4 Best Payroll Tax Audit- Here’s Your Ultimate Guide
Be it small or large, every company in India wants to stay safe and prevent payroll tax audits along the way. However, it is not as easy as it sounds.
For the unintended, payroll tax audits are randomly conducted by the IRS. That means, companies may have to face payroll tax audits when they least expect them.
One of the significant reasons for payroll tax audits is when the IRS doubts underreporting or inaccurate tax reporting in a company. Fortunately, employers can now say goodbye to such audits. A good number of businesses are already avoiding payroll tax audits using payroll software.
We are going to discuss the same in this blog.
Here’s what we will cover:
- What is a tax payroll audit?
- Why should employers be serious about payroll tax audits?
- How can payroll software help you prevent tax audits?
- What are the rights of employers?
- Parting Thoughts
If you wish to keep tax inspectors away from your business, this blog is just for you. So, let’s dive in.
What is a tax payroll audit?
In layman’s terms, tax payroll audits are the investigation or analysis of financial accounts of a business. Such audits are conducted to check and make sure that the data submitted by the business while tax filing is error-free and genuine.
As we mentioned earlier, companies/employers get an audit notice only when the IRS flags their filled returns due to any error.
That being said, take a look at some of the common mistakes that often lead to payroll tax audits:
- Classifying employees incorrectly
- Miscalculating overtime wages of employees
- Paying wrong tax rates
- Late tax filing
Employers and HR managers should avoid the aforementioned mistakes at all costs as they can lead to several hefty consequences.
Why should employers be serious about payroll tax audits?
Getting a random audit is not that worrisome- employers can easily deal with it. However, if the audit is happening following any doubt of payroll errors or fraud tax reporting, then you will have to worry a lot as things often get out of hand in such cases.
If, by any chance, a company fails the tax audit, both the present and future of the business will be negatively affected. Say, for instance, if inaccurate reporting is confirmed to be intentional, then the employer will have to pay a huge amount as a penalty or interest.
We are living/working amid a crisis today. In this scenario, no employer should take a risk. A big question arises here- what is the best way to avoid payroll tax audits? The answer is payroll software.
How can payroll software help you prevent tax audits?
For those who do not know, a payroll system is an automated software tool that automates, streamlines and optimizes payroll. With such systems, a company can complete payroll processing in just a tap anytime, anywhere.
Have a look at how payroll software can help companies to stay away from tax audits:
- Build in the Cloud
With the hybrid workplace becoming the new normal, implementing a cloud-based payroll system has become more important than ever before. Systems like HROne not just boost the overall performance of HRs but also automate payroll processing while working remotely.
In simpler words, minimizing risks become super easy using the right payroll solution. With the cloud, HRs can access, run and control every aspect of payroll using any device.
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- Checks Compliance
It is no news that payroll management calculations include a great volume of statutory compliance checks related to EPF, TDS and more. Outdated and manual methods are prone to human errors.
Payroll systems software, on the other hand, check compliance and legal adherence in a timely manner. Nevertheless, companies must build human-led checks and balances as well to allow for a judgment call in IRS audits.
- Clearly Defines Payroll Tasks/Policies
Since payroll management processes take inputs from multiple sources like many departments and people, it is necessary to verify every data source and information and to not miss any payroll deadlines. Now, this can be easily made possible by defining payroll processing timeline/norms and factoring the same into payroll software.
This way, companies will never fail to meet deadlines related to leave, attendance, time and expenses, invoicing, tax filing, reimbursements, compensations and more.
- Streamlines Accounting & Administration
Flawless record-keeping is necessary to avoid errors and confusion in the long run. For instance, once a payroll cycle is completed, companies should be able to store their historical data in a form that is accessible and analyzable. This is when payroll systems come into the picture.
Such systems store every data securely. This in turn helps companies to clear their part in case a payroll tax audit comes their way.
There are ample benefits of using payroll software but the aforementioned are the top ones.
One important thing to consider is not every payroll management system in the Indian market will help you to avoid payroll tax audits. For that, you will have to invest in one of the best software. So, be mindful while picking a system for your organization.
What are the rights of employers?
Although internal revenue service audits organizations, every employer has a set of rights. Some of them are as follows:
- No matter how serious the problem is, employers must be treated politely as well as professionally by IRS officials
- Employers have the right to keep their tax matters private and confidential
- Employers have the full right to know the reason for the audit or why the IRS officials are asking for any information
- Employers have the right to represent things either by themselves or any appointed person
- Employers also have the right to request a reversal of any decisions.
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Parting Thoughts
We hope now you have a clear understanding of payroll tax audits, the consequences of such audits and how to avoid a tax audit in the future.
Remember, small payroll errors can lead to an audit. So, take a step ahead and audit-proof your business by relying on a top-notch payroll software. All the best.