Employees enter information about their bank accounts and complete W-4 forms online. Then, employers select hourly or salaried employees, wage rates and additional pay types, and they’re ready to go. The main screen shows your auto payroll status, upcoming birthdays and a to-do list. Also, you can tap on shortcuts to quickly run payroll, pay a contractor, and add an employee or contractor. We appreciated the timely alerts for upcoming tax payments, which allowed us to see the tax type, payment status and method.

We read customer reviews and viewed Better Business Bureau ratings and complaints to see how others view the vendor and its products. When searching for the best online payroll service for same-day direct deposit, we looked for vendors with flexible direct deposit options alongside robust payroll and HR features. Our goal is to help businesses in choosing the right payroll service. QuickBooks Payroll is a great choice if you already use QuickBooks Online and are looking for payroll software that will make your life just a little easier. Although it’s designed for businesses with up to 50 employees or contractors, it can accommodate up to 150 workers.

HR Administration & Support

There’s even a live chat function to do that immediately if matters are pressing. Get employees set up in the system and schedule payroll to run automatically. The Elite plan goes a step further and covers up to $25,000 per year in payroll tax penalties resulting from mistakes an employer might have made. In other words, you’re covered even if QuickBooks isn’t responsible for the error. We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence.

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The two products integrate easily with each other, which means it’s easy to add a QuickBooks payroll plan to your QuickBooks accounting subscription and vice versa. For businesses on the Elite plan, QuickBooks will reimburse your company up to $25,000 if you receive any fines or interest charges due to inaccurate tax filings. Users should note that they’ll need to send a copy of their payroll tax notice to Intuit within 15 days of the date printed on their first notice in order to be eligible for the reimbursement. See our OnPay payroll software review to learn more about a vendor that provides a tax guarantee for all its clients.

With monthly fees that start at $50 plus $6 per employee, it’s a reasonably priced option that works well for small businesses. In our evaluation of the best payroll software for small businesses, QuickBooks Payroll earned an overall score of 4.54 out of 5. With QuickBooks Payroll, you can run unlimited monthly payroll and pay employees and contractors through paper checks or direct deposits. Since payroll processing is unlimited, you can set different schedules for different employees. You can also pay your staff quickly—QuickBooks offers next- or same-day direct deposit vs the two- to four-day option with other providers. While some services charge extra for processing deductions and garnishments, QuickBooks includes this in all plans.

• Between the two products, businesses can efficiently process payroll, pay their payroll taxes, monitor company finances, track employee attendance, and even receive HR support.
• The Elite plan also includes a geofencing feature that notifies employees to clock in and out based on when they arrive and leave a job site.
• It has GPS functionalities, allowing you to check your field employees’ location when they clock in.
• I found QuickBooks relatively easy to navigate and enjoyed the guided approach to setting up your payroll system.

If price is not a constraint for you, Intuit has a wide range of products that integrate seamlessly with each other to build an ecosystem to run your business. However, if price is a constraint for you, it’s better to look for cheaper options and you can get many that are equally good. Gusto’s transparently priced, 100% paperless payroll and HR services are quickly rising in popularity among modern-minded small businesses. Wondering how QuickBooks Payroll compares to other payroll solutions? Enter some basic information about your business’s payroll requirements and we’ll send you up to five personalized quotes. Intuit also has a healthy community vibe going on, which is great for networking with likeminded business people who can often supply answers to any kind of question.

Small businesses that are looking for a streamlined solution for complex payroll tasks will appreciate QuickBooks Payroll’s capabilities. While features vary by plan, all tax and payroll processing services helpfully integrate with Intuit’s bookkeeping program. However, if you use accounting software other than QuickBooks Online or have employees in multiple states, it’s worth taking a closer look at the competition. QuickBooks Online is the only accounting software QuickBooks Payroll integrates with, and if you have employees in more than one state, you may have to pay extra monthly tax filing fees. If you’ve run payroll several times and don’t require any revisions or salary changes, QuickBooks has an auto-payroll feature that will run payroll automatically every pay period. However, this functionality is available only for those who employ salaried employees and have payments set on direct deposits with e-services enabled.

QuickBooks Payroll offers three subscription tiers, so its services can grow with your business. We especially love that QuickBooks has several bundled packages for new users who want a one-vendor payroll and bookkeeping solution. You get access to the same health insurance options and automated payroll tax payments as you would with the stand-alone payroll plans, with the bonus of accounting software.

With price points about on-par with Gusto and frequent discounts on their services, QuickBooks Payroll is one of the more affordable options on the market today. Plus, while other services charge a fee per payroll run, Intuit QuickBooks allows you to run payroll as often as you need at no extra cost. QuickBooks Self Service Payroll is a cost-effective option for any business that just needs a basic payroll service. At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don’t guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.

• All feedback, positive or negative, helps us to improve the way we help small businesses.
• Alternatively, you can add employees and invite them to enter their information during onboarding.
• We collaborate with business-to-business vendors, connecting them with potential buyers.
• You don’t have to worry about running payroll, completing tax forms, or fulfilling payroll tax obligations—it’s all taken care of automatically.

Our In-Depth Reviews

One of the most appealing things about Quickbooks and the Payroll packages Intuit offers is the ease of use that comes with it all. There’s no doubt that Intuit’s UX teams and engineers have worked long and hard to create products that just work. The interface experience is invariably a good one no matter where you happen to be inside the suite of software, with a clever use of fonts, colour and graphics. On Trustpilot, there’s also no distinction between payroll and broader accounting and HR services. Intuit scores 1.1 out of 5, with over 90 percent of its reviews awarding the company the lowest possible score.

Small businesses that require more hands-on assistance may prefer a payroll solution that offers higher support yet still integrates with QuickBooks Online. Payroll ledgers, which involve payroll journal entries, are essential to recordkeeping whether you run payroll manually or automatically. Several payroll systems integrate with QuickBooks Online, but those payroll providers may charge you add-on fees for general ledger or integration services. With QuickBooks Payroll, there’s nothing to sync or troubleshoot when the programs suddenly quit connecting. It simply works, and that’s why QuickBooks Payroll tops our list for businesses that prioritize accounting integration. For all three plan tiers, federal and state payroll taxes are calculated, filed and paid automatically.

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We research, evaluate, and test each payroll software app that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate granular ratings. QuickBooks Online Payroll offers health, vision, and dental benefits through SimplyInsured, which doesn’t offer health benefits in Hawaii, Vermont, and DC. Likewise, workers’ comp insurance isn’t available in Ohio, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. If you are a QuickBooks Payroll Elite user, you are eligible for tax penalty protection. If you receive a tax notice and send it to QuickBooks within 15 days of the tax notice, QuickBooks covers up to $25,000 of the payroll tax penalty. You can take advantage of QuickBooks offers, where you can either get a 30-day free trial or a 50% discount on base fees for three months of service.

But Gusto includes more varied perks, such as health savings accounts and life insurance options. And competitors like ADP, Paychex, and UZIO have better payroll-plus-HR packages with more comprehensive HR solutions than QuickBooks. When you log in, you’ll see a user dashboard that lets you navigate to the platform’s main features. You can run payroll in three simple steps or set up auto pay to run payroll without entering new data.

If you are adding them manually, you can start just with the name and email address. The other details required for running payroll, such as date of joining, hourly rates, paid time off, etc., can be added later. QuickBooks Payroll supports independent contractor payroll and keeps track of when, what and how much for each contractor payment.

Free QuickBooks Tutorials: Learn QuickBooks Fast + Videos

For business owners who prefer to pay employees via paychecks, QuickBooks Payroll has check printing capabilities. To print paper checks yourself, you need to purchase the proper check stock and adjust your printer settings. For more information about this feature, check out our guide to printing QuickBooks intuit payroll review payroll checks. QuickBooks Payroll offers transparent pricing, so you know just how much you need to pay when running payroll through its platform.

QuickBooks Online Integration

Note, however, that workers’ comp administration is only included in the Premium and Elite tiers. Also, it isn’t available in Ohio, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. QuickBooks Online Payroll offers six payroll pricing plans, with each plan increasing features and benefits as you move up a tier.

Pricing aside, QuickBooks Payroll provides integration only with QuickBooks Online but with OnPay you can integrate with multiple accounting software such as QuickBooks Online and Xero. Besides, QuickBooks does not automatically process local taxes; you need to do that manually at your end. OnPay calculates, files and pays local tax obligations automatically.