8.2Expert Score

SurePayroll Payroll Service Review 2023

SurePayroll is specifically created to help small business owners and those who support household workers. This payroll processing service is owned by the second largest payroll processing company, Paychex, Inc. SurePayroll has processed over 20 million payroll runs and calculates payments for over 6,000 different taxes.

Price

8.7

Customer Service

9

Payroll Standard Features

9.5

Payroll Add on Features

7

Reporting

7

Time in Business

8.7

Other Expert Ranking

8.5

PROS

• Need Pros

CONS

• Need Cons

Patriot Payroll Services: Top Online Payroll for Small Organizations

Small companies may experience “big company” issues when employees are added. Federal, state, and local tax laws vary greatly and may be difficult to keep up on. Online payroll services such as Patriot Payroll help small operations process payroll accurately and compliantly.

If you are spending hours per pay period processing payroll, it may be time to employ a top payroll service to help you process payroll, pay taxes and track employee hours. As your company grows, you can add accounting and HR services to help you manage employees.

Small company owners often “wear many hats,” and payroll is just one more. Patriot payroll services help you automate your payroll so you can free up your time to run and grow your business.

What is a Payroll Service?

Payroll services help businesses process payroll, pay employees, track time and schedule, calculate and file payroll taxes, and manage deductions and benefits. To help ensure payroll accuracy, they calculate all federal, state, and local taxes and manage deductions such as garnishments, 401(k), and healthcare deductions.

Most payroll services provide check and direct deposit payroll payments by charging a monthly fee per employee. Or they may charge per employee per payroll run. Additional services such as accounting or human resources tools usually cost an additional monthly fee.

Basic payroll services usually include,

• Payroll processing
• Benefit and withholding support
• Check or direct deposit payroll payments
• Compliance support
• Employee self-service tools, including mobile
• Employee tax configuring and reporting
• Expense management
• Garnishment processing
• Reporting features
• Tax filing support
• Time tracking

What businesses are best served by Patriot Payroll?

Patriot payroll supports small companies of up to 100 employees. Its suitable for all types of businesses that employ W-2 and 1099 workers.  It supports multiple locations if located within the US. The only kind of work not supported is domestic employees.

What services does Patriot Payroll offer?

Patriot software offers a basic and full-service plan. The basic plan offers free setup, direct deposits, unlimited payroll runs, mobile tools, and tax support. Additional integrated software is available as low-cost add-ons.

Patriot basic payroll features: $10 per month plus $4 employee

• Payroll setup
• Direct deposit
• Support included
• Employee portal
• Workers’ compensation integration
• Unlimited payroll
• Supports multiple locations
• Multiple pay rates and deductions
• Mobile features
• Accounting software integrations
• PTO support
• W-2 and 1099 support, 1099 filing
• Time and attendance software integrations
• HR integrations

Full-service payroll: $30 per month plus $4 per employee

Basic payroll plus:

• Federal, state, and local payroll tax filing and deposits
• Year-end tax filing
• Tax filing accuracy guarantee

HR software costs a $6 base rate plus $2 per employee per month. HR and time and attendance is an additional $12 base rate plus $4 per employee per month.

Patriot Payroll Features and Benefits

Patriot Payroll software provides most of the basic payroll processing features with its basic plan. Implementation is low-priced as it does not charge for setup or support. The introductory plan includes everything you need to start processing payroll, including direct deposit payments and payroll tax calculations.

The payroll processing plans are designed for companies of less than 100 employees operating within the US.

Payroll processing

Patriot provides low-cost payroll processing for small businesses with no setup fees. You don’t even have to sign a long-term contract with Patriot, so you can try for a few months without having to make a year or longer commitment. Even the introductory plan includes:

• Direct deposit
• An employee portal
• Unlimited payrolls
• Multiple pay rates and location support
• Payments for contract workers

While Patriot manages deductions, it does not make the payment for you. For small companies, this is not that much of a hassle. Big operations may benefit from paying more for a solution that manages this automatically. You are not required to use its accounting software. But you can add Patriot’s integrated accounting software for a low monthly rate.

Tax calculations and filing

One of the primary reasons small businesses seek a payroll solution is for tax help. Patriot calculates and files local, state, and federal employment taxes. The “full-service payroll” plan files W-2, W-3, and 1099 forms. A guarantee for accurate calculations and deposits is provided.

If you are a DIY-er, the basic payroll service will calculate taxes for you, but you need to file and make payments yourself. The basic service starts at only $10 per month, making it a great solution for small or even micro-businesses.

Employee and contract worker support

Nowadays, your business may employ in-house W-2 workers, as well as 1099 contract talent. Patriot supports both types. It can make direct deposits regardless of the worker’s employment status, or it can help you send out paper checks if preferred. It does not, however, process taxes or payroll payments for domestic workers. If you need to pay domestic workers, see SurePayroll.

Multiple pay rate support

If you need to pay variable rates per worker, Patriot supports this option. Maybe you have workers that perform more than one job code, or you need to track billable hours for clients. Either way, Patriot can process payroll using multiple pay rates per person.

Reporting options

Patriot provides businesses insight via payroll reports. Patriot Software offers the following reports: payroll tax filing, tax deposits, payroll register, paycheck history, payroll details, check deposit and payment details, time off, W-2 summary, deductions, attributions, contributions, and tax liability. Reports can be downloaded or shared as PDF or CSV files. Some of these reports are not included in the basic plan and may require an upgrade to the full-service

HR software add-on

You can easily add Patriot’s integrated human resource software to the payroll solution. If you employ only a handful of people, you may not need it. But as your company grows, you may benefit from added the HR module. This software tracks employee information and HR documents. And it provides HR reports such as employee census, demographics, service length, and new hire reports.

Time and attendance tracking add-on

To help you create accurate payroll for hourly workers and to help you create accurate job cost reports, Patriot offers a time and attendance add-on. Using this solution, employees can clock in and out using an online employee portal. Since the time clock is online, employees can log in from any location. It also helps you comply with overtime rules and regulations. Attendance reports are available to help you track attendance data.

Patriot Payroll Pros and Cons

When researching a new payroll solution for your business, it is important to compare pros and cons. While each may not apply to your specific situation, reviewing them helps you quickly see the most standout features and possible negative features.

What are some of Patriot Payroll greatest strengths?

Patriot Software provides powerful and affordable payroll, HR, accounting, and time tracking software to small businesses. A few features stand out when compared to other online payroll solutions.

Unlimited payroll runs

Straight off the top, one of the most valuable features is unlimited payroll runs. So, if you run payroll monthly, every two weeks, bi-monthly, or weekly, it costs the same. This also means things like bonus checks or PTO payouts do not cost extra either. Many services charge per employee or contractor worker per payroll run.

Affordable rates

The introductory payroll service starts at just $10 per month. This basic plan includes free setup and customer support, making it a suitable solution for growing companies who need help managing payroll taxes and payroll payments. Even direct deposits and checks are included with the basic plan.

Integrated add-ons

Patriot provides affordable proprietary integrated software. You can add to the payroll solution, human resource, time and attendance, and accounting software. This software fully integrates. In many cases, third-party software only partially integrates. Entirely integrated solutions are less problematic than trying to create integrations on your own.

What makes Patriot Payroll unique?

What makes Patriot Payroll unique compared to many payroll services is that this service is designed specifically for small businesses of less than 100 employees. It is also unique in that fully integrated add-ons are available.

What makes Patriot Payroll a top payroll service provider?

Patriot software has been creating software for small operations for over 30 years. However, even though three decades have passed, the team remembers their startup days and keeps that in mind when evolving their payroll service. This helps them provide solutions that specifically address the pain points experienced by small and growing operations.

What integrations does Patriot Payroll offer?

For the most part, Patriot payroll is designed to work with other Patriot software such as its human resources, accounting, and time and attendance solutions.

Human resources software:

• Proprietary HR software starting at $6 per month

Accounting software:

• Proprietary accounting software starting at $15 per month
• QuickBooks online

Time tracking and scheduling:

• Proprietary timekeeping software starting at $6 per month
• Tsheets

Currently, they are working on improving QuickBooks Online integrations

Does Patriot Payroll offer data migration from other providers?

Patriot payroll provides minimal automated migrations tools. Setup is free. But for the most part, you will need to enter data manually. It is intended for small businesses, which usually means less data to import, but it may take you or your accountant a bit of time to set up the payroll software.

What is Patriot Payroll’s security and reliability?

This payroll service provides the tools required to keep your data secure and publishes its privacy policy. It agrees to support federal privacy, antifraud, and security law requirements. It encrypts information on servers, and data in transit is secured using secure socket layer encryption (SSL) technology. This is the same encryption technology that bank and credit card companies use.

User profiles are protecting using user IDs and passwords. It also supports multi-factor authentications utilizing mobile phones or email.

Since data is stored in the cloud, information is not stored on employee’s local devices. This means that employees cannot share or access other employee’s information without permission and that their data is also not locally accessible.

To help ensure employee maintain security standards, employees are:

• Bonded
• Referenced checked
• Background checked
• Drug screened
• Skill and aptitude tested

In terms of customer data, they do not share:

• Employee information
• Proprietary customer information

Patriot Payroll is a privately held limited liability company located in Canton, Ohio. It has been offering payroll services for over 30 years. It employs over 300 people within the US.

Patriot Software Company does not publish its current financials. However, in 2018 it opened an investment round of the sale of up to twenty million in common stock to support growth and expansion. At that time, it reports a 183 percent 2-year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR).

In July 2021, Patriot Payroll was named as one of the Top 5 Best Accounting Software for SMB by Gartner’s GetApp. They were also featured in Forbes in July of 2021 for brand and culture.

Resources about Patriot Payroll

Patriot provides easily accessible information for new customers, customers, accountants, investors, and vendors.

• Patriot Software Privacy Policy
• Learn more about investor relations
• Latest Patriot payroll software press releases
• Resources for accountants, CPAs, and bookkeepers
• The Payroll Blog
• Patriot software customer reviews
• Preferred vendor information
• Payroll FAQs

 For more information about Patriot Payroll

If you’d like to learn more about Patriot Software’s payroll services, you can contact support during extended business hours (8 am-8 pm EST, MF) by calling 877-968-7147. Representatives are also available for chat during business hours. You can email for more information at info@patriotsoftware.com.

You can even contact them by post at 4883 Dressler Road, NW, Suite 301, Canton, Ohio 44718.

Unlike many payroll services, Patriot Payroll offers a 30-day free trial and a self-guided demo. The demo does not require a download and comes with telephone, email, and chat support.