IRS just released a new publication outlining the responsibilities your company still faces if it decides to outsource payroll related tasks like tracking and remitting employment taxes.

Most companies rely on their third-party processor to handle everything. But as IRS reminds us, if your payroll vendor screws up, goes out of business, or — worst case scenario — is crooked, you’re still on the hook for paying your tax liabilities.

Having turned the money over to the processor originally is no protection.

Get more details at IRS’ Headliner Vol. 243.

Will it save you time or ultimately cost you your job? That’s the unspoken question we all want to ask. Here’s some straight talk on what it really means. Bottom line: It depends on how it’s done.

It’s natural to be concerned that letting someone else handle part of your work will make you look expendable. But picking and choosing the right tasks to outsource can actually make you look even savvier.

Two types of tasks are good candidates for outsourcing:

1. Smaller, repetitive tasks that don’t require a lot of company-specific know-how or communication, and
2. Big one-time projects that will eat up a lot of time, such as recovery audits.

Outsourcing these kinds of tasks can pay for themselves by freeing up your time so you can contribute in more significant ways.

Let’s face it, if you’re up to your eyeballs answering (and re-answering) the same questions about payroll withholding or double-checking Bob’s grease-stained receipts from his sales calls last month, chances are you don’t have the time to do the kind of projects that really show your value to upper management.

If freeing yourself of those important, but often time-sucking, projects lets you finally finish that in-depth analysis of vendor expenses, or find a more cost-effective way to handle the weekly payroll, you’ve just made Accounting look less like a cost-center and more like a profit-maker.

Still leery of handing off tasks you think should stay in-house? Consider a software solution. You get the same benefit of more time, without the risk of letting someone else control your internal processes.

Have you tried outsourcing any Accounting tasks? Share your experiences in the comments below.