Estimate W2 technician costs for your salon

Planning staff costs requires separating technician pay from the additional costs borne by the employer. W2 Cost Check organizes those inputs into an estimate. It does not run payroll, send payments or file taxes for the salon.

What to prepare

Have pay-period figures, recorded tips, the relevant state and the requested inputs ready. Identify costs already included in your records so that you do not count them twice. Check the data year shown by the tool.

How to use it

• Choose the applicable state and follow each input’s period and definition.
• Review the employer-side estimate and expand its assumptions.
• Change one input at a time to understand its effect.
• List costs outside the estimate for discussion with your payroll provider.

An example to check

An employer’s estimated total cost and a technician’s take-home check answer different questions. Even when both start from the same pay figure, the employer-cost output should not be used as the amount to hand to the technician.

IRS — Understanding employment taxes

Next step

Use the worksheet to prepare a focused cost discussion, then compare it with the salon’s official payroll process.