quickbooks for payroll

[grandmabee]

who uses quickbooks for payroll? I just got my renewal for this year and it went up to 429.00 a year to do payroll.

I need to find a different payroll software. anyone use something else besides quickbooks and like it?

[Lee B]

I do mainly monthly writeup & payroll, but the program I use is a lot more expensive than quickbooks.

I've spent lot of time evaluating other software options the last six months.

Advanced Microsytems (1099-etc.com ) is very popular and is somewhat less expensive than quickbooks.

By far the best value for your money is Medlin Payroll (medlin.com). From time to time Medlin posts

here usually about software and programming issues.

[ILLMAS]

who uses quickbooks for payroll? I just got my renewal for this year and it went up to 429.00 a year to do payroll.

I need to find a different payroll software. anyone use something else besides quickbooks and like it?

It seems the fee you are paying is for the the enhanced payroll version, you can process up to 50 company payrolls with no limit of employees. You really don't need this if you don't do payrolls for other, they have standard version too. I had recommend Medlin to one of my client before, the program was great for the price, the only complaint the client had was they had to do all state forms by hand because the program only supported the state of California, now this was a couple of years ago, I don't if they have changed that now. Might be worth finding out.

MAS

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

State forms are a tough nut to crack. CA forms are stable from year to year. We also prepare NYS45, which is the opposite of stable. Many states have a fill in the figures online setup.

We could buy a state form add on to incorporate, but our price would have to go up a large amount. Most of the vendors want a large license fee, and some sort of per customer fee. I also LOATHE having to depend on some other vendor for what would become something I would have to support. Forms don't work, call me, then I would have to call someone else and hope they fix the problem quickly.

So, as of this writing, we have not added other state forms. I thought about creating a separate state add on, priced by the number of forms and the frequency of changes, but I suspect most of our customers would rather prepare those forms manually versus paying more than the program price for state specific forms. I literally could have ended up with a program (state forms) that only a couple of people used.

[mcb39]

So, as of this writing, we have not added other state forms. I thought about creating a separate state add on, priced by the number of forms and the frequency of changes, but I suspect most of our customers would rather prepare those forms manually versus paying more than the program price for state specific forms. I literally could have ended up with a program (state forms) that only a couple of people used.

You got that right. The State withholding, etc prints out nicely on your reports. It's not that big of a deal to do the state reports by hand or with the ATX program. For my money, Quickbooks is and always has been "overkill".

In my case, WI now pretty much demands that all state filing is done online with their clever little setup called "My Tax Account". I don't know exactly how many businesses I have set up under my account, but it covers everything from state withholding to sales tax; as well as license fees. Really pretty nifty once you get used to using it.

[grandmabee]

It seems the fee you are paying is for the the enhanced payroll version, you can process up to 50 company payrolls with no limit of employees. You really don't need this if you don't do payrolls for other, they have standard version too. I had recommend Medlin to one of my client before, the program was great for the price, the only complaint the client had was they had to do all state forms by hand because the program only supported the state of California, now this was a couple of years ago, I don't if they have changed that now. Might be worth finding out.

MAS

I do alot of payroll for my monthly clients I like quickbooks for the G/L work but the extra cost for the annual fee for payroll is way out of line. I need one that will do state reports so I guess I am stuck with them

[BulldogTom]

I can still do simple payroll (5-10 employees) on a spreadsheet. For how much longer is the question.

Tom

Hollister, CA

[Catherine]

Mass. also requires all state reporting be done online and they only accept transmitted files for more than (I forget the number) employees - and none of my clients exceed that number.

I've recommended Medlin, have used it myself, and really like it. One of the great features is the 941 report that gives you (or your client) the payroll tax payments subtotaled by w/h, ss, med taxes. QuickBooks payroll gives you the employee and employer portions and you get to add it up in your head to populate the EFTPS fields.

That said, I would _never_ recommend Medlin to newbies or those who I am sure would make a muck of (i.e., "not get around to" or "adjust" the 941s).

However, one client who uses QB PR in-house didn't know how to note they paid through EFTPS (not QB e-payment service) and called QB (not me) for info on how to clear the PR liabilities. Intuit told them to "delete" the liabilities and enter journal entries every month!!! What a bunch of nincompoops! After ruining the better part of a _year's_ records, I told them to pay by "check to be printed" then later on put in the transaction number as the check number, using as the check date the one of the EFTPS transaction. They were much happier and I think it taught them to call ME first.

[Guest Taxed]

As Catherine pointed out Medlin Payroll is good for small payroll processors. the price is right (55 bucks I think), no fancy stuff and takes care of your usual small employer setup (OT, Retirement, Garnishment) and the usual witholdings. The reports are basic but if you are good on Word you can jazz it up for your client.

They also have the option to cut payroll checks or do ACH credit to the employee's account.

MA also allows the employer or their agent (you if you do the payroll) to upload state wage data each month. That is great too if you have only a few employees in a employer's shop.

[Lion EA]

But, if you use QB for bookkeeping, call your rep to see if there's a cheaper version of payroll that does what you need it to do and feeds directly into and from QB. As pricey as it is, I'm still with QB, at least for another year.