Hiring an Assistant/Sub - Feeling Overwhelmed

[Kabob]

So, I was planning to hire someone as my sub/assistant for no more than a month.

I have been reading Tom Copeland's articles and looked up all the necessary forms and am looking into workman's comp insurance.

It's all very overwhelming...

Where should I start? Just the I-9 and W-4 for now and the rest annually? I have an EIN.
Should I just try to fill out all the forms myself or would I be better off paying for a service?

This person most likely won't be around for more than a month and as a result won't be paid very much for the year (definitely under the $4000 mark).

Is there an online service I can use?

Which would be better for someone like me: an accountant/tax preparer or an online service?

If you use an online service, which do you prefer for payroll and such?

As you can see, my head is spinning...

[TomCopeland]

hiring

So, I was planning to hire someone as my sub/assistant for no more than a month.

I have been reading Tom Copeland's articles and looked up all the necessary forms and am looking into workman's comp insurance.

It's all very overwhelming...

Where should I start? Just the I-9 and W-4 for now and the rest annually? I have an EIN.
Should I just try to fill out all the forms myself or would I be better off paying for a service?

This person most likely won't be around for more than a month and as a result won't be paid very much for the year (definitely under the $4000 mark).

Is there an online service I can use?

Which would be better for someone like me: an accountant/tax preparer or an online service?

If you use an online service, which do you prefer for payroll and such?

As you can see, my head is spinning...

It is true that hiring an employee is complicated. You can either follow the instructions in my Family Child Care Tax Workbook and Organizer for all the federal tax forms, or you can hire an accountant/tax preparer to do all the federal and state payroll tax forms. I'm not aware of any online service that does this. I would probably recommend using a tax preparer or accountant.

You do the I-9 and Form W-4 when you first hire someone. Then you start filing the quarterly Form 941 (or annual 944 if you pay less than $4,000 in wages for the year). At the end of the year you file W-2, W-3. You state unemployment tax you may pay quarterly.