Square Payroll Review and Pricing for 2019: The Easy Way to Get Paid?

Whether you're a business owner or a customer, there's a good chance you've heard of Square.

After all, Square is one of the best-known brands in the world for mobile point of sale systems, state-of-the-art inventory management, and payment processing. Heck, you can even get your hands on a loan or merchant advance from Square if you need some additional money to take advantage of new opportunities in your business.

Just one of the many features that Square has to offer in 2019 is payroll management.

Designed for companies that have staff members they need to pay and support through regular benefits, Square Payroll integrates with your existing Square point of sale system to help both employees and contractors alike.

The question is, just how practical is Square Payroll?

That's what we're here to find out.

Read through our complete Square Payroll review to see whether this tool will make running your company just a little bit easier.

What is Square Payroll?

Square Payroll is the immersive suite of tax administration, benefits, and pay run services offered by Square Inc. Beyond giving you the necessary tools you need to pay your employees, Square Payroll also provides amazing ease of use.

For instance, the Payroll system can sync seamlessly with your Square POS app and timecards, so you don't have to waste valuable time adding up the hours your employees worked each week.

With Square Payroll, you get access to a host of features intended to save you crucial time as a business owner and ensure that you remain compliant with the payroll regulations of your location. You'll even be able to manage your contracts with freelance and temporary workers too.

👉 Features include:

• Benefit management tools
• Syncing with point of sale systems
• Timecard syncing
• Mobile app for payroll on the go
• Employer resources
• Automated tax filings
• Employee hour tracking
• Unlimited payroll runs
• Salaried and hourly employee support
• Individual accounts for users and employees
• Tip and bonus management
• Pay run management and tax deductions
• Integration with QuickBooks online
• PTO (Paid time off)
• Android and iPhone apps
• Credit card and debit card payments

Square Payroll Pricing

One of the things that make Squareup.com such a valuable solution for POS and business finance management is how cost-effective it is. Square puts flexible and fair pricing into everything it does, whether you're buying a new digital point of sale system or investing in a complete portfolio of tools for your restaurant or retail company.

If you're only paying for contractors, rather than full-time employees, you only pay $5 per contractor per month, with no subscription fee. On the other hand, if you have a permanent team to consider for worker's compensation and fees, the price per month is $29 for a Square Payroll subscription, plus $5 per month for every person you have to pay. Square offers a calculator on its website that you can use to predict your expenses.

If you're paying 1099 contractors only – like many small businesses and pop-up stores, then the price of Square Payroll is excellent. It's hard to argue with a cost of only $5 per month – particularly when Square Payroll comes with so many great features to explore.

When you're dealing with contractors and employees, the cost is a bit more significant. However, you need to remember that Square will also give you the option to file taxes and tax deductions on your business's behalf through the system too. This means that you can save a lot of money on hiring a separate accountant or bookkeeper. Ultimately, $29 per month for the subscription, plus your $5 per month isn't as bad as it seems.

The good news, whichever option you go for, Square isn't going to force you to sign up for any pesky annual contracts. You can enjoy the freedom of being able to cancel your subscription to payroll processing whenever you like.

Square Payroll Review: Ease of Use

Investing in a team payroll processing solution like Square Payroll is a way for companies to make their lives a little easier. Instead of having to track the amounts you owe your staff manually, you can trust software to do most of the hard work for you.

So, how simple is Square Payroll to use?

Well, at its core, Square Payroll was designed to give smaller companies access to all the significant corporation benefits they need when it comes to managing payroll. Getting started with the software is incredibly straightforward. If you're switching from another payroll company, Square will even handle the paperwork and legal stuff for you.

To get started, all you need to do is enter the information that's relevant to your team or ask your employees to set up their own personal accounts. You can then set up your Payroll system on the square dashboard to automatically deliver cash to your employees at the same time each month.

For ease of use, it's hard to find a competitor that comes close to Square.

Square even makes the process easier by managing your withholding and payroll tax filings on your behalf. If that wasn't compelling enough, the fact that Square syncs with your existing point of sale system and time cards means that everything works seamlessly together within the financial side of your business. There's less of a need to waste time jumping between tools and apps.

If your employees and contractors are already clocking in and out through the Square POS system that you use in your business, their timecards will sync automatically with your Square Payroll app. This means that calculating pay requirements for hourly and regular members of your team become more straightforward than ever. The ability to import time cards means you don't have to guess at how often your employees worked each month. This is one of the simple ways that Square improves ease of use.

As usual with Square, making the most of your tools and apps becomes simpler and more straightforward the more systems you connect. Everything in the Square portfolio is designed to work seamlessly and cohesively as a whole from within the square dashboard.

Square Payroll Review: Administration and Accounts

If you've ever used the Square POS before, you'll know that the company has a lot to offer when it comes to helping you make the most of your teams. In-built into your Square POS and your Payroll strategy are a bunch of user-friendly administration features.

For instance, on the “Team Management” side of your POS online account you'll find the option to access real-time reports that help you to optimize your staffing strategy. You can also manage your employees' timecards, keep a close eye on benefits, and even manage tips.

Within the Square Payroll software itself, you can not only pay your employees on-time and as accurately as possible, but you can also create the environment that's most suitable for your business. Square Payroll allows you to choose between paying salaried or hourly employees.

👉 You can also:

• Run payroll at multiple times per month with no extra cost
• Pay your employees using manual check or direct deposit
• Accommodate various pay rates according to the needs of your employees
• Process state taxes and calculate overtime
• Administer employee benefits.
• Calculate worker's compensation and information for W-2 employees
• Integrate with square point of sale tools and employee timecards

To keep the amount of work that you need to do each month to a minimum, Square Payroll also offers the option to set up automatic payroll systems. The Payroll schedule functionality pulls employee salary and timecard information, calculating overtime, taxes, and benefits for you so that you can just check your notifications when your payments are complete.

Another great feature?

Because Square provides the opportunity for contractors and employees to sign up for their own online accounts, you can ensure that all of your team members have access to unique payroll dashboards and payroll reports. This means that your W-2 employees and contractors can manage their pay stubs, check their tax withholdings, manage their bank accounts, and more.

Square Payroll Review: Compliance and Taxes

Figuring out how much to pay your employees and contractors is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to choosing the right payroll provider. You'll also need a strategy for making sure that you're compliant with State taxes and withholdings too.

Dealing with taxes is often one of the toughest parts of hiring employees for any business. The good news is that Square Payroll will file all the state and federal taxes that you need to worry about on your behalf. It only does this for full-time employees with W-2 contracts – however.

Despite it's limitations, Square's consistent commitment to ease of use is obvious in its range of compliance and tax-focused features.

At the end of each year, the Square Payroll system can generate, file, and send any 1099 and W2 forms on your company's behalf. This can save you from a lot of time and effort when it comes to managing payroll compliance.

👉 With Square, you can rest assured that you're compliant when it comes to dealing with things like:

• Tracking paid time off (PTO)
• Checking worker's compensation details
• Tracking sick leave
• Post-tax reimbursements and deductions
• New hire reports
• Payroll reports
• Tracking labor costs

Square Payroll Review: Payroll and Tips

Square Payroll gives businesses multiple ways to support and pay their teams with incredible ease of use. It's user-friendly approach really sets Square point of sale apart from other options like ADP, PayChex and so on.

For instance, you can either send your employees manual checks if you want them to deal with their income themselves, or you can set up direct deposits. The direct deposit payment option is a lot easier, provided that each of your team members has a bank account linked to a Square Online Payroll account.

👉 If all of your staff members sign up for Square Payroll, you can set direct deposits to run on various schedules, including:

• Monthly
• Semi-monthly
• Bi-Weekly
• Weekly

You'll also be able to send different payments for different groups at specific times without having to pay any extra fees.

As well as being able to manage regular payments, you can also use Square Payroll to look into things like tips distribution. Every tip you process through your Square POS is automatically attached to a given employee, and imports to your Payroll data.

If you're working in a restaurant or other environments where tips are crucial, this additional feature will be essential to ensuring that your team members are paid properly.

Square Payroll Review: Benefit Distribution

Managing payroll in a modern business doesn't just mean dealing with hourly wages and taxes. Many modern companies also offer other benefits to ensure that they're attracting the best talent to their teams. Fortunately, Square Payroll can help with that too.

Using Square Payroll, business leaders can subscribe their team members to regular benefits like 401K plans, worker's compensation, health insurance, pre-tax benefits, and more. You can even set up strategies for things like Paid Time Off and paid sick leave, so you don't have to calculate these additional bonuses separately when tax season rolls around.

Ease of use is also apparent in the Square benefit features.

To add a benefit to an employee's payment strategy, all you need to do is open your staff member's record and click on the “Benefit” option. From here, you can add all the vital details you need to deliver the right benefits, track annual limits, and more.

Although Square Payroll might not have the same versatility and number of benefits to offer as some other accounting services, it's a great way to boost your payment strategy – particularly if you're a small business on a budget.

You can even add gift cards to your benefit strategy to reduce labor cost. The ease of use that's consistent throughout the Square portfolio also extends to the option to create fantastic gift cards with collaborators in your industry.

Square Payroll Review: Integrations and Apps

If you're one of the many businesses that run operations on-the-go these days, you're going to need a payroll solution that you can access anywhere. Fortunately, Square has it's advanced Payroll App for business owners. The app isn't quite as advanced as the fully-featured functionality you get on a desktop tool. However, it does mean that you can check details on payments and pay your team at any time, wherever you are.

Aside from convenient access to a mobile app via Google Play and the App Store, Square also makes your life a little simpler by ensuring that you can integrate your Payroll system with other critical tools, gift card apps, payroll reports and more.

Now that today's businesses rely on so many different kinds of technology and software to keep their operations running smoothly, integrations are essential. Square's ability to integrate with things like Xero and QuickBooks means that you can access more data about your Payroll strategy when you need to.

These integrations are particularly valuable when you consider the fact that Square's in-built payroll reporting system can be a little basic for some companies. While you can export Paycheck details, Company Totals, and Employee Totals, you won't get a lot of graphs and visual reports. Integrating with other third-party tools can make your presentations to shareholders and other business leaders more immersive.

With your integrations in place, you'll be able to download and create more custom reports that help the financial side of your business to thrive and support your accountant's work. Additionally, if you have any worries with your functionality along the way, Square offers US phone support for all Square Payroll customers. This means that you can track down assistance when you need it most, and speak to a real human, rather than just another bot.

For extra ease of use, Square also provides a wide variety of guides and articles on its Resource page so that you can educate yourself too.

Square Payroll Pros and Cons

👍 Pros:

• Free migration from old software to Square Payroll
• Tip, gift card benefit management for employees
• Dedicated app to manage payroll on the go
• Plenty of tax support for small businesses
• Ease of use
• Payroll reports
• Automatic sync with Square POS and timecards
• Phone-based customer support for US businesses
• Affordable pricing

👎 Cons:

• Not quite as advanced as some payroll tools
• Customers often complain about losing their Square accounts with no warning
• Best for companies that already use Square POS

Square Payroll Alternatives

If, after checking out our Square Payroll review, you're still not sure if this software is right for you – don't worry. There are a lot of other options available to consider too. While Square Payroll is one of the most affordable on the market, there are other tools that might suit you better, such as:

Patriot Payroll

One of the most popular payroll tools on the market today, Patriot Payroll offers both a basic and full-service plan, depending on what you need. Even the basic plan comes with things like flexible payroll cadences, paychecks through various vehicles, and time-off tracking.

Patriot delivers one of the most cost-effective payroll options for small businesses, and there's a 30-day free trial available to help you decide if it's right for you.

Gusto Payroll

If you're on the hunt for a payroll software that's similar to Square, but with more employee benefits to choose from, you could consider Gusto. This Payroll service comes with a range of packages to choose from, each with its reasonable pricing plan. For each package, you get an impressive array of features too, including tax filings, tip credits, and direct deposits.

You can also use Gusto to access employee information profiles, set up in-depth health benefits, and track worker's comp too!

Optimum Payroll

Optimum might not be as well known as Gusto or Square when it comes to payroll options, but it's growing increasingly popular. Ideal for fast and secure payroll processing, Optimum offers cost-effective payroll management, complete with tax levies, garnishments, compliant workflow management, and more.

You can use Optimum to handle everything from check printing to 401k tracking, W2 preparation, and anything else you can think of to support your team.

Square Payroll Review: Verdict

These days, it's easy to find payroll software solutions on the market that help to ensure you're paying your teams properly. However, only you will be able to decide which of the options available today is right for you, your business, and your team members.

If you're already using one of Square's robust products, like their point of sale system, then it makes sense to consider Square Payroll before any other tool. Not only is Square Payroll affordable, easy to use, and immersive, but it includes a lot of great features too. Whether you need help with tip distribution, tax management, or direct deposits, Square can help you out.

Ease of use makes this tool one of the most appealing in the industry, suitable for any kind of company.

 

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