FICA is the big hit - 7.65% of gross. Sticking 1099s with both sides of FICA is one of the biggest perks. State unemployment varies by state and your rate. Ours is $356.40 per employee this year. Worker comp varies as well, but you are looking at 2-3% of gross wages. However, workers comp is actually to your benefit and you should have it to cover 1099s as well. Having a 1099 hurt on the job or let go and challenging for unemployment is usually where the DOL gets involved. If you have 1099s that look like normal employees with set hours, work responsibility and no other work outside your shop, it might get painful.
We run a payroll with a full benefit package and 401k with a match. One of the things you should look at is the ability to use profit sharing to it's full advantage (up to $112k combined for you and your wife's 401k & profit sharing) . With employees you are looking at a match cost of probably 5% gross per eligible employee if you go safe harbor - 3% immediate vested and the rest can be tiered.
People fear offering benefits. We offer a pretty good plan with decent options and we cover $200 a month per employee. We could probably get that down to $180, but we set it and forget it. It also gives us a lot of flexibility on selecting our own health insurance coverage. Our biggest fear is non-participation or waiver. 70% of eligible employees have to accept or have coverage elsewhere.
Under 50 employees means you are not subject to FMLA, but there is a lot that goes into that.
We are a C-Corp and both my wife & I are full w-2 employees. I like S- Corps, but if you are taxed as a partnership or sole prop I may not suggest this structure.
I use
https://gusto.com/ for payroll & benefits and has an integrated workers comp. Gusto has an integrated 401k partner in
https://www.guideline.com/ I don't use them, but they are amazingly affordable when you consider compliance testing.
I have clients on
https://www.trinet.com/ which is a PEO if you are looking for fortune 100 benefits and have high comp employees.
