Wave Payroll is cloud-based payroll software designed to help small business owners simplify and automate payroll processes while remaining compliant with taxes and deductions. This is an additional service that is only available in the U.S. and Canada. Compared to other payroll software, Wave Payroll offers a very limited feature set, which ultimately drove the software’s feature rating down to a 3.2/5 stars. Customers like Wave Payroll’s simple interface and say it’s easy for where do sundry expenses go in the final account those without accounting experience to run payroll. They’ve also commented on the automatic generation of tax forms being a handy feature.
Review:
Gusto’s payroll software offers small businesses features for managing employee pay and more. Its plans offer a variety of features that let you pick what you need to support your business. Not only does it sync with other Gusto applications, but it also works with third-party applications, including QuickBooks and Xero. It also lets you pay international contractors and what is the journal entry if a company pays dividends with cash automatically files and pays payroll taxes in all 50 states.
Payroll software that pays off
Plans start at $40 per month with an additional $6 per month for each paid employee. OnPay Payroll offers features to help small businesses, including paying employees through multiple methods, custom reporting options and free payroll management for multiple-state processing. It also makes state and federal payroll tax payments and files taxes for you and integrates with other software options, including QuickBooks and Xero. The software only has one plan at $40 per month with an additional $6 per month per paid employee. When rating payroll software, we are looking for very specific qualities. We also look for the presence of client and employee portals, benefits administration, PTO and time management tools, and many more vital features.
Businesses in states without tax services pay a cheaper base fee of $20 per month but the same per-employee rate of $6 per month for every employee or independent contractor. Businesses in states where tax services are available pay a base fee of $35 per month and an additional $6 per month for every employee or independent contractor. Wave’s pricing for its Payroll software is based on the services available in your state and how many employees you pay each month. We totally get it—running payroll for your business can seem like a daunting task, especially when you’ve got so much on your plate. That’s why Wave’s payroll software can help ease the burden of doing payroll on your own.
Wave Payroll Self-Service States
- Additionally, Wave is perfect for small businesses already using Wave products or businesses looking to integrate simple accounting software with payroll software.
- Check out our handy support article to learn how you can switch to using Wave’s payroll feature.
- Wave’s 3.5/5 star rating in the pricing category is actually among one of the highest scores awarded in this category.
- With a starting price of $40.00 per month +$6.00 per employee per month, Gusto is the costlier option compared to Wave’s price of $20.00 +$6.00 per employee per month.
- The software earned an average of 4.2/5 stars across popular user review collection platforms.
Wave is an excellent option for payroll and accounting software for small businesses. Wave’s entire mission is to bring robust accounting, payments, and payroll programs to more small businesses. If you already love using Wave’s free accounting software and don’t mind a simple payroll system without a ton of robust features, Wave’s payroll software could be a solid, inexpensive fit. Wave’s payroll software supports paying both employees and independent contractors when you run payroll. The proper tax forms (like the T4 and T4A) are available to be generated by you. While Wave’s main product is its free accounting platform, Wave Payroll is a paid, mid-tier solution that is equipped with standard features like automatic payments and multi-state filing.
Any connections between you, your bank accounts, and Wave are protected by 256-bit SSL encryption. Our (non-judgmental) team of bookkeeping, accounting, and payroll experts is standing by to coach you—or do the work for you. Not to mention the stress of worrying about making errors and winding up in a tax audit (yikes!). In self-service states (all other 36 states) Wave Payroll does not make payments or file on your behalf. Automated, accurate payroll helps you stay compliant, save time, and be stress-free. A complete review of Wave Payroll, including pricing, comparisons to competitors, key information, and FAQs.
Wave Payroll’s key drawbacks
Wave Payroll offers all the basic features necessary to run payroll but not much else. Visit your dashboard or use your invoicing or accounting features, and click the peach “Upgrade now” button. Learn more about changing subscription periods and plan types, and how to cancel your Pro bookkeeping 101 subscription in our Help Centre. Your employees can log into Wave securely to access their pay stubs and T4s, and manage their contact and banking information.
Instead, you can access Wave customer service only online, either by submitting a request on the Wave site or pressing the “help” button on your Wave account. Wave Payroll also lacks benefits add-ons beyond workers compensation packages. Gusto, for instance, offers not only workers compensation plans but also health benefits administration and other employee benefits add-ons.
Approval to use online payments is subject to eligibility criteria, including identity verification and credit review. You’ll need to answer a few questions about your business and provide us with a little more information about yourself in order to get approved to accept online payments. Wave Payroll supports paying both employees and independent contractors when you run payroll.