We find the 10 best options, so you can make informed decisions on tons of products and services.
Anyone who deals with payroll knows just how complex and time-consuming of a task it is to make sure all employees' paychecks are accurate, and how often it distracts you from working on what matters most for your job or your business. Payroll software solutions on the market today solve that problem altogether—instead of keeping up with your state’s tax regulations, payroll software solutions automatically calculate, deduct, and submit your forms to ensure you’re compliant at all times. This doesn’t just save you time, it protects you from pricey fines that come with making tax errors and missing deadlines. Add to that the piles paperwork that are no longer needed thanks to employee self-service portals through which anyone can access their forms. Bottom line - doing your payroll online can help streamline your day-to-day.
“Compliance is a big thing that I know little about. With requirements always changing, it’s nice to have a solution that does it all for me...Now with Gusto, new hire reports are submitted automatically and all payroll taxes are filed....”
Rabee Ikkawi, co-founder of children’s clothing line, Kids Atelier
Read the Gusto review or visit their site
“...ADP has helped us streamline the payroll process – it’s now much easier and more efficient. I can log on to the website from anywhere and process payroll in 45 minutes to an hour.”
Tameka Brown, Senior Vice President of HR at InFirst Federal Credit Union
Read the ADP review or visit their site
“Deluxe Payroll understands the unique needs of the construction industry and are they unbelievably responsive. They are accurate, friendly and take care of any issues quickly and completely.”
Mike Henderson President ABC Baltimore
Read the Deluxe review or visit their site
The interface for your online business payroll system should be intuitive and you should be able to make updates and add new employees quickly and easily. It should be the type of system that all of your team members can use if need be, without any lengthy training process or background in IT. Setting up your complete payroll solution should be straightforward and easy with a short and painless onboarding process for your team members. Whenever you have new team members, onboarding them should be quick enough to where you never miss a beat.
The cost varies between solutions, but they all follow a similar pricing structure in which there’s a flat base fee per month or per payment period that ranges between $20 to $100. Most services also charge $1-$15 per employee per month or payment period. Some solutions charge extra for more advanced features such as paying taxes and printing W-2 forms for employees, or for paying workers via direct deposit.
Online business payroll software is available for organizations of all sizes. It can help small companies and also large enterprise businesses deal with the headaches and twists and turns of tax compliance, as well as making sure that all of your hours and labor costs are taken care of. Most complete payroll solutions offer small business- as well as corporate payroll services.
Most payroll software providers have online help centers and dedicated customer support teams available via phone, chat, or email, though they vary in their response times. Some even have US-based teams with dedicated managers, providing an extra layer of support to your technical issues.
Payroll platforms can help you streamline your business by offering the most common and comfortable payment method for employees today: direct deposit to their bank accounts. In most cases, direct deposit comes standard, and does not cost any extra. You can still pay employees with paychecks if you choose. This is particularly useful for paying independent contractors. For businesses in the service industry, platforms such as Gusto can also help you manage tip credits.
Keeping your business tax compliant is a key benefit of a payroll software, and automatic generation of tax forms, such as W-2s and 1099s is a must, which all of the leading payroll platforms include.
Paying employees promptly and properly, while staying compliant with tax regulations and the benefits regime can be a time-consuming business that takes you away from more important work. Getting the right payroll software with complete payroll services can give you this valuable time back to grow your business in a worry-free, organized and compliant environment.
Paychex is a cloud-based payroll services provider that has plans for every size business but is particularly well-suited for smaller businesses up to 50 employees. Paychex Flex, the SMB-focused plan, lets you update the database via desktop or mobile dashboard, set automated rules, and run payroll quickly and efficiently. In fact, with self-service, Paychex lets your employees take the bulk of the data input off your shoulders entirely.
In addition to running payroll, Paychex will calculate, pay, and file all of your taxes from local to federal. Pay your employees with direct deposit, paper check, or pay cards - whatever works best for you. Paychex plans also include features like onboarding, HR analytics, and an events calendar for seamless calculations.
QuickBooks by Intuit is another well-known name that has recently stumbled into the payroll industry. A reputable accounting software, QuickBooks now offers payroll services that sync seamlessly with all of your accounting programs for a 360-degree inclusive service.
One of QuickBooks’ strong points is the tax filing services it offers. It’s one of the best payroll service providers for handling year-round tax organization. QuickBooks automatically files all of your taxes, deals with deductions, lets you create custom tax categories, and tracks things like sales tax if you have an Ecommerce shop. It’s a very tidy way of staying on top of one of the major aspects of your business.
Paycor is not as well-known as the really big names like ADP and Gusto, but it’s managed to generate quite a following nevertheless. This is due to the fact that Paycor is a no-nonsense, feature-rich payroll and human resource management service that delivers on its promises. Paycor comes complete with features like direct deposit, convenient mobile app, optimized payroll processing, and customizable widgets, so you can do just about anything you want within the software.
One more thing businesses really like about Paycor is that it comes with a lot of the more sophisticated features that high-price range payroll service providers offer at a significantly lower price tag.
