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Managed Payroll for 10-Employee Businesses
Managed payroll for 10 employees sits on the first federal trip line: at 10 information returns the IRS requires electronic filing, and the OSHA recordkeeping exemption ends at the eleventh employee. BEG runs it for $45 per employee per month, all-inclusive, inside the payroll software you already use, live in 3 to 5 business days.
Ten is a line, not a round number. The IRS e-file rule counts W-2s, 1099s and every other information return together, and once the total reaches 10 in a year all of them must be filed electronically. A 10-person company with a single contractor is over it. The SSA and IRS e-file registrations take weeks to set up, so the mistake is discovering the rule in the last week of January.
The OSHA exemption from injury and illness logs applies to employers with 10 or fewer employees at all times in the prior year, so the eleventh hire, at any location, starts the OSHA 300 log unless the industry is on the low-hazard list. Federal discrimination law is still five hires away and COBRA ten, which means a termination at this size is governed by state mini-COBRA rules where they exist.
Retirement plans started at this size keep the full startup credit and, at exactly 10 employees, the SECURE 2.0 automatic enrollment exemption. Adding an eleventh employee does not remove it immediately; the plan gets until the start of the first plan year after the year the employer stops normally employing 10 or fewer.
The line most recently crossed at 10 employees
| 10+ | Electronic filing of information returns. Ten or more information returns of any type in a year, counted together, must be filed electronically. Ten W-2s alone trip it. Paper W-2 and 1099 filing ends at this line; the e-file setup with the SSA and IRS has to exist before January. [IRS Topic 801] |
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Already in force below that
- Any size: FLSA minimum wage and overtime [DOL, FLSA salary levels]
- Any size: Federal employment taxes [IRS Publication 15]
Next lines ahead of 10 employees
| 11+ | OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping. Employers with 10 or fewer employees at all times during the prior year are exempt from routine OSHA 300 logs. At 11 the exemption ends unless the industry is on the low-hazard list. Headcount is measured across the whole company, so a second location can end the exemption without any one site reaching 11. [OSHA recordkeeping, 29 CFR 1904.1] |
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| 15+ | Title VII, ADA, GINA and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Federal discrimination law reaches private employers with 15 or more employees for 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding year. Accommodation and leave decisions start needing documentation; pay data by protected class becomes discoverable. [EEOC, coverage of federal EEO laws] |
| 20+ | ADEA (age discrimination). Applies to private employers with 20 or more employees. Severance and early-retirement paperwork needs ADEA-compliant releases, with the 21-day and 7-day windows. [EEOC, coverage of federal EEO laws] |
| 20+ | COBRA continuation coverage. Group health plans of employers with 20 or more employees on more than 50 percent of typical business days in the prior year must offer continuation coverage. Termination triggers an election notice; below 20 the state mini-COBRA law, if any, governs instead. [DOL, COBRA] |
| 50+ | FMLA. Employers with 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks are covered; an employee is eligible after 12 months and 1,250 hours if 50 employees work within 75 miles of their site. Up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave with benefits maintained, which means leave tracking and benefit deductions continue while pay stops. [DOL, FMLA] |
| 50+ | ACA employer shared responsibility. An employer with 50 or more full-time plus full-time-equivalent employees on average in the prior year is an applicable large employer. Part-time hours are aggregated at 120 hours a month per FTE. Offer affordable coverage to 95 percent of full-time staff or face a 4980H assessment, and file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C every year from payroll hours data. [IRS, applicable large employer] |
| 100+ | WARN Act. Employers with 100 or more full-time employees must give 60 days written notice of a plant closing or mass layoff. Pay in lieu of notice and final-pay timing on a layoff of 50 or more at one site get planned with counsel, not run as an ordinary termination batch. [DOL, WARN] |
| 100+ | EEO-1 report. Private employers with 100 or more employees, and federal contractors with 50 or more, file the EEO-1 workforce demographic report each year. Job category, sex and race or ethnicity have to sit in the HR record for every employee before the filing window opens. [EEOC, EEO-1 data collection] |
What managed payroll costs at 10 employees
10 employees at $45 per employee per month comes to $450 a month, $5,400 a year, with no monthly minimum and no setup fee. BEG works inside the payroll software you already use, and the price is all-inclusive: processing, federal and state deposits and filings, new hire reporting, direct deposit, W-2s and 1099s, garnishments, and the threshold-driven filings above. Live in 3 to 5 business days from signing.
Managed Payroll, Handled.
BEG manages payroll at $45 per employee per month, all-inclusive. Get an instant cost comparison for your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
At 10 employees do I have to e-file W-2s?
Yes if the total of all information returns for the year, W-2s plus any 1099s, reaches 10. IRS Topic 801 sets the threshold at 10 returns counted across all types, effective for returns filed from 2024 onward.
When does the OSHA recordkeeping exemption end?
When the company had more than 10 employees at any time during the previous calendar year. The count is company-wide, not per site, and the exemption also depends on the industry not being on the OSHA low-hazard exemption list.
What federal employment laws still do not apply at 10 employees?
Title VII, the ADA, GINA and the PWFA start at 15 employees, the ADEA and COBRA at 20, FMLA and the ACA employer mandate at 50, WARN and EEO-1 at 100. State law often reaches lower, and many states apply discrimination law from the first employee.
What does managed payroll cost at exactly 10 employees?
$450 a month: 10 employees at $45 per employee per month, all-inclusive, with no monthly minimum and no setup fee.
How is the BEG price calculated at 10 employees?
10 employees at $45 per employee per month is $450 a month, $5,400 a year, all-inclusive. There is no monthly minimum and no setup fee.
Related Resources
Anthony leads payroll solutions at Business Executive Group, a national managed payroll firm serving businesses across industries. BEG manages payroll at $45 PEPM, all-inclusive, with deep expertise in compliance, multi-state filing, and industry-specific payroll requirements. Get instant pricing at beghr.com.
Authoritative source: U.S. Department of Labor: Wage and Hour Division
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