Payroll for 2 DBAs under 1 LLC

[isaiahbarker]

I have an interesting situation. I have one LLC which there are two DBAs under. Both DBAs have their own accounts with Square as they are two different types of businesses. I would like to use Square for payroll but I'm not sure what the best approach is for logistical and federal reasons.

I'm assuming Square won't let me setup payroll for two accounts under the same EIN, or am I wrong about that?
Should I use one account and then have all of my employees from both locations under that account?

Because I also want to use Square to track employee clocking in/out, I'm having a hard time figuring out the logistics of this.

Your help would be appreciated. Thank you!

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @isaiahbarker.. Well, I have to admit that you weren't kidding when you said this is an "interesting" situation! LOL. But, I might have a workable solution.  But first.....

How did you manage to set up two Square accounts using the same EIN?  From what I know about Square after 10+ years (and being a Square Champion for nearly 5 years), that should not be possible.  I'm hoping that you mean that you have one account with two locations, but I guess anything is possible.  That might be a distraction from the topic at hand, though.

If you are paying all employees of both DBAs using one EIN, then you could setup either a third Square account with that EIN, as long as the other two Square accounts aren't using it.  OR, you could set up a payroll account under the Square account that DOES use the EIN.  You'd have to have all employees in that account that has the payroll, however.

Then, each employee could download the Square Team app and use it to clock in and out, even if they aren't really employees of the DBA that has the Square Payroll account.  After that, timecards and payroll should be pretty straightforward.

Technically, that should work, at least if I didn't miss something.  What you need to be more concerned with are the legal issues involved.  I think there probably aren't any, since employees can have more than one job.  But I'd definitely recommend talking to your legal counsel and accountant just to be safe.

And, if you have questions about my ideas above, just post them here and we'll try to resolve them.

[isaiahbarker]

Thanks for the reply!

I was able to setup to Square accounts. Different bank accounts, different locations, same LLC and EIN. I can't remember now but they may have called to get clarification (though I could be thinking of a different company).

So you suggest either:

1. Setup an additional Square account (perhaps labelled as a my LLC name), run all payroll through there, and pay from one account. I may even be able to distinguish them as two different "locations".

2. Use one account already created to act as the "main" account.

[TheRealChipA]

@isaiahbarker Very interesting.  Well, if it worked, it worked, and I learned something valuable when that question comes up in the future with other sellers.  Thanks for adding another tool to my support toolbox!

Yes, those are my suggestions.  The first one is the cleanest and easiest, especially since you'd be paying them under the LLC name and not one of the DBA names.  And, yes, you could have two locations, but that's an added layer of complication.  The only good reason for that would be if you want to maintain two schedules, and didn't want location 1's employees to know location 2's schedule, and vice versa.  Still, if you have more than a few employees in each location, that might be the wisest course of action, though it might come with some minor extra fees.

Otherwise, that's the best option that I can come up with.

[isaiahbarker]

Great. I will think on this. Sounds potentially like the best option. Thank you!