowed me to reduce my tax liability. At this point he has paid for himself!
Before working with Matt and Anika at Profit First Payroll , payroll week was a massive headache. Now, it's completely seamless. Switching our payroll to Profit First was one of the best operational decisions we've made. They have made the entire transition seamless...
I have been with Profit first payroll for about 8 years, they have excellent service. Very professional, on top with all what our company requires by law. Very friendly staff. Thank you Matt and Anika, you are the best!
Your premium is calculated from each payroll, based on what you actually paid, instead of an annual estimate made at the start of the policy year.
The conventional way, you guess your payroll for the year, pay against that guess, and settle up at the audit. If you guessed low, or grew, or your job mix shifted toward higher class codes, the audit bill arrives as a lump. Pay-as-you-go removes the guess and removes the lump.
Both. Bookkeeping is a service we provide, not something we hand back to you.
If you already have a bookkeeper or a CPA you are happy with, that is fine too and we work alongside them. Plenty of our clients keep the accountant they trust and use us for payroll, workers' comp and the tax planning side.
No. We come to you, or we meet at a chamber office, or we do it over a call. Most of our Orange County clients we see on their own site, which is usually more useful anyway because we can see how the business actually runs.
Same day. Email reaches crew@profitfirstpayroll.com and a named person answers it, not a queue.
Yes, and most people do. We take on the prior quarters and the filing history as part of the move, so the year still reconciles correctly at the end of it.
The change is smaller than people expect. That is the single most common thing our clients say in their reviews.
Yes, and it is usually the first thing we look at. California's test for who can be an independent contractor is stricter than most owners realise, and a misclassification is quiet until it is not.
We would rather look at the roster with you now than have an auditor do it later.
Our Lake Forest office serves south Orange County. We are not a storefront and we do not expect you to drive to us: we meet clients at their own premises, on job sites, or at the chamber.
The mix here is construction and specialty trades, landscaping and pool service, restaurants, auto repair and staffing. That is who we have built this around, in Lake Forest the same as in the five offices before it.
Thirty minutes, no cost, and no payroll quote at the end of it. We look at what your payroll, your workers' comp and your admin time are actually costing you, and you decide what to do with what we find.
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