As the year winds down, Texas small business owners face one of the most important responsibilities of the season: closing out payroll accurately and preparing for a clean start in the new year. A smooth year-end ensures your employees receive correct W-2 forms, your TWC filings match your wage reports, and you avoid costly payroll corrections in Q1. Whether you’re a new employer or have been operating for years, use this Texas-specific checklist to guide your year-end payro

Imagine this: You hire your first employee, enter their hours, hit “Run Payroll” — and suddenly the system asks for account numbers you’ve never heard of. EIN. TWC account. SUTA rate. IRS deposit schedule. Quarterly filing IDs. Most Texas employers run into this exact roadblock the first time they try paying someone, because legally, payroll setup happens BEFORE payroll , not after. And skipping these steps can lead to: Retroactive state unemployment taxes Rejected payrol

New hire reporting is one of the easiest payroll obligations for Texas employers to overlook — and one of the most costly to miss. A boutique owner in San Antonio learned this the hard way when a penalty notice from the Texas Workforce Commission arrived just weeks after she hired her first employee. She assumed her payroll software handled it automatically, but in Texas, new hire reporting is a legal requirement that ultimately falls on the business owner—not the system—to

A Houston business owner once told me: “I thought running payroll in Texas would be easy — until the IRS sent me a letter over a $38 withholding error.” He’s not alone. Texas is an easy state for employers on paper , but real-world payroll mistakes still lead to: IRS notices Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) penalties misclassified employees late tax filings incorrect unemployment rates unexpected back-pay liability The good news? If you follow a clean process — the right  p

If you're hiring employees in Texas—even if you only have one —understanding payroll taxes is the foundation of clean, compliant payroll. Texas is one of the simplest states in the country, but “simple” doesn’t mean easy. Federal rules still apply, unemployment rates change, and mistakes can trigger IRS letters or Texas Workforce Commission penalties. This guide breaks everything down in plain English , so you can run payroll accurately and confidently in 2025. What Payroll