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October 24, 2011 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Bank of America, Intuit to Offer Full Service Payroll to Small Businesses
New Service Makes Managing Payroll Easy; Gives Entrepreneurs More Time to Focus on Running Business
CHARLOTTE, N.C. & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bank of America and Intuit Inc. today announced the availability of Intuit® Full Service Payroll for Bank of America small business customers. The service simplifies small business owners’ lives by doing their employee payroll and payroll taxes.
“By teaming up with Bank of America, we’re taking the complexity out of payroll for their four million small business employers across the country”
“Small business owners are hit every day by a multitude of operational demands that can take their focus away from what’s most important to them – serving their customers and generating more business,” said Dean Athanasia, Preferred and Small Business Banking executive at Bank of America. “Intuit Full Service Payroll gives small business owners peace of mind when managing payroll, so they can dedicate more time to running and growing their business.”
Intuit Full Service Payroll provides guaranteed error-free paychecks and payroll taxes, as well as a team of experts to address any number of payroll issues. The service provides a number of benefits to Bank of America small business customers, including:
- 100-percent accuracy – Guaranteed 100-percent accuracy of federal, state and local tax withholdings, as well as any voluntary withholdings that employees take, based on customers’ information.
- Expert availability – A dedicated team of U.S.-based payroll experts to manage customers’ payroll from start to finish – available via phone, chat or email.
- Online compatibility – Full integration with customers’ online banking solutions, so they can manage their business’s finances all in one place.
- Error check – Smart online technology that spots possible errors before paychecks are finalized.
Bank of America already works with Intuit to provide small business customers with Easy Online Payroll®. This self-service offering is available in two tiers, Basic and Plus, designed to meet specific payroll needs of a small business based on its size and number of employees. Both Easy Online Payroll services enable small business owners to easily calculate and process online payroll and payroll taxes with automatic employee direct deposit, pay statements, and electronic tax payments.
“By teaming up with Bank of America, we’re taking the complexity out of payroll for their four million small business employers across the country,” said Ginny Lee, senior vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions division, which is the leading payroll provider with more than 1 million small business customers. “Whether business owners want to do it themselves or have us do it for them, we have a solution that best meets their needs. And most importantly, they can sleep at night knowing that their employees and their payroll taxes are paid accurately and on time.”
Bank of America launches Business Platinum Privileges™ for small business customers
In addition to the launch of Intuit Full Service Payroll, Bank of America is also enhancing the checking and savings solutions it offers small business clients. Beginning in November in Arizona, Georgia and Massachusetts, the bank will launch Business Platinum Privileges™, a recognition and benefits program with the highest level of service and most comprehensive rewards designed to recognize small business customer loyalty. Benefits include reduced rates on lines of credit, retirement account benefits, additional bonus points or cash back on credit and charge card purchases, and higher rates on savings accounts.
Bank of America has also recently enhanced small business products such as Business Advantage checking – which lets clients choose the right combination of features and services to meet their unique needs, including advanced online account management services, free stop payments and incoming domestic wire transfers – and Business Fundamentals with Business Economy checking – which provides clients with a simple and convenient checking account that comes with services like mobile banking, a Visa debit card, overdraft protection and online bill pay.
Other ways Bank of America and Intuit are helping small businesses
Other efforts initiated by Bank of America to help small businesses include:
- Committing to hire approximately 1,000 small business bankers throughout 2011 and into 2012. These bankers will serve as a dedicated resource for small business owners, helping them assess their companies’ deposit, credit and cash management needs.
- Our CDFI grant program, created in 2010 to unlock $100 million in low-cost capital for small businesses, already has allowed CDFIs to access $82 million, serving nearly 8,300 local businesses and helping create and retain more than 11,300 jobs.
Additional initiatives by Intuit that help small businesses include:
- Intuit’s Love a Local Business campaign has helped small businesses across the country hire the help they need to grow their business. The program awards monetary micro grants based on online nominations from a small business’s customers and fans. To date, the program has awarded more than $800,000 in funding to small businesses nationwide to both help them get back on their feet and celebrate their success to date.
- Intuit is a partner and sponsor of the Startup America Partnership, an organization working to help young companies grow in order to create jobs in America. As part of this partnership, Intuit is investing $37 million in products and services including Intuit Payroll offerings to promote high-growth entrepreneurship across the country.
- Each month, Intuit publishes the Intuit Small Business Employment Index based on aggregate and anonymous payroll data. The Index is one of the few to help media, economists and policy makers better understand the unique impact the smallest businesses have on the U.S. economy. To date, the Index shows that small businesses with fewer than 20 employees have created 720,000 jobs since October 2009.
