What is Intuit Quickbooks Payroll?
Intuit Quickbooks Payroll provides full-service payroll management software to small and medium-sized businesses. Intuit specifically mentions accountants, nonprofits, construction companies, and restaurants as key segments of its target market. The payroll services cover all 50 states and include automated taxes, tax forms, garnishment, and deduction management. Even on the lowest plan, you’ll receive unlimited payroll runs, a next-day direct deposit service, and your employees gain access to a workforce portal. Plan pricing is simple, competitive, and unambiguous.
Intuit is a multi-billion dollar, publicly-listed US company founded 39 years ago. It specializes in financial software and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. The company exceeds $104 billion in market capitalization with almost $13 billion in annual revenue from an impressive line-up of products, including TurboTax, Quickbooks, Quickbooks Online, and the email marketing platform Mailchimp. Intuit is well supported in the US, with almost 90% of its revenue coming from customers within the country.
Intuit offers a range of business financial products, including accounting, payroll, time-tracking, payments, and e-commerce. The payroll product offers a fully automated, full-service payroll that calculates, files, and pays your payroll taxes. The company also offers a tax penalty protection guarantee to companies on their highest plan, in which Intuit will pay up to $25,000 if you receive a penalty from the IRS. Next-day direct deposits come as standard, with same-day direct deposits available to the higher subscription plans. Other core offerings include 1099 e-file and pay, 401(k) plans, and health benefits.
Those companies on the higher subscription levels have access to an expert review to ensure their payroll setup is correct; there are also some HR templates for onboarding and several offer letter examples, with access to an HR support center. Workers’ compensation administration is included, as is same-day direct deposit, an employee time tracker, and 24/7 expert product support. It goes without saying that all levels of the payroll subscription fully integrate with the Quickbooks accounting software, with Intuit packaging a subscription plan to include both payroll and accounting software under one monthly payment. If you already have the Quickbooks accounting software, adding the payroll product is a simple process.
Intuit Quickbooks
What popular features do you get with Intuit Quickbooks Payroll?
- Same-day direct deposit
- Expert product support as standard
- Mobile time tracking
- Employee health benefits
- Tax penalty protection
- Automated full-service payroll
- 1099 e-file and pay
- Personal HR advisor
- Workers compensation administration
- 401(k) plans
Customer Support is available at Intuit Quickbooks Payroll
Intuit offers customer support, yet it’s hard to locate who to call and when they’re available. You’ll need to jump through a few hoops if trying to locate the customer service on the Quickbooks website; otherwise, login to your payroll product, and you can start an online chat, request a callback, or ask the Intuit community for assistance. When all else fails, there is an 800 number you can call. If you’re on the lowest subscription tier, customer service is available between 6 am and 6 pm Monday to Friday. For the other two tiers, the service is 24/7.
What kind of business is Intuit Quickbooks Payroll ideal for?
The Intuit Quickbooks Payroll is ideal for those small to medium-sized businesses looking for an automated, easy-setup payroll system. The addition of some basic HR functionality is a bonus for such organizations, as is the tax penalty assurance and the time tracker. Larger organizations looking for a more powerful system or those looking for comprehensive HR and benefits management support will be less likely to find the Quickbooks payroll software suits their needs.
Pros and Cons
- Clean, intuitive, and fast interface
- Ease of initial setup
- Full-service payroll
- Supports any and all payment frequencies
- Automated new hire reporting
- Same-day direct deposit
- Fully automated payroll runs
- 401(k) plans
- Doesn’t offer worker payment using paycards
- No benefit management options
- Limited HR services
- Limited reporting capability
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OnPay
- Unlimited payroll runs
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- Financial and health benefits
- Employee self-service portal
Gusto
- Management of international contractor payments
- Online hiring and onboarding tools
- Automated payroll runs
- An easy-to-use integrated platform
Zenefits
- Dynamic paystubs with helpful information
- Automatic salary update feature
- Multiple labor codes for analysis
- Automatic new hire state filing
How much does Intuit Quickbooks Payroll cost?
*based on information provided by the vendor. Actual cost may vary.
Intuit’s lowest level payroll plan is called Core, which is apt because it provides you with everything you need for a basic full-service payroll system. The Core plan offers the following:
- Full-service payroll
- Auto payroll
- 1099 e-file and pay
- Next day direct deposit
- Expert product support
- 401(k) plans
- Health benefits for employees
The next-level plan is Premium, which adds some employee services and HR support. The Premium plan has everything in the Core plan plus:
- Same-day direct deposit
- Expert review of payroll setup
- Time tracking and GPS location
- An HR support center
- Workers compensation administration
The highest plan is Elite, which includes everything in the Premium plan but adds the following expert support and payday protection:
- 24/7 expert product support
- Tax penalty protection
- A personal HR advisor
Intuit currently offers the first three months of subscription at a 50% discount.
| Plan | Core | Premium | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Std Monthly Subscription | $45 | $75 | $125 |
| First 3-Months 50% Discount | $22.50 | $37.50 | $62.50 |
| Per Employee Per Month | $4 | $8 | $10 |
Final thoughts...
Intuit Quickbooks Payroll offers a complete payroll platform housed in an integrated, clean, intuitive user interface. This product will meet your needs if you run a business and wish for an automated, low-pain way to manage your payroll, with Intuit claiming that users can run their payroll in five minutes. Even allowing for marketing hyperbole, running your payroll in under twenty minutes is a nice feature. The same-day deposit feature on the two higher plans is a cash-flow optimization feature that small businesses will love. If you already run Quickbooks as your accounting package, adding payroll is pain-free, and if you don’t, you have a chance to package up a good deal.
On the downside, the lack of support for paycards and no benefit management features is surprising, which offers Intuit the opportunity to enhance a nice product further. If you’re looking for a fully-featured HR product as part of your payroll, other products on the market will better suit you. However, for a full-featured payroll system, Intuit Quickbooks Payroll is a nice product and worthy of review.
