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Payroll is one of the areas where small businesses waste the most time doing it manually. Several tools now handle payroll for around forty dollars per month.
Gusto is a common starting point. Full-service payroll, automatic tax filings, benefits administration, and time tracking in one platform. Simple pricing.
QuickBooks Payroll integrates directly with QuickBooks accounting. Good option if you already use QuickBooks.
Square Payroll is competitively priced and works especially well if you also use Square for point of sale.
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OnPay is a solid alternative with slightly lower per-employee fees.
ADP and Paychex are the enterprise options. More features, higher costs, better for businesses over fifty employees.
What these tools handle automatically: calculating withholding, paying federal and state taxes, generating W-2s at year-end, direct depositing employee pay, tracking sick and vacation time.
Setting up any of these tools takes an afternoon. The time savings across a year is substantial for any business with employees. Manual payroll for a five-employee business easily consumes ten hours per month.
Even for a solo business with S-Corp election requiring self-payroll, these tools handle the mechanics for a small monthly fee.