Easy Payroll Software For Startups And Entrepreneurs

Most payroll services will accommodate businesses with full-time W-2 employees. However, there are better options if you have part-time staff or issue payments to independent contractors. You’ll get everything you need to run payroll for your small business, including HR benefits that can help negotiated mixed workforces (e.g. W2 employees and independent contractors). They’ll also work with the IRS on your behalf if there are any issues with taxes.

If you have 50 or more full-time equivalent employees, you must offer health insurance, and you can explore options with QuickBooks’ partner SimplyInsured. You can also issue same-day direct deposits and receive a penalty-free tax guarantee, even if you make the error. The best payroll services help businesses pay employees correctly, manage tax withholdings, and ensure deductions are taken for benefits, retirement savings, and garnishments. Annual payroll-related costs for 10 employees can range from $1,000 to more than $22,000.

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While it has an undisclosed price, Namely offers a full suite of payroll and HR tools to help you cut down on wasted time. Here’s the thing, Xero is not just payroll software, it offers a web-based accounting system designed for small and growing businesses. In addition to payroll management, it has robust asset management capabilities, offers approval levels, inventory tracking and so much more. Therefore if you’re looking for an all-in-one small business accounting suite, this just might be it.

Each Paychex plan includes new-hire state reporting, automatic payroll tax filing, and even an employee financial wellness program. And while most of the software options we’ve listed include a report or two, Paychex Flex blows everyone else out of the water by offering a whopping 160+ reports with its payroll and HR packages. Whether you want to use direct deposit or print your own checks to pay your employees, BenefitMall has you covered.

With smaller states, they’ll handle payments for you, but you’ll need to file tax paperwork on your own. DM Payroll Services has been helping businesses with payroll since 1962, and their services have evolved and expanded over time.

Quickbooks Payroll Pricing & Features

It’s easy to add on things like employee health and dental, workers’ comp, and retirement plans. Gusto offers one of the best online payroll services out there.

With a base monthly fee of just $20 and a per-employee fee of $4, depending on how many employees you’re covering—you get a whole host of features. For businesses in large states like California and New York, Wave offers full service payroll.

All three options give you a solid organizational system, accurate tax calculations, and accounting software integration to make bank reconciliation super easy. QuickBooks, long known for providing high-quality accounting software, offers three full-service payroll plans.

The cheapest starts at $45 a month and includes automatic payroll runs, health care options for your employees, and next-day direct deposit. QuickBooks’ best feature is its ease of use—the interface requires next to no learning curve, and the mobile app makes on-the-go payroll easier. Paychex Flex offers cloud-based payroll and human resources software to small businesses that really need the help but don’t want to deal with full-on HR outsourcing.

However, unless you pay for one of its advisory services, your only help options are online. You send an email or fill out a form, and someone from the company will get back to you. It provides a mobile app for you and your employees to manage online data like pay stubs and year-end tax forms, which it files on your behalf. Timekeeping is available as an add-on, or you can interface with free time and attendance software like Homebase. Since a PEO is a co-employer, it’s more than a payroll service or payroll software. For example, you manage their schedules, their work instructions, and interact with them like any other employee. However, they’re employed by the PEO, getting their paychecks, tax documents, and benefits from the PEO.

Why Payroll Matters To Your Startup

The best online payroll services are affordable, easy to use, and include both payroll and human resources support. Justworks offers support via phone or live online chat Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. In addition, Justwork’s Help Center provides solid information in an easy-to-digest format on topics for employers and employees alike such as benefits, payroll, and taxes.

You can even find payroll services that offer self-onboarding for employees. Just invite them to join so they can enter personal details and bank information. Your W-2 and 1099 workers can use the self-service features to access tax documents each year, instead of you having to print and mail them on your own.

If you have one to 49 employees, it’s a great solution for payroll and taxes, business insurance, 401s, and HR management. Paychex is a cloud-based, mobile-friendly service that comes with a high-quality support team, available 24/7, to help you out with any complex questions or issues.

Whether you’re just interested in payroll and a few HR-related tools, or you want the whole suite of management technology, Insperity offers it. These extra features include organization planning, retirement benefits, expense management, and more. Although Paychex includes payroll services for any business, their small business product—Paychex Flex—is definitely worth considering.

Their signature product, Fingercheck360, offers time tracking and payroll in one platform. The time employees work is automatically transferred to payroll, but you can enter in additional payments, such as bonuses, commissions, or deductions. You can automatically process the payroll based on your company’s pay periods, and the software supports both check printing and direct deposit.

Big Fish Payroll Services

We found that Justworks offers the best payroll service value among the PEOs we compared. We recommend Gusto payroll for any small business—fewer than 100 employees. It’s a low-cost online payroll software service and offers benefits too. Wave offers multiple financial products for small business, and their commitment to smaller companies shines through.

• The best payroll services help businesses pay employees correctly, manage tax withholdings, and ensure deductions are taken for benefits, retirement savings, and garnishments.
• If you have 50 or more full-time equivalent employees, you must offer health insurance, and you can explore options with QuickBooks’ partner SimplyInsured.
• Gusto’s online payroll service is popular enough to sync with most accounting software options.
• You can also issue same-day direct deposits and receive a penalty-free tax guarantee, even if you make the error.
• Starting at $19 a month, Gusto calculates and files your payroll taxes, helps with workers comp administration, and lets you build paid time off policies for your employees.
• If you’re comparing pricing to features, Gusto offers the best small-business payroll software.

If you’re looking for a fast, easy, intuitive, and tech-friendly solution to payroll processing, it’s hard to beat Square Payroll, available in all 50 states. This is especially effective for retail businesses that already use Square point of sale and hire contractors or hourly employees. Your hourly employees can clock in and out from the Square app, wherever they are, and taxes are taken care of for you. All in, Square Payroll will run you $29 per month, plus $5 per employee—less expensive than many competitors. The price is especially reasonable, given that Square Payroll integrates with a full suite of benefits providers so you and your employees can access health insurance, 401, and more.

While you might find the price tag a little large, especially compared to some competitors on here, ADP is a powerful tool for any entrepreneur looking for a bit more organization in their lives. Solutions involve payroll services, HR, tax filing and other ancillary solutions such as benefits administration, compliance etc. Also offers online tools for employee tracking, real-time HR reporting, HR on demand services, and time and pay entry. Acquired Total Payroll Services Inc. of Pennsylvania in August 2013. We set out to make payroll that’s perfect for entrepreneurs and startup founders.

Try a one month free trial to see why thousands of small businesses choose OnPay . If you choose an online payroll service that is employee-friendly, it’s going to make your life much easier too. The best payroll software allows employees to edit their personal information, manage their benefits and taxes, as well as view old pay stubs. Zenefits provides multiple levels of support for you and your employees. It offers an HR adviser or payroll adviser service that can help you manage everything from retro pay to questions about at-will employment.

Employees receive notifications directly from Fingercheck when their pay is processed each period. Currently, Fingercheck is available in 31 states only, but they are expanding fast. If you manage between 10 and 5,000 employees, Insperity could be the one of best options for you.

Patriot Software

If you’re comparing pricing to features, Gusto login offers the best small-business payroll software. Starting at $19 a month, Gusto calculates and files your payroll taxes, helps with workers comp administration, and lets you build paid time off policies for your employees. Gusto’s online payroll service is popular enough to sync with most accounting software options.

If you like the idea of accounting professionals helping you with small business payroll, look into this payroll option. Premier Payroll Services will help with direct deposit, printing and delivering payroll checks, quarterly tax returns, W-2 filing, new-hire reporting, and more. Their software is made by iSolved, which handles payroll records for over 3 million employees. Plus, their sister company, MW Group, handles accounting and tax services for small businesses, so they can basically handle all of your financial needs. With ADP’s small business packages , you receive payroll and tax filing software, time and attendance tracking, benefits planning, insurance services, and more.

BenefitMall covers businesses of all size, but they offer PayFocus—a payroll-and-HR combination package—to small businesses in particular. They’re a well-established payroll services company with a long track record. Fingercheck is a New York City-based payroll solution for small businesses which launched in late 2015.

You pay a per-employee fee for the outsourced payroll services. However, we recommend using Excel for payroll only if you have 15 or fewer employees and you’re confident in your document organization skills. While spreadsheets can help you calculate payroll taxes, they can’t guarantee that those calculations are accurate. If you can afford it, we recommend using cheap self-service plans from payroll providers like Wave, SurePayroll, or Patriot Software.