Payroll Services for Billings Small Business
Payroll is where small mistakes turn into big penalties. Marlow Accounting runs full-service payroll for Montana small businesses — direct deposit, tax filings, year-end forms — integrated with your bookkeeping so nothing falls through the cracks.
Who this is for
- Businesses with 1–50 W-2 employees
- S-corporation owners running reasonable-compensation payroll
- Contractors managing 1099 subcontractors alongside W-2 staff
- Owners who have been running payroll themselves and are ready to hand it off
- Businesses switching from ADP, Paychex, or a national provider that never picks up the phone
What's included
Direct deposit or paper checks
Same-day or next-day funding options, on the schedule you choose — weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly.
Federal, state, and local tax filings
941s, 940s, Montana withholding, unemployment, and any local filings handled and paid on time — every time.
W-2s and 1099s
Year-end forms filed with the IRS and delivered to your workers by the deadline, e-filed where required.
New-hire reporting
Every new employee reported to the state of Montana as required by law.
S-corp reasonable compensation
We calculate a defensible salary for owner-operators and set up quarterly withholding so you meet the IRS reasonable-compensation standard.
Integrated with bookkeeping
Payroll journal entries flow into your books automatically so labor costs are always current in your P&L.
Payroll is the highest-penalty part of your business
The IRS and the state of Montana treat payroll taxes differently from every other kind of business obligation. Miss a 941 deposit and the penalty is 10% almost immediately, plus interest, plus a possible trust-fund recovery penalty that can pierce the corporate veil and come after you personally.
This is why we do not recommend that owners run their own payroll unless they are very disciplined and have a very simple situation. The cost of a professional service is trivial compared to a single missed filing.
How our payroll service works
We onboard your employees, set up direct deposit, load your existing YTD figures, and run the first payroll with you side-by-side. From then on, you approve hours in a simple portal and payroll runs automatically on your schedule.
All tax deposits and filings are handled — you never see a 941, a 940, or a Montana withholding notice. If the IRS or state ever contacts you about a payroll matter, forward it to us and we respond.
For S-corp owners, we build reasonable-compensation into your payroll from day one. This is one of the most-audited areas for small S-corporations, and it is the single easiest way to get in trouble if you are not doing it correctly.
1099 contractors, done right
Most businesses in Montana use a mix of W-2 employees and 1099 contractors. We help you classify workers correctly (misclassification is the other big audit trigger), collect W-9s at onboarding, track payments across the year, and file 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC forms at year end — no January scramble.
Local payroll support, Billings-based
Our office is at 1643 24th St W in Billings and we serve businesses across Yellowstone County. Unlike national payroll processors, when something goes wrong you get a real person on the phone — usually the same day. That matters most on Friday afternoon when an employee is asking why their direct deposit is short.
Related services
Bookkeeping Services
Clean, current books — every month, without you lifting a finger. Marlow Accounting provides monthly bookkeeping for small businesses across Billings and Montana, delivered by a dedicated team on a fixed monthly price.
Learn moreTax Planning
Filing a tax return is not tax planning. Tax planning is what happens between January and December — the strategy that decides how much you owe when the return is prepared. Marlow Accounting builds proactive tax plans for Montana business owners, then executes them across the year.
Learn moreBusiness Tax Preparation
Business tax returns done right — 1120-S, 1120, 1065, and Schedule C. Prepared by a team that already knows your books, coordinated with your tax plan, and filed on time without a March fire drill.
Learn moreReady to talk payroll services?
Call us or schedule an appointment — we'll answer your questions and quote your work up front.