As a small business owner, organizing the payroll has to be the most overwhelming part of the job- you have to ensure that everything is 100% accurate and free from mistakes. Thankfully, this part of the job has been made easy with the advent of payroll systems. With the right payroll system, you can be sure that your employees are paid their complete wages in due time. Let’s see some of the best payroll systems you can use for your small business in this guide.
What Is a Payroll System?
A payroll management system is a piece of software that organizes all aspects of employee payment and tax filing. Keeping track of hours, calculating earnings, tracking attendance, withholding taxes and deductions, printing and distributing checks, performing direct deposits, paying premiums to insurance providers, and/or paying employment taxes to the government are all examples of these responsibilities. This software can be purchased from an HR software vendor or integrated as a module within a comprehensive system in an HR software package.
What Are the Benefits of Payroll Processing Systems for A Small Business?
Payroll must be done accurately and on a regular basis, so it makes sense for businesses to invest in a system that automates these procedures. Payroll systems can help a small business reduce errors, increase compliance, and save time. With its more user-friendly options, payroll systems assist businesses worldwide in retaining control over payroll procedures while giving better flexibility than outsourced payroll.
Payroll systems are simple to use and inexpensive and may reduce payroll errors and the time spent calculating employee hours, wages, and tax withholdings, which is especially beneficial for a small business. Small business owners can acquire an economical system on their local computer or through a pay-as-you-go cloud subscription. With this software, they may also keep more control over the payroll process, allowing them to prepare reports at their own pace and make changes swiftly if necessary.
The Best Small Business Payroll Systems
#1. Gusto
Gusto provides the most comprehensive bundle at the most affordable pricing. Small firms can use our payroll, benefits, and HR platform for as little as $45 per month. Gusto also offers a contractor-only plan with no base pricing and a monthly fee of $6 per worker.
Gusto’s full-service payroll is available in all versions. The more features you gain as you move up the plan tiers.
#2. QuickBooks Payroll
QuickBooks Payroll is another excellent choice for small businesses. If you currently use QuickBooks accounting software to manage your company’s finances, adding payroll will be a breeze. This payroll program is easily activated within QuickBooks Online.
There are three software options to choose from, beginning with QuickBooks Payroll Core for $45 per month plus $4 per employee. QuickBooks Payroll Premium costs $75 per employee per month plus $8 per employee each month. QuickBooks Payroll Elite is available for $125 per month plus $10 per employee. To minimize the initial cost of the plans, a 50% reduction in the base price for three months may be provided.
#3. Patriot Payroll
Patriot Software Payroll is another option on our list of the top payroll software for small businesses. The program is available in two versions, and you may sample it for 30 days for free.
The Basic plan is $10 per month plus $4 per employee or contractor. Standard payroll features are included, but you are responsible for paying and filing payroll taxes. The payroll capabilities of the software are as follows:
- Payroll setup and assistance
- Limitless payroll runs.
- The option of direct deposit or printing checks
- Employee intranet
- Integrations of workers’ compensation, accounting, and time management
#4. Payroll4Free
Consider Payroll4Free if you’re only looking for free payroll software. If you have 25 or fewer employees to pay, you can use basic payroll functions for free.
The following are basic features:
- Employee and contractor payroll processing
- Checks or direct deposits to your bank account
- Tax computations for federal, state, and local taxes, including fee filing
- Time management
- Employee accessibility
- The ability to export payroll information
- Customer service
Aside from those basic capabilities, you can pay $30 per month to have Payroll4Free deposit and file your payroll taxes for you, as well as transfer direct deposit cash to your employees’ bank accounts rather than your own.
#5. ADP Payroll
ADP, or Automatic Data Processing, is a well-known name in the commercial software industry, and ADP Run is their payroll product for small enterprises with one to 49 employees. ADP’s Workforce Now solution also provides payroll plans for companies with 50 or more employees.
#6. OnPay Payroll
When you want free support transferring payroll agencies, including the movement of prior period payroll data, OnPay may be a terrific choice to explore. OnPay has a single plan with prices clearly displayed on the website. The monthly fee is $36 plus $4 per person, with the first month free.
If you pay contractors or part-time employees, OnPay may be a suitable fit for your company because you are only billed for the people you actually pay during the month. Before performing payroll, you choose the employees you wish to pay and then enter their hours or earnings.
#7. Paychex Flex
Paychex Flex has numerous plans available for growing enterprises. You can begin with a lower-tier plan and progress to a more expensive and robust one as needed. Paychex Flex Essentials is the most basic option, with a monthly base price of $39 plus $5 per employee. Quote-based pricing is offered for Paychex Flex Select, Paychex Flex Pro, and Paychex Flex Enterprise, which offer more sophisticated capabilities.
All four Paychex plans include the following features:
- Payroll services, such as direct deposit
- Tax preparation services
- Reporting on new hires
- Workers’ compensation insurance is available at an additional fee.
- Free mobile application
- Support is available by phone and chats 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Documents in the HR library
You get more services with the Select and Pro subscriptions, such as a dedicated payroll consultant to aid with tax or payroll problems. One disadvantage of Paychex Flex is that pricing for all plans is not readily displayed on their website, making it difficult to compare services.
#8. Square Payroll
Square’s POS product is probably familiar to you, but it also provides full-service payroll. The basic plan is $35 per month, plus $5 per employee. If you simply pay contractors, Square Payroll has a $5 per contractor per month option.
The following are some of the features of the full-service payroll product:
- Payroll runs are limitless.
- Cash App, direct deposit, or check
- Tax returns and payments
- Employee application
- Live payroll setup assistance
- Workers’ compensation insurance
- Medical and retirement benefits
- HR partners will assist with compliance.
Through the Square Team Management integration, you can conduct payroll from your phone, as well as sync employee hours, adjust permissions, and review sales. Square has no long-term contracts, and you can cancel or halt billing at any moment.
#9. Zenefits Payroll
Zenefits has a payroll feature that can sync with other HR operations such as time tracking, new hire onboarding, and benefit deductions automatically. The Essentials plan is the least priced of the three options, costing $8 per month per employee. The Growth plan costs $14 per employee per month, while the Zen plan costs $21 per employee per month. More features are available in higher-priced programs.
Among the several features of payroll software are:
- Payroll runs are unlimited, including contractor payments.
- Deposit through direct deposit
- Filing federal and state taxes
- Employees get lifetime account access.
- New hires are automatically notified by the state.
- Payments for new employees are prorated.
- Reporting on payroll, taxes, and general ledger
Zenefits has a rich integration portfolio that includes integrations for productivity, application tracking, retirement savings, accounting, travel, performance management, and more.
#10. Payroll Wave
Wave provides free accounting and invoicing software, however, Wave Payroll requires a fee. The cost of Wave Payroll varies by state because Wave provides tax services in various jurisdictions. In states where tax services are available, the monthly fee is $35 + $6 per active employee or contractor. In “self-service” states, the cost is decreased to $20 per month + $6 per active employee or contractor. This means that Wave will calculate the amount, but you will be responsible for paying and filing payroll taxes.
#11. Connecteam
Connecteam is an award-winning all-in-one software solution that enables business owners and managers to manage almost every aspect of their payroll.
It does it all, and then some, whether you need to track your employees’ time quickly to ensure they clock in without needing to check in on them or offer clear timesheets for payroll.
With Connecteam’s seamless connectivity with Quickbooks Online and Gusto payroll software, it’s incredibly simple to ensure that payroll runs smoothly and accurately.
Simply lock your timesheets and export them with a single click. They are connected to your QBO program in a matter of seconds, and you can handle your payroll with ease.
#12. Sage Payroll
Sage Payroll is one of the most affordable payroll systems for small businesses. It may lack the bells and whistles that other payroll software provides, but for many organizations, it provides more than enough capability. One of its key advantages is security: your payroll data in the cloud is fully secured, and user access rights may be tailored to maintain data protection and integrity.
Key characteristics include:
- ACA compliance
- Management of benefits
- Invoicing and billing
- Printing checks
- Compensation administration
- Deposit through direct deposit
- Employee information system
- Payroll processing
#13. SurePayroll
SurePayroll’s capacity to faithfully serve the needs of small businesses is still up in the air. While some believe that it has a user-friendly and straightforward interface, others criticize that the user experience is clunky and that it takes a long time for processes to be effectively streamlined.
Furthermore, some customers appreciate the application database’s large pre-defined set of fields and variables, while others despise the cumbersome and time-consuming employee registration process. We’re not telling you this to present you with a vacuous review that’s irrelevant. Payroll software must be versatile, and this payroll app for small businesses exhibits its flexibility through its user experience, which is an indication of a solid payroll solution.
Key characteristics include:
- Management of benefits
- Printing checks
- Compensation administration
- Deposit through direct deposit
- Employee information system
- Payroll processing
- Salary garnishment
- Tax observance
#14. Wagepoint
If you want the best service and assistance, you should definitely look into Wagepoint’s offerings. And, because they’re Canadian, you can probably believe their claim to have the friendliest support and service team in the industry. Wagepoint offers a free trial period to allow you to try before you buy, in addition to straightforward and inexpensive pricing.
Key characteristics include:
- Deposit through direct deposit
- Tax observance
- Form W-2 preparation
- Salary garnishment
#15. PayCor
PayCor, like many other small business payroll software systems, is about far more than payroll. It is a modular system that may be used alone for payroll or in conjunction with other modules available on the platform to handle complete employee “lifetimes” within the organization, from recruitment through leave. Did we mention that a payroll app for small enterprises needs to be flexible?
Key characteristics include:
- 401(k) monitoring
- Management of benefits
- Printing checks
- Compensation administration
- Deposit through direct deposit
- Administration of COBRA
- Compliant with HIPAA
- Employee information system
- Payroll processing
#15. BambooHR
Bamboo HR is yet another excellent small business payroll software solution. BambooHR, while designed primarily for US-based employees, offers a simple three-step payroll solution. This payroll tool for small businesses saves employee information such as earnings, hours, bank account details, employee benefits, deductions, or withholdings and sends it to the payroll process automatically.
They also provide an employee portal via which employees may view their payroll information (paystubs, direct deposit accounts) at any time. Finally, they offer more than 100 exportable payroll reports.
#16. Rippling
Another effective payroll software solution for small enterprises is Rippling. Rippling claims that their small business payroll software can handle payroll totally automatically in 90 seconds. The payroll program ensures automatic compliance and tax form filling.
They also offer payroll services to employees all across the world. Users of Rippling payroll software for small enterprises can build reports using pre-built templates or from scratch. Finally, Rippling’s small business payroll tool interfaces with over 400 other apps, making your HR manager’s life easier than ever!
#17. Paycom
Another payroll program, Paycom, allows employees to manage their timecards, costs, PTO, benefits, and payroll! “Beti,” the digital payroll checker, checks the paycheck for irregularities and assists staff in correcting them. Paycom can also generate paper checks! Paycom also manages tax paperwork and administers garnishments.
How Much Does Payroll Cost For Small Businesses?
Payrolls for small businesses cost between $101 and $500.
Can Self-employed Have Payroll?
Self-employed people can create their own payroll, use payroll software, or engage a bookkeeper to do it for them.
How Should You Pay Yourself As A Business Owner?
You pay yourself a regular salary in the same way as a company employee would, withholding taxes from your paycheck.
How Do Small Businesses Keep Track Of Payroll?
As a small business owner, you can either handle your payroll yourself, employ the services of an external accountant, or use payroll systems.
Do I Need Payroll For One Employee?
Yes, you need payroll even if you have only one employee.
What Is The Best Payroll Software For One Employee?
The best payroll software is Gusto.
What Is The Easiest Way To Do Payroll For Small Businesses?
The easiest way to track payroll for a small business is through a spreadsheet.
How much is ADP for small business?
Monthly plans begin at $79, with an additional $4 per worker. On the company’s website, commercial clients can ask for a quote. There will be a free trial period of three months for all plans (restrictions apply).
Can I do my own small business payroll?
The payroll for a small firm can be handled in-house, but this isn’t always the greatest option. In the short run, you can save money by handling payroll in-house, but in the long run, you can lose money. To cut costs, many proprietors of small businesses prefer to handle payroll by hand rather than invest in costly payroll software or services.
How can I do payroll myself for free?
The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) is a no-cost service that enables this by processing payroll and unemployment tax payments electronically. If you’re using a payroll provider, they’ll already have your taxes sent in on your behalf, so you may skip this.
Is it better to get paid cash or payroll?
Cash might be the king, but it’s not the most convenient method of paying employees. Paying employees in cash may seem like a quick and easy way to get money into their hands, but mistakes in the payroll process can result in fines from the IRS and the Department of Labor.
In Conclusion
When weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each payroll system, determining your must-have features might help. You should also assess how much assistance you require with taxes and payroll setting. Finally, while calculating the cost of the program, keep in mind the increased monthly fee that comes with adding staff as your company grows.
FAQs On Payroll Systems For Small Business
What is online payroll system?
Online payroll is a web-based payroll software solution that calculates payroll and generates payroll reports.
Can I use Quickbooks payroll without subscription?
Yes, you can use Quickbooks payroll without a subscription.
What do accountants use for payroll?
Financial journal entries are used by payroll accountants to describe an organization’s activities and total cash flow.
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