Re: An Actual Payroll Module - When?

[..hidden..]

Seriously, for $30 a month we pay Chase for our payroll solution it is
well worthwhile...it includes tax filing reminder and all the forms...just
have integration for payroll GL entry import/export seems reasonable...my
$0.02...

> On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 9:08 AM, ERACC Subscriptions <..hidden..>
> wrote:
>> On Sun, 2011-01-30 at 17:37 -0800, Chris Travers wrote:
>
>>
>> I would hope that would be of interest to more people than just me. As
>> you can see the inquiries I have gotten are from all over the USA: one
>> from Alaska, one from New York, two from Florida, one from Oregon. So
>> these are not local to me and I have no clue about the local tax
>> problems in these locations. In most cases they wanted a preconfigured
>> POS system shipped to them with remote support for setup help if
>> necessary. One was just looking for a general small business accounting
>> package.
>>
>> All those mentioned were looking for FOSS software with Payroll. The one
>> requirement I could not meet with LedgerSMB was Payroll. I really *want*
>> to promote LedgerSMB over the other solutions offered on our web page. I
>> did not get the business of any of these, so they are not my customers
>> at this point. I am thinking of the future.
>>
>> A framework for Payroll where the end-user could set up a module for
>> local requirements would be better than nothing. Actually that would
>> probably be the best solution so that when changes to local tax laws
>> occur the end-user could reconfigure the module. Of course this would
>> require the end-user to either have knowledge of local Payroll
>> requirements or hire an accountant that does. ...
>
> The more I have looked into payroll stuff, the less I am convinced
> that it is possible to have an end-user configure the rules.  There
> can be subtle differences between jurisdictions about acceptable
> practices.  If one ends up with a system that is truly configurable by
> a non-programmer, I think we'd have a bad case of inner platform
> syndrome.
>
> For example, in Washington State, some payroll taxes only address some
> forms of labor.  Other forms of labor are exempt from specific payroll
> deductions.  This is a big deal where agriculture is concerned.
>
> The way commercial offerings address this is to offer payroll on a
> subscription basis.  I think there is a possibility for someone to
> offer update subscriptions for specific jurisdictions, and so this is
> what my current approach is favoring.
>
> My current approach is to create an add-on for tracking deductions and
> categorizing them.  Then jurisdiction-specific stored procedures would
> be maintained for doing the actual payroll calculations.  I can't
> think of a better way of doing it than this.
>
> Like sales tax, this is something that seems easy until you come
> across a jurisdiction that has crazy rules.  But unlike sales tax, the
> rules under the best case scenario are not simple.  One of the things
> we have done for 1.2 and 1.3 is to allow pluggable sales tax logic to
> cover crazy jurisdictions.
>
> As I say, I could have a federal module out pretty quickly which only
> addresses federal income tax, medicare withholding, and social
> security.   I could also come up with an estimate for producing local
> jurisdiction procedures to a specific customer's needs.  I couldn't do
> it on a subscription basis because I don't have the staff to track all
> these jurisdictions and what changes might occur.  However, we could
> get something started.  Would it be possible to talk further on the
> phone?
>
> Best Wishes,
> Chris Travers
>
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