Nobody opens a business because they love running payroll.
You open it for the other thing. The roofing. The dental practice. The salon chair. The taco truck that's somehow also a catering company now. Then the second job shows up, the one nobody warned you about at the start. Payroll every two weeks. Workers' comp. A retirement plan your people keep bringing up. Health insurance sitting on top of all of it. None of that is the work you got into. It lands on your desk anyway.
I've been a licensed health and benefits broker in Henderson for more than a decade, and I'm independent, so I work for you and not for the insurance companies. For years my help stopped at coverage. But owners kept asking me the same thing on calls. Mary, can you handle payroll too? Can you get a 401(k) going? I'd tell them no, that's not me, and then watch them walk off to figure it out alone.
So I fixed that.
I've partnered with ADP. The businesses I work with can now run payroll, workers' comp, and a 401(k) through one connected setup, right next to the coverage I already handle for them. Here's the honest version, because I don't do mystery. I'm not turning into a payroll company. I refer you to ADP and to my contact there, a guy named Mike, and his team handles the payroll and the comp and gets the retirement plan stood up. When ADP comes across a business that needs benefits, they send it back to me. One back office. Two people who actually talk to each other.
The Nevada piece of this matters more than owners think, and 2026 is exactly when it's moving.
Do I need workers' comp in Nevada?
Yes. From your very first employee. Nevada requires it the moment you have one, with narrow exceptions for sole proprietors and true independent contractors.
Skip it and the math turns ugly fast. The state can fine you up to $15,000, order you to stop operating until you're covered, and if a worker gets seriously hurt or killed while you're uninsured, that can become a criminal matter. On top of all that, you're personally on the hook for every dollar of the injury. The medical bills, the lost wages, the rehab, out of your own pocket. One bad afternoon can take the business and your savings with it.
And the cost side is shifting right now. As of October 1, 2026, Nevada drops the old $36,000 payroll cap that comp premiums were figured on, so premiums get calculated on full wages, and the state already approved a sizable increase in workers' comp loss costs earlier this year. The bill is moving. ADP can fold the comp premium into payroll so it spreads across the year instead of hitting you as one big deposit up front, which at least takes the sting off the timing.
What is NEST, and do you have to deal with it?
NEST is Nevada's state-run retirement program. The state built it because most small businesses never offered a plan, and the numbers back that up. At companies with fewer than a hundred workers, only about six in ten employees even have access to a retirement benefit. So Nevada made its own and made it mandatory for a lot of employers.
Here's where you land in it. If you have six or more employees, you've been in business at least three years, and you don't already offer a qualified plan, the state wants you facilitating NEST. Businesses under a hundred employees have until January 1, 2027 to register. NEST itself is a plain auto-enroll IRA with a short investment menu and not much hand-holding.
But you get a choice, and this is the part owners miss. Sponsor your own 401(k) and you're out of the state program entirely, running something built for your business instead of a one-size box. Federal rules passed a couple years back also created tax credits that can cover a real chunk of what it costs to start a plan, and most owners have no idea those exist. That's exactly the kind of thing my ADP team sorts out.
I want to be straight about one line here. I'm a licensed health and life insurance broker. I am not your financial adviser, and I don't give investment or tax advice on retirement plans. That's the whole reason I bring ADP in for the 401(k). They have the licensed people for that part, and so does your CPA. I stay in my lane, and my lane is your coverage.
Payroll is the quiet one. The mistakes are more common than owners expect, and the penalties aren't small. A late deposit here, a wrong form there, and you're writing checks to the IRS for the privilege. Getting payroll and the taxes and the comp onto one system that actually talks to itself takes real weight off the desk.
The owner I keep picturing is the one who just hired employee number two and is holding it together with a spreadsheet and hope. Or the shop that's been open ten years and never once enjoyed a Friday that involved payroll. If that second job is eating your week, let's talk. I'll look at your health and benefits the way I always do (and you can always brush up using my Small Business Health Insurance Guide), and if payroll or the comp or a 401(k) is part of the picture, I'll put you straight onto my ADP team so you're not figuring it out by yourself. Call or text me at (702) 379-9084. One conversation, and we find where to start.
Quick answers
Does a Nevada business really need workers' comp with one employee? Yes. Coverage is required from your first employee, with narrow exceptions for sole proprietors and genuine independent contractors. Going without risks fines up to $15,000, a closure order, criminal exposure if someone is seriously hurt, and personal liability for the full cost of any injury.
If I start a 401(k), do I still have to do NEST? No. Sponsoring your own qualified retirement plan exempts you from the state program. You run your own plan on your own terms instead of the one-size state IRA.
Do you sell the payroll and 401(k) yourself? No. I handle your health and benefits. The payroll, workers' comp, and retirement side runs through my ADP partner, Mike, and his licensed team. You get one connected setup and a real person on each side who actually talk to each other.
We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact HealthCare.gov to get information on all of your options. This article is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice.
Mary Jones · Jones True Insurance Solutions · Henderson, NV · NPN #20192176