SurePayroll

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The Quick Take

Founded in 2000, SurePayroll is only slightly younger than PayCycle, and the two companies’ products run neck and neck in features and functionality. Reflecting the parity between the services, SurePayroll won the PC Magazine Editor’s Choice award in 2007, while PayCycle won in 2006 and 2008. Both companies claim to have been the first to offer a purely online payroll service. Regardless of who came to market first, the two products are comparable in many respects, though each has areas of relative strength. One place where SurePayroll stands out is in its complete national support for electronic filing of state taxes: SurePayroll is the only vendor to offer state tax e-filing in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. However, SurePayroll is the most expensive option of the services reviewed by BizSnap.

Key Features

• Supports e-filing of state taxes in all 50 states plus D.C.
• SureChoice feature allows your accountant online access to your payroll reports.
• Free access to SureAdvisor suite of human resources tools such as HR-related business forms (for hiring, firing, appraisals, etc.), labor-law posters customized to your location and employee size, and guides to HR best practices.
• Export payroll data to QuickBooks and MYOB ($2.99 fee per export).
• Self-service web site allows employees to securely check their pay stubs, payroll history, and W-2 forms online.
• Mobile feature allows paying via an iPhone or iPod Touch.
• Payroll service is integrated with optional 401(k), health insurance, and workers’ comp services.

SurePayroll – Payroll Packages

Details

As noted above, SurePayroll and PayCycle offer the richest feature sets amongst the online payroll services reviewed by BizSnap. Neither service strictly dominates the other; rather, each has areas of relative strength, and hence depending on your priorities, either one might better suit your particular needs. SurePayroll shines in its nationwide support of state tax e-filing, its mobile payment features, and its extras outside of core payroll processing such as human-resources tools.

Setup is reasonably clear, essentially a series of fill-in-the-blank forms, but could be made simpler with the addition of a “wizard” or interview style setup, such as offered by PayCycle and Intuit Online Payroll. As with the other online payroll services reviewed by BizSnap, running payroll is very quick and easy once everything has been set up properly. The SurePayroll web site’s overall look and feel is utilitarian and very clear, though not as pretty as the competition’s. Ample online help is available throughout the web site, mainly in the form of FAQ (frequently asked questions).

SurePayroll not only charges a higher base monthly fee than PayCycle or [Intuit], but also levies addition fees for services included by the competition. Specifically, SurePayroll charges $1.85 per employee payment (whether that payment occurs via check, or direct deposit). So for example, if you had 5 employees paid twice per month, those ten total monthly payments would cost you $18.50 per month on top of the $44.95 base fee. Furthermore, to generate W-2 and 1099 forms at the end of the year, you must pay a $40 setup fee plus $4.25 per W-2/1099 form produced. Finally, if you want to export payroll data to QuickBooks or MYOB (or report data to Excel), each export will set you back $2.99. Neither PayCycle nor Intuit charge for similar functionality. Having said all this, some perspective is in order: in the grand scheme of things, when a business owner considers all the costs of running a business, and the value provided by a good payroll service, SurePayroll’s cost is quite reasonable (and still quite a bit less expensive than traditional payroll processors). Keep in mind that cost is only one consideration, and that thousands of companies nationwide have chosen SurePayroll as the option best suiting their needs.

Other Services

• Sure401k: 401(k)
• SureAdvisor: HR compliance
• Health Insurance
• Workers’ Compensation