Keeping track of payroll is extremely important for any business owner. However, it can be an administrative hassle. Payroll has to track tons of important information, from hours worked to tax information and more. A payroll register can be a great solution to tracking all of this information and making it easy to understand. In this article, we’re going over what a payroll register is and how to make one.
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Payroll Register Definition
A payroll register keeps a record of all the payment information of employees during your company’s pay period. The pay period length depends on how often you pay your employees: weekly, biweekly or otherwise.
What a Payroll Register Include
Payroll registers include all of the information in a pay period for all employees. A payroll register lists all basic information related to employee take-home pay. A payroll register can also include overtime hours and employer contributions to benefits if those are an applicable part of your workflow. The payroll register report includes a total for all employees, in addition to individual employee details.
Other Payroll Tracking
A payroll register is a different report from a paycheck history or payroll details. A paycheck history is an employee’s specific paycheck history, not the total for all employees.
Meanwhile, a payroll details report allows you more flexibility to group employees by location or by full-time vs. part-time. Instead of grouping all employees in one report, a payroll details report can be more specific.
Payroll Register Structure
The payroll register contains a lot of information. They generally include the following for every employee:
- Name
- Pay period
- Pay date
- Gross pay
- Net pay
- Regular hours worked
- Overtime hours worked
- Deductions for employees, such as taxes or health insurance
- Employer contributions to employee benefits
A payroll register doesn’t include taxes employers pay but, sometimes, they do include state and federal unemployment taxes. The register also includes a totals section for the various portions of the payroll register. You can see the total of all employee net pay or the total overtime hours worked, for example.
Benefits of a Payroll Register
A payroll register is essential for budgeting. You can see how much you need to set aside every pay period for taxes because the amount deducted from your employee’s paychecks is what you need to save for taxes.
Since you can see all overtime hours throughout pay periods, you can see when you’ll need to set aside money for busy seasons when employees are working overtime.
How To Use and Maintain a Payroll Register
In addition to helping you plan your budget, the payroll register is an important resource for paying taxes. You can estimate how much you owe for Medicare and Social Security based on deductions for your employees. The payroll register determines how much you’ll need to deposit and file for taxes.
If the payroll records aren’t matching up with your expected totals, you can go back to your payroll register and check the totals of various pieces of the report. There might be a data entry error. The payroll register requires regular data entry. If you’re good with numbers, you can use a spreadsheet to track everything. Using some kind of payroll software is probably more efficient.
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Keeping Accurate Records
The payroll register is key for business operations. Keeping on top of the reports will save you headaches in the future.
To keep track of employee work hours, consider using time tracking software where employees can check in and log their overtime hours as well. Even if you have tracking software, you should check the hours entered frequently to make sure there aren’t any mistakes.
Take time to review the net totals to make sure they’re accounting for gross pay and deductions when you’re running payroll.
Bottom Line
A payroll register is indispensable for your business operations. It’s important to keep accurate records and ensure all the payroll information is kept accurately. Alternatively, many small businesses opt to use a payroll service to streamline the process and ensure its accuracy. For more information, check out the best payroll services for small businesses.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How is the payroll register used?
The payroll register organizes all employee paychecks in one place. It’s how employers can track all of the various pieces , such as deductions and hours worked, in one place and understand the full picture.
What does a payroll register not include?
It includes all of the employee information, particularly tax deduction. The payroll register does not include information about the company’s own taxes that are due.
What does it mean to prove the payroll register?
Proving the payroll register means showing that your payments to employees are correct. When you have all the information in the payroll register, you have to prove that the total of earnings is equal to the total of deductions plus the net pay for all employees.
