Shea Business Solutions runs full-service payroll for small businesses across Orlando, FL, processed through QuickBooks Payroll by a Certified Payroll Specialist. Employees paid on time, Florida and federal payroll taxes calculated and filed, and the whole thing flowing straight into your books so payroll and bookkeeping stop living in two separate worlds. Payroll processing starts at $100 per month.
Payroll is the one part of running a business where a small mistake gets expensive fast. Miss a federal deposit deadline and the penalty starts at a percentage of the tax owed. Misclassify a worker and the correction can reach back years. That is why we handle it end to end instead of leaving you to guess at a filing calendar.
QuickBooks-Integrated Payroll, Not a Second System
Most owners already keep their books in QuickBooks Online. Running payroll through a disconnected app means re-keying every pay run, reconciling two records that never quite match, and finding the gap in April. We set up and process payroll inside QuickBooks Payroll so each run posts to the general ledger automatically. Wages, taxes, and liabilities land in the right accounts the moment payroll runs, and your profit and loss reflects labor cost without anyone touching a spreadsheet.
Florida and Federal Payroll Taxes, Handled
Florida has no state income tax, which fools some owners into thinking payroll tax here is simple. It is not. You still owe Florida reemployment tax, and the federal side runs the full length: Social Security and Medicare withholding, the employer match, federal income tax withholding, and FUTA. We calculate each one, make the deposits on schedule, and file the returns.
- Florida reemployment tax. Calculated on the taxable wage base and filed quarterly with the state.
- Federal payroll deposits and Form 941. Withholding and matching taxes deposited on your required schedule, reconciled to the quarterly 941.
- Year-end forms. W-2s for employees and 1099s for contractors, prepared and issued before the deadline.
- New-hire and classification setup. Workers set up correctly the first time, so employee versus contractor is not a problem waiting to surface.
If you want the plain-English version of what a Florida small business actually owes and when, we wrote a full guide on Florida payroll taxes for Orlando small business owners. It covers reemployment tax, the 941 deadlines, and the penalties that make people call us in the first place.
Restaurants, Tips, and Weekly Payroll
Some payroll is genuinely complicated, and restaurants are the clearest example. Weekly pay runs, tipped wages, and tip allocation rules turn a routine task into a weekly problem. One Orlando restaurant came to us with tip allocation errors and six months of bookkeeping behind on top of it. We corrected the tip allocation procedures, rebuilt the historical records, and automated a reliable weekly payroll for their 15 employees, which also gave the owner accurate food-cost margins for the first time. Payroll and books were fixed together because on a restaurant they are the same problem.
Payroll That Matches Your Bookkeeping
Payroll works best as part of a whole. Many owners run it alongside flat-rate monthly bookkeeping so labor cost, taxes, and reconciliations all sit in one clean file. If your QuickBooks file needs work before payroll can run cleanly, that is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor job, and we handle both. Everything is quoted up front and answered the same business day, which for payroll means you are never waiting on a reply the week a pay run is due.
Employees, Contractors, and 1099 Season
The line between an employee and a contractor is where a lot of small businesses get into trouble, and the bill for getting it wrong lands at year-end. Pay someone as a 1099 contractor who should have been a W-2 employee, and you can owe back payroll taxes plus penalties when it surfaces. We set workers up correctly at hire, keep the W-9s and pay records where they belong, and issue clean 1099s and W-2s in January so the year closes without a scramble. When the same painting contractor we reconstructed had its classifications corrected, the fix removed an exposure that had been sitting quietly in the file for two years.
Owners hand payroll off for a plain reason: the downside is all cost and no upside. Getting it right earns you nothing you notice, and getting it wrong costs money and time you cannot get back. Letting a Certified Payroll Specialist run it on a fixed monthly fee takes that risk off your desk, and because it posts into your books automatically, you also stop losing a day each month reconciling two systems that never agreed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does payroll processing cost in Orlando?
Payroll processing starts at $100 per month and scales with the number of employees and pay frequency. You get the price before anything starts, and many clients bundle payroll with monthly bookkeeping.
Do you file Florida and federal payroll taxes?
Yes. We handle Florida reemployment tax, federal payroll deposits, the quarterly Form 941, and year-end W-2s and 1099s, calculated and filed on schedule so nothing misses a deadline.
Does payroll connect to my QuickBooks?
Yes. We process payroll through QuickBooks Payroll so every run posts to your books automatically, with wages, taxes, and liabilities landing in the correct accounts.
Can you handle restaurant payroll with tips?
Yes. We set up tipped-wage and tip-allocation handling and run weekly payroll for restaurants, and we can reconstruct past records if the books have fallen behind.
Do you serve businesses across the greater Orlando area?
Yes. We handle payroll for small businesses throughout Orlando and the surrounding Central Florida area, including Lake Nona, Winter Park, Celebration, Kissimmee, and Meadow Woods. Payroll runs remotely, so there is no office visit required to get set up or to run each pay period.