Hey, Tyler. I noticed you have seven dependents on your tax form. Usually those would be people in your immediate family who share your living expenses and rely on your income, like a spouse and kids. Are you sure that all of these people would actually be considered dependents for tax purposes?

For my small business clients (who aren’t considering a PEO), the decision often comes down to Bamboo or Gusto. Both Bamboo and Gusto have clean, easy-to-understand user interfaces with cute graphics that really do make dry and stressful processes less intimidating and occasionally “delightful.” 

I’ve worked on the payroll of more than 100 different companies. There’s one question I get all the time. What’s the difference between gross and net pay?

Deel is like if a pickup artist did payroll. Deel is the stereotypical tech-bro, “move fast and break (your) things,” the-rules-are-for-thee-and-not-for-me, all-glitz-no-substance disappointment. It looks pretty in the demo, even if those fancy buttons and cool apps never work as expected. 

When you work overtime, you’re paid time and a half. The OBBBA only applies to the “and a half” portion of your pay. The OBBBA only applies to federal overtime, or hours worked beyond 40 hours in a week.

Many companies with fewer than 200 people will literally sign away legal control of their employees and pay multiple times more for payroll services.  Just so they don’t have to think about state tax settings.

So your company’s In-N-Out reimbursement policy is a taxable benefit. But how do you tax a burger that's already in your belly? In payroll, this problem is solved with what’s called an “in-and-out.”

“I was disappointed to learn that I was paid the same as the guy checking receipts at Walmart.” He said in his annual self-review after getting a big, fat check.

Imputed pay is a type of non-cash benefit whose value is still taxable by the IRS. It could be life insurance, a domestic partner’s benefits, bills your employer paid for you, gifts. Answer: Your payroll person adds an “imaginary” dollar to your paycheck.  That’s imputed pay.

Many midwestern states have reciprocity agreements where each state agrees to let the other handle payroll taxes. Without keeping score. It’s the state tax equivalent of saying, “It’s cool, bro. I know you’ll get me next time.” 

I’m talking about the small business where an employee is on their spouse’s insurance or a Marketplace plan and the company just reimburses them for all or part of the premium like a regular business expense. You're not supposed to do that.

But if you have a product or agency that was created to manage private and sensitive data, it is incumbent on YOU to create processes and tools to help users handle that information properly.

West Hollywood has two types of protected leave, each of which follows its own accrual schedule: Uncompensated Leave (what’s the point?) where you can take unpaid time off without getting fired; Compensated Leave that you can take for whatever reason you damned well please. Compensated Leave (CL) can fall under your combined/vacation policy, but it accrues much faster and has a higher limit than state sick time.  Which means that people can accrue up to 4.8 weeks of time off

To state the obvious: When you mess with people’s rights, sh*t gets real. And there are IRL consequences when you get the balance wrong.

If you’ve been trapped in your workplace unable to leave, eating Doritos from the vending machine for dinner and sleeping under your desk, should you be paid for that time?

Here's a rule of thumb: The best states to work in are some of the worst states to work with.

And speaking of equal opportunity, pirates welcomed escaped sailors from marginalized identities, giving them opportunities for advancement that they never would have had in the navy or merchant marines. Lady-pirates could even become captains, like Ching Shih, who led a fleet of 1,200 ships and a workforce the size of Morgan Stanley. You could call it D-E-Aye-aye-matey.

Before you start planning how you’ll spend that “free” paycheck before your finance department re-balances the budget for 2026 you need to know that your payroll provider is probably smart enough to anticipate this. There are two methods that payroll providers use to solve the 27-paycheck problem: Pro rata and pay as usual.

These days, it seems obvious that workers should be able to demand an accurate accounting for their time. But it wasn’t always that way. 

But hang on, what’s the point of making someone find a printer, and a scanner, and a pen, and those little “sign here” stickies anyway? Why, crime, of course!