If you’re running a business out of the United States but have Canadian employees you might need a little help when it comes to doing payroll. If you’re not familiar with Canadian regulations from a payroll or HR perspective, it can be tough to know where to begin and it’s easy not to do things right. It’s hard enough understanding the U.S. regulations. Using a payroll service provider to do things correctly is going to be your best bet.

When you outsource payroll processing you don’t have to spend tons of times learning small details about how the process works. Instead, you can rest easy knowing that some knowledgeable people are handling that service and ensure that your employees are going to be paid on time.

There is a lot more to the payroll process than just cutting the checks. In Canada, there are over 190 regulatory legislative requirements in the payroll process alone, and no single person would be expected to know what they are. They can be vastly different than the requirement within the U.S. Doing payroll for small companies can be tough even when all of the employees are in one place.

Even if you feel pretty knowledgeable about the payroll process it’s easy to make a mistake, and when you’re a small business owner even the smallest mistakes can end up being incredibly costly. A payroll service provider will not only be less likely to make those mistakes to begin with, but they’ll also have an easier time fixing them if they do happen to take place. The last thing you want to do is have to sift through paperwork when you aren’t even totally aware of what you’re looking for.

If you are considering that you might hire a payroll provider, do keep in mind that they generally offer some other services as well. In addition to their expertise, a payroll management company might be able to offer HR support and guidance along the way if any issues come up. Many U.S. based companies are hesitant to hire Canadian employees because of this differences, but that’s a shame since there are some wonderful people up there. It’s definitely possible to hire people for foreign employment, and it’s best done with the help of an outsourced payroll processing firm.