by Steve Kowalski | Jul 20, 2026 | Industry Payroll, Informational
A Fort Myers contractor called me a while back, rattled. He’d been paying two guys as 1099 independent contractors for three years no tax withholding, no employer taxes, just a check and a form in January. Simpler, cheaper, and the guys were fine with it. Then...
by Steve Kowalski | Jul 15, 2026 | Industry Payroll, Informational
You posted a job at $22 an hour. So that’s what the new hire costs you — $22 an hour, right? Not even close. And in my nine years at Paychex, the single most common surprise I watched land on a small business owner’s desk was the gap between the wage they...
by Steve Kowalski | Jun 18, 2026 | Informational
A Fort Myers restaurant owner called me last year after getting a notice from the IRS. He’d missed a payroll tax deposit by four days while dealing with a family emergency. Four days. The penalty was over $800 on a $20,000 payroll. He didn’t know the...
by Steve Kowalski | Jun 12, 2026 | Informational
I spent nine years at Paychex. I know exactly how payroll pricing works — and more importantly, I know how it gets presented to business owners in a way that obscures the real number until the invoice shows up. If you’re a Fort Myers small business owner trying...
by Steve Kowalski | Jun 12, 2026 | Informational
Electing S-Corp status is one of the most popular tax strategies for Fort Myers small business owners. The math is straightforward: profit that flows through as distributions avoids self-employment tax. For an owner earning $150,000, that can mean saving...
by Steve Kowalski | Jun 12, 2026 | Informational
I want to be upfront about something: this post is about my experience inside one of the biggest payroll companies in the country. I spent nine years at Paychex — started as a Payroll Consultant, worked my way up to District Sales Manager. I worked with thousands of...
