The best software to prepare 940/941/W-2?
Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2007-07-12 15:02.
For personal return, most of us use Turbo tax or Tax cut.
I wonder for one-owner corp(S-corp), what is the best software to prepare the IRS tax form of 940/941/W-2/1120?
I don't need to have e-file service, I only need that software to prepare the form and create the printable PDF format. It seems TurboTax business can only prepare 1120, not 940/910/W-2.
Thanks!
Free Payroll Tax Forms
You can download Form 941 & Form 940 free from the IRS. These are fill-in forms and you can save the form with your data.
Most accounting programs that offer payroll will also generate the PDF of the forms. Quickbooks will print the 941/940s but they charge for it. :( If you don't want to pay extra, I'd just use the data from the payroll reports and enter it in the form. The forms are really easy to complete.
You can't make a PDF of the W-2 (or 1099s) because you have to print them on the preprinted forms with the red ink.... And don't try to print it on your color printer, that won't work either & there's a $25 fine for using the wrong form.
The good news is you can file W-2s with the Social Security Administration directly, without going through a third party. I've never used it but I understand it's relatively painless once you register and it's free!! Go to http://www.ssa.gov/employer to get started...
I wouldn't try to do the 1120S by hand. Use TurboTax for Business (make sure you get the version for S-Corps) which can also prepare the W-2 for you. There are certainly other programs available but that's the one I'm most familiar with. :)
Good Luck, and I'd be interested in hearing your about your experience if you end up filing the W-2s through the SSA's site.
L:)
Simple payroll calculation
Hi, Linda,
Thanks. That is very helpful! I will definitely try the online W-2 filing. I will report back my experience here (which would be next February, I guess).
For the one person corp, what is the good software that you can recommend to generate payroll report? I found there is a payroll withholding calcuator at http://www.esmartpayroll.com/ which is doing a decent job. But I like to hear whether there is a better choice.
Thanks for keeping up this best website!
Best payroll report software for 1 person (or few person) corp?
What software do you use?
Payroll Software
Yeah, this is a bit of a conundrum. If you only have one employee it can be hard to justify spending $100-200 on software each year to track & submit returns. But I understand things from the software developer's point too.
I use QuickBooks, but I use it for my own company and my clients'. If you're using QuickBooks anyway to track your financial data, it can also track your payroll data. You can purchase an add-on to do all the calculating for you and even e-file your federal and state returns, but you don't technically have to.
Obviously this is something Intuit isn't too keen on being generally known, but there is QuickBooks Knowledgebase article, Setting up Manual Payroll, that explains how to do it. This works pretty well if you only have one or two employees and you have fixed salary so you don't have to recalculate the payroll each payday. You can use this method to print payroll reports but it will no longer generate the 941/940 forms. If you're comfortable with payroll it works fine.
There are certainly lots of payroll services out there. Paycycle is one that's marketing strongly to small businesses. Bank of America has a basic service for $15/month plus $5 for every check that isn't being direct deposited to a BofA account. Sneaky! But if you already have a BofA account you might want to consider it.
Personally, I think services should charge by payday. If you can get by with one payday a month, should you have to pay the same as company that have a weekly payroll?
Well I could just go on and on. The problem is for vendors the costs are nearly the same if you have one employee or 500. But for the small business the costs are hard to justify.
L:)