Looking for an easy way to pay employees and save time? There’s a couple options out there we recommend — one of which we already use here at S-FX, and one that is launching on a limited basis this week.
Today on #TechTuesdays, we’re going to provide a brief overview of both Square Payroll and QuickBooks Online, two payroll services catered to the needs of small businesses.
Square Payroll
You’ll likely already familiar with Square, as they offer quite a number of services for small businesses, not the least of which is the popular Square Reader for accepting card-based payments on-the-fly, which we previously highlighted here on #TechTuesdays. Now, Square is broadening their ecosystem by offering Square Payroll, their product for paying employees and tracking taxes.
The service is officially out today after completion of a testing period, although it’s a very limited rollout that currently is only seeing the light of day in sunny California. However, the product will see rollout in more states soon.
So, how does Square Payroll work and what is the basic functionality of such applications? Putting it simply, Square Payroll allows you to automatically import the hours your employees worked from Square Register (a clock-in/out hour tracking system Square offers), and then Payroll automatically calculates total employee pay, taking into account any special bonuses they’ve earned and any applicable taxes. Funds then get automatically distributed, and state and federal payroll taxes are also automatically filed and deposited for you, too. It’s accounting software that automates a good deal of the more groan-inducing aspects of tracking your employees. Nifty!
Square Payroll uses a fairly simple interface scaled to small businesses. It provides support for timecards, taxes, and tracking for both hourly and salaried workers, and its price is all-in, meaning while there isn’t the flexibility of multiple price points, there are also no confusing, limiting tiers. You can benefit from the entire service by shelling out $20 per month, with an additional fee of $5 per employee you add into the system for tracking.
QuickBooks Online
Most everyone’s familiar with Intuit’s suite of accounting software products, QuickBooks, and our very own S-FX superstar, Shane Skwarek, utilizes QuickBooks Online to help keep his small business in tip-top shape and admirable working order.
QuickBooks Online is already widely available and offers similar employee tracking and payroll-related features to that of Square Payroll. You can track income and expenses, create estimates and invoices, and, in some instances, track inventory, pay bills and prepare 1099s. Unlike Square Payroll, there are tiers that offer different features. On the one hand, this flexibility will allow some to save money each month, while on the other hand, feature disparity between the tiers can cause some understandable confusion.
Fortunately, the QuickBooks site does an admirable job of outlining the features of each tier, with the “Essentials” tier effectively adding the ability to manage bills and drum up profit reports on top of basic income tracking, and the “Most Popular” (and most expensive) “Plus” tier further adding the ability to track inventory and prepare those 1099s. However, even the “Plus” tier is highly affordable for small businesses thanks to some serious discounts QuickBooks is running.
You can find the full pricing breakdown for each tier here, but suffice to say small businesses can pay as little as 10 to 15 shekels a month for access to the services. There’s even a special tier geared toward independent contractors that weighs in at a scant 8 bucks a month.
Wrap-Up
While Square Payroll isn’t offered outside California just yet, it should be quickly branching out, and both Payroll and QuickBooks Online offer small businesses some much appreciated aid in keeping track of their employees and related accounting tasks. Ultimately, this may come down to familiarity: Are you well-acclimated with QuickBooks software, or have you already bought into Square’s growing ecosystem? Either way, it’s hard to go wrong with these options from two trusted, established players in the field.
We’ve got some big news and analysis coming up later this July here on #TechTuesdays, including new details surrounding the impending launch of Windows 10. Be sure to check back in with us, and have an exceptional week!
