Small business owners face unique challenges when it comes to processing payroll.
Constantly changing tax laws. Complying with local, state, and federal requirements. Calculating and filing payroll taxes. Keeping accurate records.
Limited resources often mean there's no dedicated payroll staff. You're a small business owner; you can do it all. But should you?
Handling payroll in-house may appear to save money. In reality, it can be time-consuming, complicated, and fraught with risks. Even small errors can lead to penalties, employee dissatisfaction or significant issues during audits. Plus, the time you spend processing payroll diverts your attention from your business, customers, and employees.
Should Small Business Owners Do Their Own Payroll?
The Benefits of Automated Payroll for Small Businesses
Payroll software automates how you calculate employee wages and taxes, and complete and file complex tax forms.
Processing payroll involves completing tasks across multiple steps, like calculating and paying federal, state, and local (if applicable) payroll taxes, including:
- Social Security
- Medicare
Depending on their classification, workers also need to receive a W-2 or 1099. Required employer tax filings generally include Forms 940 and 941, and for household workers, Schedule H.
What to Consider When Selecting a Payroll Service
The right payroll services company can help save you time, money, and frustration. Overall, look for a payroll software business that can help you pay your employees accurately and on time, and helps you sustain compliance with IRS payroll guidelines.
Other considerations include:
- User-friendly platform, accessible at work, home, and on-the-go.
- Successful track record working with small businesses
- Customer-centric culture
- Transparent pricing
- No long-term commitments
- Flexible features
- Knowledgeable, experienced, and friendly support
- Live help you can reach by phone or chat, plus online self-help resources.
- Easy onboarding
- Industry expertise
- History of innovation
- Timesaving, value-added solutions like worker’s compensation, 401(k) retirement plans, insurance, and more
- Ability to grow with your business.
- Financial stability
The Best Payroll Service for Small Business
The best payroll service is the one that best meets your needs and regularly exceeds your expectations.
Read on to discover more about key features, pricing, customer support and more for several automated payroll services.
- SurePayroll®
- Square
- Rippling
- Run By ADP®
- QuickBooks®
- Patriot Payroll™
- PayCor
- OnPay
- Gusto
SurePayroll® By Paychex
SurePayroll simplifies complex tasks like calculating and paying federal, state, and local payroll taxes, freeing you to spend more time growing your business or caring for your family. For 25 years and counting, small business owners, nanny and household employers, and CPAs, accountants, and financial professionals trust SurePayroll to help them pay employees and file taxes on time, every time.
Backed by industry leader Paychex—which pays 1 in 12 private sector employees—SurePayroll is an all-in-one provider for payroll, benefits, and HR services. That means SurePayroll will be there as your business grows and as you need additional services.
Feature Overview
SurePayroll customers celebrate its user-friendly payroll management platform, friendly customer care team, and the option to add HR, benefits, and other time-saving solutions.
The intuitive SurePayroll automated platform helps employers manage payroll and payroll taxes with ease.
SurePayroll is the best payroll service for small business owners and nanny and household employers looking for the following key features:
- Run payroll in minutes—from home, the workplace or on-the-go.
- Payroll and tax management solutions with transparent, monthly low pricing
- No long-term commitments
- Manage tax rates, pay date schedules, I-9s, W-2s, 1099s, state tax registration, and changing federal and state tax laws with ease.
- Automatic new hire reporting
- On-demand access to payroll records, reports, and analytics
- Employee direct access to their online paystubs and W-2s
- Free auto payroll, unlimited payroll runs, multiple pay rates and schedules, direct deposit, or printed checks.
- Same day and next day payroll
- Gain insights from up-to-date payroll, employee, benefits, and quarterly or annual reports.
- Integrate payroll with most accounting software.
- Friendly, knowledgeable help by phone, live chat, or messaging, including evenings.
In addition, SurePayroll specialists will help you move your existing payroll information to your new SurePayroll account—at no cost to you. That means you’ll be ready to run your first payroll in no time.
SurePayroll also simplifies more than just payroll. Additional services include:
- SureHR. Streamline business management, save time, and support your compliance efforts with alerts and customized templates, guides, and handbooks.
- 401(k) Plans. Attract and retain top talent with employee-pleasing 401(k) plans, while you leverage business tax savings.
- Workers’ Compensation. Protect your business and employees with common sense workers' compensation plans.
- Health Insurance. Provide your employees with peace of mind and your business a cost-effective competitive advantage.
Pricing
SurePayroll offers two service tiers for small businesses and one for nanny and household employers.
- No Tax Filing for small business owners who want to file and deposit payroll taxes on their own. ($20 / month + $4 / employee per month)
- Full Service for small business owners who want SurePayroll to file and deposit their payroll taxes. ($29 / month + $7 / employee per month)
- Full-Service Household for people looking to easily pay their nanny, home health aide, babysitter, housekeeper, or other household employee. ($39 / month for one employee + $10 / each additional employee)
Square
Square started as a point-of-sale system for brick-and-mortar businesses in 2009. The company later expanded e-Commerce offerings to include small business payroll processing. According to filings with the United States Security and Exchange Commission, Square Payroll allows sellers to pay wages and associated employee taxes, and offer employee benefits.
The difference between Square and other payroll services is what the company calls the Square ecosystem, or “the ability to use payroll in conjunction with”2 point-of-sale products (POS).
Feature Overview
Square offers two pricing plans that align with its industry-specific POS: Full-service payroll and contractor-only payroll. The following featurs are some of what is included in both plans:
- Square Team App
- Unlimited payroll runs per month.
- No long-term contracts
- Onboarding
- Pay by check, direct deposit, or Cash App
- Employee self-onboarding
- Timecard import
- Automatic payroll tax calculations
- Digital delivery of W-2s or 1099s
- Multiple tax area support
Pricing
Square Payroll offers automatic payroll tax filings—including W-2 employees and 1099 contractors—HR and compliance resources, and integrated benefits. It also offers unlimited payroll runs at no extra cost. While additional features are available with the full-service plan ($35 / month + $6 / employee), features are limited with the contractor-only plan ($6 / month). Square Payroll offers a free trial for its full-service payroll plan.
Rippling
Founded in 2016, Rippling Payroll is a privately owned software-as-a-service (SaaS) human resources company. Its cloud-based platform provides financial management and IT support for employee payroll and benefits for small to mid-sized businesses.
Feature Overview
Rippling Payroll synchronizes common HR data with employee payroll. Features include:
- Federal, state, and local tax filing
- Paperless W-2s, W-4s, 1099s
- New hire reporting
- Multiple pay rates
- Direct deposit or check
- Employee access to paystubs and W-2s
- Unlimited payroll runs
- Multiple approvers
Rippling also offers international employee or contractor payroll, plus additional services like time & attendance, benefits administration, scheduling, recruiting, and more.
Pricing
Pricing is not available publicly for Rippling Payroll plans.
Run By ADP®
Ranked at #228 on the 2024 Fortune 500, ADP is a diversified outsourcing service. The company introduced Run By ADP in 2022 to provide basic employee payroll and tax filing to startups and small businesses with less than 50 employees.
Feature Overview
Run By ADP offers four plans—Essential Payroll, Enhanced Payroll, Complete Payroll & HR+, and HR Pro Payroll. The plans share several features, including:
- Direct deposit
- Reporting
- General ledger interface
- New hire reporting
- W-2 & 1099 forms
- Tax filing
- Payroll delivery
Notably absent from the Essential Payroll plan is State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) management, which could be an issue for some small business owners.
Pricing
Pricing is not available publicly for Run By ADP plans.
QuickBooks Payroll
Intuit QuickBooks is a DIY bookkeeping software with a variety of accounting and finance solutions, including payroll. Like Square Payroll, QuickBooks apps form an ecosystem for small businesses.
Feature Overview
QuickBooks Payroll offers several self-service or full-service plans. The plans share several features, including the following.
- Calculate, file, and pay payroll taxes.
- Auto payroll
- 1099 e-File & Pay
- Product support
- Next day direct deposit
- Self-service employee portal
Current QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop users have the option to add payroll to their account.
Pricing
QuickBooks Payroll plan pricing ranges from $42.50 / month + $6 / employee per month to $92 / month + $9 / employee per month.
- Payroll Core, $25 / month + $6 / employee per month
- Payroll Premium, $42.50 / month + $9 / employee per month
- Payroll Elite, $65 / month + $11 / employee per month
- Payroll Core + Simple Start, $42.50 / month + $6 / employee per month
- Payroll Core + Essentials, $57.50 / month + $6 / employee per month
- Payroll Premium + Plus, $92 / month + $9 / employee per month
PayCor
Paycor offers an HR, payroll, and talent platform for small and mid-sized businesses. The Paycor payroll processing, tax filing and compliance management platform is part of its larger HCM, or Human Capital Management, business.
Feature Overview
Key Paycor payroll software features include:
- Tax filing, including W-2 and 1099 processing.
- Mobile app
- Tax compliance alerts.
- Auto payroll
- Paycor Mobile Wallet, where employees can access earned wages and more.
- Compliance dashboard
Pricing
Paycor payroll plan or pricing information is not publicly available.
Patriot Software
Patriot Software offers accounting, payroll, HR, and time & attendance for businesses with up to 500 employees. The privately held company is based in Canton, Ohio.
Patriot Software does not offer HR and benefits like many other small business payroll providers. It does, however, offer accounting software, 401(k) and workers’ compensation integration with its two payroll plans.
Feature Overview
The Patriot Software plans—Basic Payroll and Full-Service Payroll—share several features, including:
- Unlimited payrolls
- Direct deposit
- Multiple pay rates
- Employee portal
- Electronic or printable W-2s
- Contractor payroll
- Payroll reports
Patriot Software also offers additional services, including booking and time & attendance.
Pricing
The cost for Basic Payroll is $8.50 / month + $2 / worker. The cost for Full-Service Payroll $18.50 / month + $2 / worker. The primary difference between the two plans is Full-Service Payroll includes federal, state, and local tax filings and deposits, year-end payroll filings and a tax filing reliability guarantee; those features are not available with the basic plan.
OnPay
OnPay offers payroll and HR services for businesses with 1-1000 employees. Worker types include hourly, salaried, and tipped, plus contractors. The company promotes its ability to serve both general and specialized businesses.
Feature Overview
Specific information about OnPay plans or pricing is not publicly available, however, the company does provide the following general information:
- W-2s, 1099s and year-end filings included.
- Unlimited pay runs and schedules.
- Federal, state, and local tax filings included.
- Multi-state payroll
- No implementation or integration fees
- Support by phone, chat, and email
Notably, OnPay does not offer auto payroll. It does, however, offer health and retirement benefits and workers’ compensation, plus integration with select bookkeeping software.
Pricing
Specific OnPay pricing is not publicly available, however, the company does quote $46 / month for one employee and $6,040 / month for 1,000 employees.
Gusto
Gusto offers full-service payroll, employee benefits, time & attendance, hiring and onboarding, talent management, insights, and reporting. The privately held company, based in San Franciso, CA, was originally founded in 2011 as ZenPayroll.
Feature Overview
Gusto calculates and files payroll taxes for small and mid-size businesses. The Gusto platform also integrates health insurance, workers’ compensation, time tracking, PTO and more. Gusto offers contractor payments to multiple countries across the world.
Gusto offers three payroll plans. Features shared across the plans include:
- Single-state payroll
- W-2 filings
- 1099-NEC filings (federal and state)
- Federal W-4s
- I-9 forms and support
- Direct deposits or printable checks
- Payroll reports
- Auto payroll
- Multiple pay rates and schedules
- Basic support
- Employee self-service
- Custom admin permissions
- Integrations for accounting, time tracking, expense management, and more
Additional services vary based on the plan selected.
Pricing
Gusto plans range from basic payroll management to comprehensive management solutions. Plan pricing is as follows: Simple ($40 / month + $6 / employee per month), Plus ($60 / month + $9 / employee per month), and Premium ($135 / month + $16.50 / employee per month).
Final Thoughts
The best online payroll services company for your business or household can help save you time, trouble, and money. By simplifying payroll tasks and enhancing efficiency, automated payroll can help create capacity for you to spend more time growing your business, doing what you enjoy, and caring for the people you love.
When it comes to selecting the right payroll services solution, look for a payroll software business that can help you pay your employees accurately and on time, and helps ensure you sustain compliance with IRS payroll guidelines.
The SurePayroll Difference
Most small business owners say they started their business for autonomy, flexibility, freedom to innovate and to help their community.1 And most nanny and household employers just want help understanding Nanny Taxes.
Choose the automated payroll company backed by people who understand small business and household employers. SurePayroll makes it easy for you to check payroll off your to-do list and get back to the business of life.
Get started with SurePayroll.
1 Small Business Facts, Reasons for Running a Business, U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, November 2022.
2 https://www.sec.gov/ixviewer/ix.html?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000162828024006354/sq-20231231.htm
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