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I run a small US-based startup, (an S Corp), I am also a contractor of this business.

Am I able to withdrawl money from the main business banking account and pay myself (a contractor) without writing a check up?

I will, of course, document these payments on both ends when taxes come around.

I recognize a check is more traditional, but it seems silly to write myself a check everytime I pay myself.

Thank you for any input!

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

How you withdraw money, technically, is of no importance.

But you have to pay yourself a reasonable salary. You cannot pay yourself as a contractor for work performed for your S-Corp. Yes, it means you'll have to pay payroll taxes and expenses.

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Thank you for your answer. I'm a bit confused though; how can I "pay" myself then? As a regular W-2 employee? – user1062058 Jul 16 '12 at 1:29
@user1062058 - yes, precisely. You must pay yourself a salary, i.e.: you must be your own corporation's W2 employee. – littleadv Jul 16 '12 at 3:41
Okay, great. I will be a W2 employee and use a check to pay myself each month. To handle this payroll on both ends, I'm going to try quickbooks until I get the hang of what the forms and calculations are. Is this a good plan? Thank you for you help. Also, your blog site is very nice. – user1062058 Jul 16 '12 at 22:44
@user1062058 I would suggest paying some for a payroll service. IRS can be very nasty if you make mistakes with withholdings and payroll tax forms, and it is a deductible business expense for your corporation. – littleadv Jul 16 '12 at 22:50
Okay, thank you for that. Will Quickbooks suffice for the payroll service? – user1062058 Jul 16 '12 at 23:05
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As mentioned, you're an employee so you need to take funds out of your s-corp as an employee. I'd recommend using Intuit Online Payroll to pay yourself as an employee. For Costco members, it's about $25 per month ($39 if you purchase from their web site) for up to 5 employees.

Intuit will help you setup yourself as an employee, enable you to perform really easy direct deposit pay checks with all the proper payroll deductions, do all the federal and state filings for you (with simple email approval reminders), and issue you a W2 at the end of the year. It's a very slick, easy to manage system that takes all the headaches and worries out of employee payroll.

I don't work for Intuit, so there's no conflict of interest on my part. My company publishes employee time and attendance software (Virtual TimeClock). We regularly help customers that are just getting into business and they often ask about moving employee timecards from our software into an easy payroll solution. We've found no better service for startups looking for easy, quick, cost effective employee paychecks.

HTH.

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There are many service providers, and local EA/CPA firms can do it as well. I'd suggest doing some shopping around to get the best option. But that said, I do like Intuit products, and use them a lot (they're the ones behind Mint, Turbo Tax, QuickBooks, and various professional programs like Lacerte and ProSeries). – littleadv Jul 16 '12 at 22:55

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