- 4.7 Stars From 64 Google Reviews
- Open Saturdays 10–4
- File In Person or Fully Virtual
- Year-Round Help, Not Just Tax Season
- Nonprofit & Church Specialists
Paying people is the easy part. The hard part is everything that rides along with each paycheck: federal withholding, Social Security and Medicare, Ohio tax, school district tax and city tax, each with its own form and its own deadline. Cincinnati employers who miss one usually find out from a penalty notice. We run your payroll, make the deposits and file the reports, so your people get paid right and every agency gets paid on time.
What Payroll Problems Do You Have?
Most payroll trouble starts small. A deposit goes in a few days late because the owner was out sick. Nobody checked whether the business should deposit monthly or semiweekly this year. An employee asks why no city tax came out of their check, or why the wrong city got it. Someone was paid as a contractor who should have been on payroll.
Doing payroll by hand makes this worse. Ohio put new state withholding tables into effect on August 1, 2026, so anyone still using last year’s printed tables is now taking out the wrong amount. A bad number on one check is easy to fix. The same bad number on every check for six months turns into a mess of corrected forms, upset workers and a balance due.
The other big problem is the first hire. You need a federal number, two Ohio accounts, a new hire report and a set of forms from the worker, all before or soon after the first payday.
Our Payroll Services
The base of our work is the regular payroll run. Weekly, every other week or monthly, we figure each person’s gross pay, take out the right federal, Ohio, school district and city taxes plus any other deductions, and give you the net pay and a pay stub for each worker.
Every payroll creates tax that has to be sent in. Our Payroll Tax Filing service makes the federal deposits, files Form 941 each quarter, and handles your Ohio, school district and Cincinnati withholding returns on the schedule each agency sets. When the year ends, W-2 & 1099 Preparation gets W-2s to your employees and 1099-NEC forms to your contractors by the January 31 deadline, and files the copies the government needs.
For new employers, we handle the setup. That starts with a federal Employer Identification Number, which is free and can be applied for online with the IRS. Ohio then requires you to register for an Ohio withholding account within 15 days of when you first owe withholding, and that one account covers school district tax too. You also need an Ohio unemployment tax account with the Department of Job and Family Services. Each worker fills out a federal W-4 and an Ohio IT 4, and every new hire has to be reported to the state within 20 days through Ohio new hire reporting.
Payroll for Cincinnati Homes and Businesses
City tax is where most local payroll goes wrong. An employer with workers in Cincinnati withholds the city’s 1.8% income tax, pays it to the city, and files a yearly reconciliation. Our office in 45224 sits next to North College Hill, Mount Healthy, Forest Park and Springdale, and each of those is its own taxing city. Plenty of workers live in one and work in another, so the city on the check is often not the city they call home. Cincinnati residents only get credit up to 1.8% for tax paid to the city where they work, so a mix-up can leave someone owing at tax time.
Remote and hybrid work adds a twist. When an employer keeps withholding for a suburb office while the worker is home most days, that worker may be able to claim a nonresident refund for the days worked from home. Clean payroll records make that claim possible.
Hiring help at home is different. Ohio does not require income tax withholding for domestic service in a private home, but federal household employer rules can still apply once you pay enough in a year.
Common Payroll Penalty Triggers
The most common one is a late federal deposit. The IRS charges 2% of the deposit if it is one to five days late, 5% at six to fifteen days, and 10% after that. It goes to 15% if the tax is still unpaid more than ten days after the first notice. Deposits must also be made electronically. Mailing a check can count as paying the wrong way.
Other triggers include filing Form 941 late, skipping Ohio’s yearly IT 941 reconciliation due January 31, and not withholding school district tax for a worker who lives in a taxing district. Ohio treats tax that should have been withheld as the employer’s own debt, even if it never came out of the check, and the person in charge of payroll can be held personally liable. Calling a worker a contractor when the job looks like employment is another costly mistake.
Why Choose Us for Payroll
We have prepared returns in Cincinnati since 1993, and payroll has long been part of our business work. The same office keeps your books and prepares your business and personal returns, so payroll numbers match everywhere they show up. We also run payroll for churches and their pastors, including how a minister’s housing allowance is handled on the check and the W-2. We are open Monday through Saturday all year, and you can work with us in person or fully online.
Payroll is run by the Cincinnati tax team behind this work, in the same office that prepares your returns.
Our Payroll Services
Payroll Tax Filing
Federal deposits, quarterly 941s, and Ohio, school district and Cincinnati withholding returns filed on schedule.
W-2 & 1099 Preparation
Year-end W-2s for employees and 1099-NEC forms for contractors, done before the January 31 deadline.
Common Questions
I own an S corporation. Do I need to be on payroll?
Usually yes. If you work in your S corporation, the IRS expects you to pay yourself a reasonable wage through payroll before taking other money out. Sole owners of a regular LLC or sole proprietorship take draws instead and are not on payroll.
I already missed a payroll tax deposit. What should I do?
Make the deposit as soon as you can. The federal penalty grows with each stretch of days late, so a few days makes a real difference. Then bring us the notice if one arrives, and we help you understand it and respond.
How do I know if a worker is an employee or a contractor?
It depends on control. If you decide when, where and how the work gets done and supply the tools, the person is likely an employee. If they run their own business and set their own methods, they may be a contractor. We can talk through your case.