QuickBooks Payroll Reviews

Pros

what i liked most about Quickbooks is that i can easily track and organize transactions, manage and organize expenses from anywhere, quickly reconcile your accounts and gain control of your cash flow.

Cons

Theres nothing i disliked about the software.

Pros

I like the ease of the payroll service. We have a small number of employees, yet prior to QuickBooks, sometimes quarterly payroll taxes were mis-calculated. With QuickBooks Assisted Payroll, we do not ever have to worry about sending in payments, as they are done for us automatically. W-2 are no longer a headache either, they are don't quickly and generated seamlessly.

Cons

When we do have issues, customer service is not to par. They stopped service many of their payroll services and when you do, you do get switched around a lot and many seem to not know the basics of payroll. - I wouldn't recommend their services if you need step by step help on processing your company payroll.

Pros

Quick books has been a great tool for our small business. We have six employees that are all full-time so we are provided them easy direct deposit paychecks, and payroll helps me keep track of everything for tax season. It has it all in one place which makes it very user friendly.

Cons

The price for quickbooks is higher than other software and I wish they had deals or promos for reoccurring users.

Alternatives Considered

HoneyBook

Pros

It integrated the accounting features and the payroll so no need to carry over numbers from one platform to another.

Cons

We incurred many thousands in penalties due to incompetence of the Quickbooks Payroll system that caused us to lose our payroll service after spending dearly on it for many years, and a general, "shut up and just pay us our money" attitude from Quickbooks with zero interest in solving any problems for a small business. Maybe they treat the big companies better, I have no clue.

Pros

A comprehensive online payroll service likely to meet the needs of most small businesses with good integration to other products and services sold by QuickBooks. Easy setup, good customer service. I liked being able to schedule so that payroll taxes were deducted from my corporate account close to the date the remittance was due to the taxing authority. Some payroll services deduct taxes from the bank account just after payroll is run, then hold it (presumably making interest on those funds) until the taxes are actually due. QuickBooks doesn't appear to do that.

Cons

A few too many steps are required to run a payroll with a few informational messages being displayed that I usually disregard (of the "are you sure you want to do that?" kind). Also, QuickBooks was never able to successfully report and remit certain of Washington's state taxes. QuickBooks' calculation of these taxes never quite matched the calculation made by the state taxing authority and correcting QuickBooks' record of what I actually paid was a bit complicated. Also, the price for this service is not competitive, compared to other services, for very small businesses.

Pros

I like that QB Payroll reminds me when deadlines are approaching, has many pre-set forms included, processes payroll accurately and timely, and provides multiple formats for reporting.

Cons

QB Payroll does not allow an easy way to print prior year form W2. It only saves one year form W2 at a time. Sometimes I would like to print a prior year quickly and cannot.

Pros

I love the navigation and user friendly set up of the website. The website is straight forward and easy to understand. I also like there is customer support via chat.

Cons

Sometimes there is a bit of a lag on the website when updating the bank used for payroll processing.

Pros

-Easy to install and use
- Helps to keep all your payroll records
- Easy to calculate CPP, EI and all other deductions

Cons

- Paid version only. But it's worth of it.

Pros

I like how straightforward and easy this software is to use. It has everything ready for you to just fill in the information for each employee and the software does the rest. It has made my life so much easier and has prevented any major frustrations.

Cons

I don't like how you cannot buy the software anymore and download. It is now a monthly service that has to be paid as you go along. The price has also gone up significantly.

Pros

I like that it is easy and user friendly. It will email my employees the forms to complete for taxes and direct deposit. It then deposits payroll into their accounts and pays my taxes from my account. So easy!

Cons

It was a little more expensive than square but I chose to purchase quickbooks because it was easier to link to my bank account and quickbooks online for my business.

Pros

The payroll service is really easy overall. All the tasks that I use are quite simple to navigate around, including adding new employees, paying employees, and sending out payroll liability payments. These are what I do most often and they've been really simplified by Quickbooks.

Other functions that I use are payroll deductions (401k, etc), tracking sick/vacation time, and managing direct deposit.

Another feature I like (part of QB Online, not sure about Desktop), is that employees are emailed a link to join their payroll management website, where they can access payroll stubs, W2's etc. It has made managing a lot of the HR parts of hiring employees much more streamlined.

Cons

Not really a con, but I don't have any experience with any of the direct competitors, e.g. Freshbooks, Sage, Xero, etc., so I can't say if Quickbooks does anything better or worse than those others.

But what I can say is that I did switch from Quickbooks Desktop to Quickbooks Online, which is a much better experience overall (although more expensive).

Pros

Ease of implementation and constant guidance available from customer service to resolve any issue. Also the ability to access and run payroll from any device that can reach the internet provides so much productivity.

Cons

The Elite payroll service seems so restrictive. I cannot access many of the settings or execute many of the functions that I could through the Core payroll service. To change these settings I need to go through customer service, which was very confusing and frustrating during the implementation of the payroll service.

Pros

My favorite thing about Quickbooks payroll also happens to be the most important thing about it...it is accurate! The payroll tax rates and rules are always updated to maintain accuracy in a changing landscape. When processing payroll, everything is automatically calculated and tracked for accuracy - including annual salary, vacation and/or sick pay, holiday pay, withholding tax, and unemployment tax. I don't have to worry about manually calculating things, knowing when there are tax changes, or potentially making mistakes.

Cons

I most dislike how expensive Quickbooks Payroll is. I only use the Enhanced Payroll subscription that integrates with existing Quickbooks desktop software or Quickbooks online subscription. That means I do all of actual work in processing payroll and payroll taxes, rather than using a more full-service option. I think the (ever increasing) several hundred dollars per year it costs to have the subscription is unreasonable. (In addition there's a separate fee for each direct deposit check.) However, the truth is, I rely so much on the functions of Quickbooks payroll that I continue utilizing it despite the cost complaints. I haven't come across anything better so I feel I have no choice.

Pros

This software includes all the features I was looking for in one place and for a great price. My main concern as a business owner was ease of usage, accessibility and automation. This software met all these requirements and then some. The interface is very easy to navigate and user friendly and I can access everything whether I'm at home, office or on the go with their array of applications. Once everything is set up properly, there's no need to worry about it which is a huge time saver for me. I'm very busy as it is meeting clients, drafting proposals and doing the accounting, so anything I can automate reliably is of great help.

Cons

The actual set up of the payroll was a lengthy process and required to have a lot of information on hand but I wouldn't really consider this too much of a con since I had one of their amazing specialists helping me with every single step of the process. She did almost of all the work for me if I'm being honest, I just inputted data as instructed. She was very thorough and thought of concerns I didn't even think about. Just make sure you have ample time to get through the whole set up calmly.

Pros

pretty easy to use
set up easily
integrated in QuickBooks Online

Cons

Biggest issues are:
-Customer service transfers you around many times because no one owns the issues with payroll with contractors.
- Time drain - Normal issues have either taken multiple calls to resolve, or have taken hours on the phone because if an agent hangs up, they cannot continue to work on your issue - they have to take the next call - so they waste your time waiting while someone tries to read the full manual to figure it out, when in fact, it is a recent programming changes issue.
- Integration with other Apps - You cannot integrate a time card app because only hours are uploaded from app to QuickBooks and we cannot map $/hr pay for contractors, only employees.
Who focuses on contractor payments?
- RECENT "improvements" and rate increase double the cost of the tool for my company.

Pros

Quickbooks online has made it incredibly easy for me to run and maintain my business from an administrative standpoint. I am able to manage my business from an iPad, which gives me the freedom that I need to move around. It is easy to use with an incredibly intuitive user interface. I can track payments, invoices, project management, etc. I will continue using this software.

Cons

I do not particularly like the Quickbooks mobile application. I've found that it lacks features or is harder to navigate than the online platform. I'm able to pull up the online platform from my iPad, which is the direction I tend to go when using Quickbooks from a mobile device. I wish the mobile application more closely resembled the online web platform.

Pros

This software is very easy to use. Has all of the options we need for tracking deductions, types of pay, vacation accruals, 401K, flexplan deductions, etc. Online check stubs for the employees. They can just log on and get a copy of their paycheck. They automatically receive an email when the check is ready to review. Easy data entry. Quickbooks takes care of all of the Federal and state filing forms and payments. If you use Quickbooks for your business you can set it up to automatically transfer the payroll to your general ledger. Saves time and prevents errors.

Cons

If you don't start out using this software with your quickbooks when you first implement - you are not able to keep your payroll history. If you need to convert from one software to another - I would recommend doing it at the time of your physical year.

Pros

The software is extremely user friendly. I love the simplicity of it. And When I have an issue chatting online instantly is amazing. Today I had an issue with our address since we moved our office and [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] was amazing. He was genuine in asking how my day was and very understanding and friendly. He took care of my issue and made sure it would not come up again.

Cons

In the 5 years that we have been with quickbooks there is really nothing bad I can say about the software. It has been great for our business.

Pros

The ability to run payroll efficiently, early and make edits before payday if need be. Also printing previous pay checks and payroll summary is very helpful

Cons

some of the reports are more complicated than they need to be and the credit card sync is not fluid. it creates too many duplicates when there is a business credit account with multiple cards on the same credit account.

Pros

We use the Intuit Full Service payroll. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] was very helpful the other day spending many ous on the phone with me in efforts to correct our issue.

Cons

There are two CONS I want to mention. Both of them do not have to do with the service [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] provided.
1 - it is very difficult to get a hold of a representative on the phone. We have desktop version of Quickbooks. The Intuit Full Service payroll advertises we should use a feature embedded in Quickbooks online to call speak to a representative. We do not have that option as we do not use the online version of the software. This needs to be attended to. No one wants to be on hold for 45 minutes to be able to talk to a representative.
2 - the IIF file import form Intuit Full Service payroll to desktop Quickbooks has a flaw. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] and I spent hours the other day talking to Quickbooks desktop people and although they found a fix, it was just one-time fix. Please, refer to the service ticket [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] and I were working on for details. This also requires immediate attention.

Pros

Online customer service features/chat option and being able to integrate with QuickBooks software.

Cons

Some of the updates can be frustrating as well as the importing features (lost files, duplicate files, etc).

Alternatives Considered

MIP Fund Accounting

Reasons for Choosing QuickBooks Payroll

Recommendation

Switched From

MIP Fund Accounting

Pros

We use Tsheets as well to integrate with QB payroll and i find the process to be very easy. Processing payroll as well as the cut off times are easy and excellent for our business.

Cons

The reporting on payroll is not sufficient, for instance, being able to run customized reports has not been easy. It would also be great to be able to have a secondary payroll user that doesn't have access to all the accounting as well.

Alternatives Considered

ADP Workforce Now

Reasons for Switching to QuickBooks Payroll

It was simpler to switch to given we mainly use quickbooks for our accounting purposes.

Pros

Cost is much less expensive than any payroll services company. Direct deposit payments, employee portals, Form W-2 and Form 1099-MISC filing, quarterly tax filing, electronic tax payments, direct deposit payments for independent contractors, powerful and customizable financial reporting, easy collection of Form W-9 information, reliable mobile app for process payroll from anywhere, support for multiple pay rates, benefits and withholding support, and more.

Cons

QuickBooks Payroll is available for both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online accounts. With QuickBooks Online, you are dependent on the availability of an Internet connection at the time you wish to process payroll.

Pros

I've had many people tell me that QuickBooks Payroll isn't a "true" or "real" payroll system, but I have yet to experience any major problems.

Our use case is fairly simple / straight forward, and we have 10's of employees, not 100's. In this context it works very well, handles all the tax reporting almost automatically (there is a bit of manual work, but it's trivial) and basically allows us to manage this fairly simply as a small company with not tons of resources.

It handles the direct deposit for our employees nicely as well.

Cons

This is more of an issue with any Quickbooks product, not just Payroll. The UI is not always super clear, and sometimes you have to go to weird places (from a navigation perspective) to find a particular function. Getting our annual forms for employees and the government is always a pain, because it's been a year since it was done last and it takes some time to find where you can do it in the software.

The support is also hit and miss. Sometimes the agent you get is very helpful and solves the problem relatively quickly, and sometimes the agent you get can't even really understand the problem no matter how often you explain it.

Finally my last gripe is that I have to manage the dates to process payroll manually. i.e. Quickbooks knows when payroll has to be run, but doesn't send me any type of notification, so I have to manually track this. It occasionally results in running it too close to a holiday, resulting in staff getting paid a day late, I'd really appreciate it if I got a notice from Quickbooks on the last day to process on time, since it's only one of the many things I have to keep track of.

Pros

it keep track of your income and expenses by simply attaching your bank account.
almost does your tax return. lol
save a lot of time doing your data entry thus cost effective, no need for a special person to enter all your receipts etc
keep correct info on all money related transaction and balance your check book , can keep your spending and saving on check. I can make adjustments by just looking at my balance sheet. almost cool for idiots to use. :)
perfect

Cons

if i made a mistake and had to go hunting for the problem, but i can just call up support and let them know ( how stupid i was ) and they just fix it. so not really a con.
for invoicing however , can take a little polishing up especially if i am doing an estimate and need to send it out, i must be extra cautious.