payroll

noun

pay·roll | \ ˈpā-ˌrōl

Definition of payroll

1 : a paymaster's or employer's list of those entitled to pay and of the amounts due to each

2 : the sum necessary for distribution to those on a payroll also : the money to be distributed

Examples of payroll in a Sentence

They cut him from their payroll. He's the manager of a baseball team with a $50 million payroll. Businesses are keeping their payrolls low by embracing new technologies.

Recent Examples on the Web

Since Flex drivers are technically self-employed, Amazon isn’t responsible for the types of costs that are usually associated with having a team of workers, like payroll taxes, worker’s compensation, health insurance, or other benefits. — Gaby Del Valle, Vox, "Amazon is cutting costs with its own delivery service — but its drivers don’t receive benefits," 26 Dec. 2018 In 2011, when San Francisco was trying to encourage more tech firms to keep their headquarters in the economically beleaguered mid-Market neighborhood, the city agreed to temporarily exempt companies like Twitter from paying payroll taxes. — Shirin Ghaffary, Recode, "San Francisco has passed a first-of-its-kind tax on big businesses — like Square and Stripe — to help the homeless," 7 Nov. 2018 Construction payrolls shrank by 31,000, and retailers cut 6,100 positions. — Jennifer Smith, WSJ, "Parcel Carriers Slashed 9,700 Jobs in February," 8 Mar. 2019 About $23 million of that goes to payroll expenses for 573 workers; $25 million covers benefits and pensions. — Jason Laughlin, Philly.com, "Philly's controller to audit PPA's parking enforcement," 11 July 2018 Despite that, Tampa’s payroll is just $91 million, third lowest in baseball, after a winter in which the front office cut salary and dealt away veterans. — Jon Tayler, SI.com, "The Rays' Proposed New Stadium Looks Beautiful, But Who Is Going to Pay for It?," 11 July 2018 By the end of the month, Booz Allen expects to have provided data analytics and visualization training to about 1,000 employees already on the payroll. — Ezequiel Minaya, WSJ, "Companies Seek to Fill Skills Gap by Retraining Their Own Workers," 8 Mar. 2019 The familiar logos of Exxon Mobil or Shell still appear, but the low-paid station workers aren’t on their payrolls. — Houston Chronicle, "Competition for top talent keeps pay scale high in oil industry," 13 July 2018 Seems like the Bulls are cleaning up their payroll with trading Jerian Grant for Julyan Stone. — K.c. Johnson, chicagotribune.com, "Bulls Q&A: Should Wendell Carter Jr. enter Hall of Fame this week or next? What's the starting lineup?," 12 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'payroll.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

18 Apr 2019

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The first known use of payroll was in 1740

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More Definitions for payroll

payroll

noun

Financial Definition of payroll

What It Is

Payroll is the total of the compensation a company pays to its employees. In the accounting world, it is also a term used for calculating and processing paychecks (as in, "doing payroll").

How It Works

On the income statement, payroll expenses are part of labor costs. They include employee salaries, employer payments for health insurance or similar benefits, payroll taxes paid by the employer, bonuses, commissions and similar expenses.

Doing payroll is a complicated process that involves ensuring that every employee is paid correctly, calculating the appropriate payroll taxes (which can vary with the employee's salary, whether he or she has hit the Social Security cap for the year, etc.), and correctly deducting miscellaneous items (such as court-ordered child support, gym memberships or 401(k) contributions).

Why It Matters

Payroll is a major expense for most companies and is the primary component of labor cost. Labor costs vary by industry, and comparing companies in different industries should be done with this in mind.

In the accounting world, doing payroll is a crucial but often thankless job. The calculations must always be accurate, the paychecks must be printed on time, new and departing employees must be added to or deleted from various processes, and the taxes must be remitted to the proper authorities on time and in the correct amount. As soon as the process ends, it begins again. Many companies outsource some of the work.

Source: Investing Answers

payroll

noun