5 Year-End Prep Tips for Small Business Owners

Most people associate year-end with holiday festivities and family events. Small business owners add year-end planning and paperwork to the list.

SurePayroll, your online payroll and benefits partner, made a list and checked it twice. Read on for year-end planning tips.  

SurePayroll Small Business Owner Year End Checklist

1. Plan to Adjust Your Payroll Schedule

Year-end bank holidays include Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and President’s Day. Be sure to adjust your payroll schedule to accommodate for financial institution holiday closures. Remember that all payrolls—including extra payrolls like holiday bonus payouts—must have a check date before Dec. 31, 2022, to be included on an employee’s 2022 W-2/1099-NEC form.

Bonus Tip: Christmas falls during the last week of the year in 2022. SurePayroll will ensure you meet deadlines for the last pay period of the year and check one more item off your to-do list.

2. Prepare Your Essential Financial Documents

Preparing essential financial documents, including balance sheet report, income statement report and a cash flow statement report helps determine financial goal status, reveals potential 2023 adjustments, and serves as a formal record of the financial health of your business.

Bonus Tip: SurePayroll offers several accounting software integrations to help analyze financial documents with ease.

3. Focus on Your Employees

Year-end just isn’t about paperwork—it’s also about people processes, including:

• Performance Reviews. Set aside plenty of time to assess employee progress and determine a development and performance plan for 2023.
• Encourage employees to review Form W-4. Small business owners use Form W-4 to help create W-2’s. Take time to ensure employees review and confirm information accuracy. Common changes include address or name changes, and filing status updates.
• Look for W-2s in January. Employers must provide employees a W-2 by Jan. 31. SurePayroll clients will receive these documents in early January. Non- SurePayroll clients must follow instructions from the IRS to manually submit W-2 information for each employee before receiving the forms.

Bonus Tip: The employees of SurePayroll clients can access W-2s via their employee logins. Employers can also print and distribute W-2s.

• Review Your Employee Benefits. From health coverage to 401(k) options to workers’ comp insurance, year-end is a great time to review the additional employee benefits available.

Bonus Tip: Do current employee benefits and HR services the needs of you and your employees? A recent survey shows the key to employee retention is job stability and meaningful work, plus health insurance and retirement plans. Read more.

• Boost Employee Engagement. Year-end is a busy and stressful time. Help prevent employee burn out. Take a moment to check in with employees. Say thank you. Little things matter.

Bonus Tip:  Check out four ways to increase employee engagement at year-end. Read More.

4. Get Ready for Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday encourages consumers to shop small, support their communities, and help their local economies thrive. In 2021, 51 million shoppers participated in Small Business Saturday and spent more than $$23 billion.

Bonus Tip: A new survey commissioned by SurePayroll—released in time for Small Business Saturday, Nov. 26—shows the right technology helps small businesses focus on delivering the personal services their customers want.

5. Start Looking for Payroll Help. Don’t add your name to the list of the roughly 40% of small businesses who pay almost $1,000 each year in IRS penalties due to payroll errors.

Bonus Tip: A recent survey shows that when asked to estimate time savings provided by their current payroll system, more than one-third of small business HR leaders report saving 11 to more than 20 hours each month. Read More.

Double Bonus Tip: Year-end is the best time to switch to a new online payroll service, and providers like SurePayroll start at just $19.99 per month. Learn about the many ways a payroll provider could help your business in the upcoming year and get a free quote from SurePayroll today.

Start year-end prep today and save time in 2023. Be sure you’re getting the right support, from the right people. SurePayroll. Your partner for sure success.