IRS Fine on Public School Illustrates Importance of Payroll

An ongoing public dispute regarding payroll tax fines appears to be coming to an end–but it hasn’t been pretty. In February, 2016, the Three Forks school district voted to pay roughly $37,000 in fines related to a routine audit that revealed errors in the school’s payroll reporting. This $37,000 actually represents a significant discount, as the original fine was nearly $50,000! Despite this generous “discount” that the school district fought for, the fact remains that thirty seven grand is quite a large amount for any school district to come up with–let alone a school district located in a small Montana town with an official population of less than two thousand people. The exact logistics of how the school district will pay these enormous fines are still being worked out; but it appears that a portion will be taken from the district’s retirement funds, a portion will be taken from the high school and elementary school budgets, and the rest will hopefully be made up through liability insurance–though that much remains to be seen.

For public education to loose so much funding over a simple error is truly a tragedy–however, it’s important to learn from those errors moving forward. What was crippling to a small school district can be equally as crippling for a small to medium-sized business; and the IRS is much less likely to show the same leeway with a business as with a publicly funded school district. It is crucial important to have your payroll in order to avoid these kinds of fines! One of the best ways of doing this is by simply outsourcing to a professional payroll service such as Precise Payroll. If you believe that the ease, efficiency, and peace of mind offered by professional payroll services may be right for you, contact us today for more information!