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Kondor Tax & Accounting  ·  Services

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Payroll for small businesses in Vancouver, Washington and the Portland metro area.

There are two ways to do this, and they cost very different amounts. We can set payroll up properly and hand it to you to run yourself, or we can run it for you every pay period. Most small employers are better off with the first.

On this page

Payroll is the part of a small business most likely to generate a penalty notice, and the part most often set up once and never looked at again. Both halves of this page are about avoiding that.

Setup

We set it up, you run it.


This is the option we recommend to most small employers, and it is a one-time cost rather than a subscription to us. We build the whole thing, prove it works, show you how to drive it, and then it is yours.

  • Registrations with the agencies you need to be registered with.
  • Accounts opened and connected.
  • Pay schedules set to how you actually pay people.
  • Mapping to your books, so payroll lands in the right accounts instead of one lump you have to untangle later.
  • A test run, before anything real goes out.
  • Basic training — a video call or an in-person walkthrough, included.

The recurring filings — quarterlies, W-2s and 1099s, L&I, ESD, paid leave, new hire reporting — are automated during setup, so they happen on their own and you are positioned to spot and fix anything that looks wrong.

What it costs and how long it takes.

$250 to $500, depending on whether it is account opening alone or the full job with mapping and written instructions. The work itself is a few hours. The calendar is longer than that, because some registrations arrive by mail and nobody can hurry the post.

What do I need before you start?

Nothing, really. We can start at any level, including from zero. Employee information helps if you have it, and if you do not, your employees can enter their own.

And afterwards?

It is built to be as automated as we can make it, so the handoff is clean. If a question comes up later we will answer it and bill as needed. Extensive training beyond the walkthrough is quoted separately, and ongoing payroll is available as a monthly subscription if you decide you would rather not.

Ongoing

Or we run it for you.


Full-service payroll is quoted rather than listed, because the price depends on three things: how often you pay, how many people you pay, and how often that number changes. A four-person crew paid monthly is a different job from a seasonal roster paid weekly.

The recurring filings are included and automated. Additional reports are billed case by case. Where a notice arrives through no fault of ours — an insufficient-funds return, a missed charge — handling it is separate, and penalty abatement is billed separately too. We would rather tell you that here than surprise you with it later.

Who uses this?

Anyone, at any size. A good number of our payroll clients are S corporations that need officer payroll and nothing more — one person, one paycheck, done correctly. There is no minimum headcount.

What happens in the first week?

If we are running it: we collect hours, run payroll, and you and your employees get statements and stubs. If we set it up for you to run, we watch your first live run with you.

Where

Which states can you run payroll in?


All of them. Washington and Oregon are where most of our clients are, and the combination of the two — Washington L&I and paid leave on one side of the river, Oregon withholding and transit taxes on the other — is ordinary work here rather than an exception.

Software matters less than you would think. QuickBooks Payroll is our preference for the same reasons we prefer QuickBooks Online: shared access, integration with the books, and cost. We also work in Gusto and ADP. A system we have never seen before costs more to set up, and we will tell you that before you commit rather than after.

In practice

What actually goes wrong with payroll.


Almost never the setup. Once it is built correctly it tends to stay built. What causes trouble is the ordinary human parts, and they are worth knowing about in advance:

  • A quarterly filing missed, usually because nobody was watching for it.
  • Insufficient funds on the day a tax payment draws.
  • An amount entered wrong, and not caught until the quarter closes.
  • A payroll run twice.
  • A cheque that was never cashed, still sitting on the books.

None of these are disasters. All of them are cheaper to fix in the month they happen than in the year they surface.

Why us

Why not just use a payroll company?


Sometimes you should, and we will say so. If running it yourself on discounted software is cheaper for you, that is the advice you will get — we keep no margin on the software discount.

What we can do that a payroll company cannot is connect payroll to the rest of the picture. When we also prepare your return, we can adjust your payroll and your withholding against what your liability is actually shaping up to be, during the year, while it still makes a difference. That takes very little of your involvement and it is the part that tends to matter at the end.

QuickBooks

Discounted QuickBooks Online for our clients.

Intuit ProAdvisor badge, Platinum tier

We offer discounted QuickBooks Online subscriptions for our clients — held through the firm’s accountant account, set up by us and connected to your books. There is no percentage on this site because Intuit changes its pricing; ask and we will tell you the current figure. About QuickBooks with us →

Not sure which of the two you need?

Tell us how many people you pay and how often, and we will tell you which way is cheaper for you.

Book a free consultation

No engagement, no obligations. Or call (360) 217-9970.