Square Payroll Reviews

Pros

The Direct Deposit feature of Square Payroll makes paying employees a very streamlined and simple procedure. The W-2 Preparation features makes tax season a breeze. Sending employees W2s is all within the app. Vacation/Leave Tracking has truly increased the productivity of payroll and bookkeeping. This is the ultimate feature for this application.

Cons

I feel as though with time Square Payroll will rollout a more aesthetically pleasing interface but I do not find any cons.

Pros

The ease of use and setup of Square Payroll was incredible. It honestly is a plug and play type of software. Being a new small business owner Square Payroll was exactly what we were looking for. It's also great to have a one stop shop. We use Square Point of Sale in our shop, and to be able to get all of the sales information as well as payroll information from the same place is incredibly convenient.

Cons

Our small business runs payroll once a month. We wanted to run payroll on the 15th of each month. Changing/customizing the date on the monthly payroll was not an option (monthly runs on the 1st of each month). Not a show stopper by any means.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Payroll and Gusto

Reasons for Switching to Square Payroll

We went with Square Payroll for the value and also already using square for our Point of Sale system it made it super convenient to have all in one place.

Pros

The software itself is fairly easy to utilize; however, if you happen to cancel your subscription beware as you will be on your own. I had reorganized and changed entities therefore, cancelled my Square subscription. When changing entities I acquired a new EIN for the LLC. Square has refused to provide W2's for my employees for the 2017 tax year for the Sole Prop EIN in which I used for the business while with Square. After several emails back and forth I just received confirmation that Square will not be completing W2's for my business as I cancelled my service.

Cons

Customer service is extremely difficult with square as a whole. If you have any type of problem you will pretty much be on your own to research the internet or review conversation on the forum.

Pros

I sincerely like the comprehensive payroll system and it's solution that can help business grow both online and offline. It enables fast payment.

Cons

I have not found anything i like the least

Pros

Square is the most effecient product that I have ever used. I can make my appointments, and the fact that my team can clock in and out, make appointments, and get paid in a timely manner, leaves alot of the stress off of me as the owner. I can work in one program, I don't believe that Square is missing any features as far as payroll is concerned. Payroll pays my taxes for me and it pays it in a timely fashion.

Cons

Nothing bad that I can really say about square payroll.

Alternatives Considered

ADP Workforce Now and DaySmart Salon

Reasons for Choosing Square Payroll

I heard that this product was better

Switched From

Paychex Flex

Reasons for Switching to Square Payroll

It gave me everything they had but at a more economical price.

Pros

So quick and easy to use. Set up is quick and easy! Reports are perfect! Payrolls are always timely and accurate. Agency reporting at state, local and federal level have always been accurate and timely

Cons

WE NEED AN ACCOUNTANT LOGIN FEATURE!!!!!!! Need a way to customize the weekly summary to load into the client bookkeeping! One sheet that explains the Federal and local withholdings for bookkeeping purposes. For example (a breakdown of EMPLOYER FICA and Employee Fica, Federal unemployment, State unemployment and state withholding need to be printed on the summary sheet)

Pros

I am a sole proprietor/ LLC, with independent contractors as opposed to full/part time employees. I absolutely love that Square Payroll manages every facet of fund transfer including submitting tax form to my contractors, essentially taking care of my responsibilities as an employer.

Cons

The employer dashboard and features are pretty basic and may take some to get used to what functionality is available. The users, my hires, have not experienced any problems or difficulty, so that's the most important pat.

Alternatives Considered

SurePayroll

Reasons for Switching to Square Payroll

I was already previously using SquareUp payment transactions so it made sense to keep everything on one platform

Pros

It makes my life and business functional.

Cons

Nothing i love this software and everything about it

Alternatives Considered

PayPal

Reasons for Switching to Square Payroll

Its product overall quality is so much better

Pros

I love how easy it is to setup, add employees, and run payroll every week. I also love that they offer easy integrations with things like workers comp.

Cons

Honestly I haven't found anything I don't like about Square Payroll.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Payroll and Wave Payroll

Reasons for Switching to Square Payroll

Square files all the taxes for me so it's the best bang for the buck.

Pros

I especially like the invoicing offered by this software. I am able to charge by a flat rate or by item. Very easy to use and customize.

Cons

I have not run into any major issues with this software.

Pros

Square Payroll is super user friendly. It has a ton of features we use such as time tracking, direct deposit, and benefits.

Cons

I would prefer if we could change the cut off day time to a day later in the week but still allow for Friday direct deposits. Currently the cutoff is set to 11pm on Monday for a Friday direct deposit. Mondays are always super busy for us and there are many times I am unable to get payroll in on time, resulting in me having to write checks.

Alternatives Considered

Paychex Flex

Reasons for Switching to Square Payroll

The ease of use plus it is cheaper.

Pros

It's easy to use and understand. My employees said signing up and filling out their w-2 info was the easiest ever. Nobody had to ask me (or their Mom's!), it's direct and in plain English.
It calculates paid sick time for me (as per the new sick leave act in CA).
Submitting my quarterly federal tax returns and CA quarterly report of wages is also easy. It's so easy I don't even know how to do it because Square does it automatically for me!
Customer service is also great. One time I received a notice from EDD that I filed late, I called Square and they took care of it. My fee was waived, I haven't had an issue since.

Cons

I wish the Pay history offered more sorting options like their Sales information. I'd like to be able to see it by year, month, quarter, etc. I know Payroll is still kinda "new" so it wouldn't surprise me if this is offered later.

Pros

I love the ease of use and the affordability.

Cons

Better access to customer service. They seem focused on their retail cash register service than payroll.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Payroll

Reasons for Choosing Square Payroll

Price

Switched From

SurePayroll

Reasons for Switching to Square Payroll

Price and features

Pros

I love that I can run payroll in 10 minutes or less and that they file all the necessary paperwork. The cost is based per employee, which works for my business model. They have a new app for folks on the go, too. I've downloaded that, but not used it yet.

Cons

Editing timecards isn't too bad, however, you have to wait until the employee is clocked out to make the edit and it can be easy to get busy and forget. But sometimes the system doesn't let me add a timecard from scratch. The employee doesn't drop down in the menu so I have to go add the hours to an existing timecard. This isn't a big deal if you're not carefully monitoring costs, etc.

Also, my employees go back and forth between locations, so if they start at location 1 to pick supplies up and clock in there, they're clocked in at that location for the whole shift. I wish there was an option to select which location they're working at.

Pros

Easy to use and customer service is always willing to help but at time since they don't use the products. Some questions are hard for them to answer, giving a text book answer and not fixing the problem. Even though they were ready and willing to help in every way. I have called multiple times and have had great experiences with staff.

Cons

Easier way for a receptionist to ring out different employees to lessen any mistakes, when pulling reports. Or..... giving an option to change service provider when pulling reports, if a mistake is made. Sometimes making the report irrelevant having to manually add all service and retail because something was rung up under an another employee. When paying employees commission a mistake can create tension. Ringing out you can not make any mistakes without voiding the transaction. when the only mistake was it was under a wrong employee name.

Pros

Time tracking and tax reporting were invaluable

Cons

No complaints - everything worked as I hoped

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Reasons for Switching to Square Payroll

Ease of use and support

Pros

I absolutely love the ease of use, Square Payroll submits all my tax documents for me, works up my W2 and W3 forms at the end of the year, it is so easy and effective!

Cons

I wish the app was a little bit easier to edit when I need to adjust a Timecard. Sometimes one of my employees forgets to clock out, and it takes a while for me to go in and change their timecard.

Pros

Like many small businesses, payroll is not something I know how to do. I needed a quick and easy way to handle this and still be in compliance with all the laws. It's a bit daunting, but Square Payroll made it so simple. I don't have to worry about anything because they handle everything with incredible efficiency.

Cons

I do wish I could have the vacation tracking be done simply by the month, and not by hours worked. My team gets vacation time based on the month they work instead of the hours because we have slow months where they don't work as many hours, but I still want them to have the benefit of that time off.

Pros

The software is very user friendly, which is a major plus of the software. I like that you can add Memos to the paystubs now. This is a nice feature. Also the software's features are of a great value for the services provided.

Cons

I do not like that you cannot generate complete timecard spreadsheets which include the date, start and end times for each day for a specified time period. You can download individual timecards for any given day, and you can generate a spreadsheet with the total number of hours worked for a given time period, but you cannot generate a single spreadsheet which includes the date, start and end times for every single date in the time range. I have addressed this with Square support and have asked for this to be something considered in software updates. Employers in CA are required to maintain timecards for their employees so it would be very convenient if Square could add this feature to the software. Having to download each individual day's timecards is rather burdensome. Also, Customer Service has not always been very helpful. Sometimes I just get a cut and paste with the rep which does not address my specific inquiry.

Pros

I love how employees can set up direct deposit OR have a manual check, along with Square withholding the taxes and telling me exactly how much has to written in the check.

Very easy to manage employees, adjust hourly rate, overtime, timecards and off-cycle payments.

Cons

Wish there was a way to bulk add employee timecards. For example, if an employee works 5 days a week from home (I know of Homebase, but from a manual perspective) and the same hours every day. I currently have to submit 5 timecards, instead of one batch one.

Employees ask about seeing a breakdown of their hours inside of a pay period.

Pros

Consolidating sales in a user friendly way. Easy to use when system is actually working. Compatible with iPad.

Cons

Constant updates without any warning, leaving us having to switch over to PayPal here register app to process sales while square is down. Also constant connectivity issues with the chip reader causing a bit of embarrassment when customers watch us have to insert and swipe their cards several times thinking we are double charging them.

Pros

Ease of use for sure, navigation, and customer support

Cons

Our team will have the same time cards...would like a feature that duplicates the time and can change the employee would be helpful

Pros

The payroll services makes things easy and removes the headache and compliance worries.

Cons

Haven't found any issues that are troublesome. It's working great for us.

Pros

The fact that the taxes are filed is a huge relief for an employer, square stays on top of tax rate changes and notifies you if there are any tax rate changes being made for state or federal taxes.

Cons

I really don't have any cons, it's easy to use and meets my business payroll needs.

Pros

We came over for years of using Quicken Online Payroll. Square is a little more expensive, but handles more with is less work for us. Also the integration with Homebase is a plus. Now that we can actually talk to someone in Square Payroll Support is a BIG plus. We had a ongoing issue for a while and Lauren came to the rescue! We started using in Jan '17 to try for a year, and are going to stay. Square has been good about implementing new features.
Speaking of features, it would be nice to run a payroll for the iPhone dashboard app. We where able to do this with Quicken. Not a deal breaker but definitely a plus.

Cons

The only real issue is adding a New employee. One would think you would start by adding the new employee from within payroll (which I did for some time) When I signed up I didn't remember seeing any instructions on such. After much trial and error, and many support calls I think we have the correct steps down.