QuickBooks Payroll Reviews

“Clear payroll breakdowns”

Pros

I must say it does a really nice job of breaking payroll down clearly, showing who was paid, what they were paid for and any other related expenses.

Cons

At this point I don't feel there's anything that needs to be improved.

“well-organized and accessible”

Pros

Everything felt very well organized and it was simple to access what I needed without any hassle.

Cons

The biggest downside was the cost which ended up being more than I wanted to pay. I realized I could handle payroll myself using my own system and just keep QuickBooks for my business accounting. Since I can already add contractors in QuickBooks Online without paying for the payroll service, the extra expense didn't feel worth it.

“fantastic automation”

Pros

Getting next-day direct deposit set up was very easy. The automatic filing for tax forms and tax payments is an excellent feature and saves a lot of time.

Cons

At the moment, they're blocking PO box addresses for employees which is a problem for me in Alaska since some areas don't have regular mail service.

“automated payroll that delivers”

Pros

QuickBooks Payroll is easy to work with, handles tax payments automatically and includes a lot of helpful automation throughout the process.

Cons

One part that took some trial and error was figuring out the difference between the end of the pay period and the actual pay date especially when weekends or holidays were involved. It took me about four payroll cycles of adjusting dates before I got it set correctly so my employees would be paid in time for rent.

“Payment tracking made simple”

Pros

Keeping track of every payment-related part of my business has become much more manageable with QuickBooks Payroll.

Cons

Since the most recent update, there are a few things I haven't been able to do in the system anymore.

“detailed options that just click”

Pros

Right away, the range of options stood out because they were detailed without feeling confusing. Everything was laid out clearly so it was simple to understand what each option was for and work through the payroll process without getting lost.

Cons

One thing that could be better is the formatting choices. It felt like there were too many formats instead of fewer, more simplified ones and when I tried to print something too small, it didn't really guide me or point me in the right direction.

“Feels effortless”

Pros

Even without a background in HR or payroll, this software has been very easy to use. The training videos are helpful and whenever I reach out to support, it makes the whole platform even more appealing. Overall I have been able to find my way around it without trouble and picking it up was pretty quick.

Cons

At this point I honestly don't have any negatives to mention and haven't run into any poor service with QuickBooks yet.

“Direct deposit failures and poor support”

Pros

It's helpful that QuickBooks Payroll ties directly into QuickBooks especially since our CPA requires us to use QuickBooks for accounting.

Cons

Direct deposit stopped working out of nowhere three separate times which meant I couldn't run payroll any way except by paper check. Every time, I had to call Intuit and spend more than an hour with a tech support person who seemed completely lost and couldn't even use their own tools like Salesforce/Force.com to upload my ID for an account verification team that wasn't even reachable. On top of that this same process kept happening again every six months. One time, I was even forced to fly home from vacation just to manually run checks. I also ended up paying penalties because payroll taxes were not filed on time. I escalated the issue several times and still never got a real answer. My guess is that it may have been tied to a name change between when I originally purchased the software five years ago and when I got married. In the end, I switched to Rippling which offers far more and has excellent support.

“affordable payroll that fits perfectly”

Pros

QuickBooks Payroll has been a really great choice for us. It's affordable, works well with our bookkeeping software and is very user-friendly overall.

Cons

Getting help from customer service can be a little frustrating at times.

“costly payroll failures”

Pros

It combined our accounting and payroll in one place so we didn't have to manually transfer figures between separate systems.

Cons

That convenience was completely overshadowed by the damage it caused. We ended up paying many thousands in penalties because of failures and incompetence within QuickBooks Payroll and after investing heavily in the service for years, we still lost our payroll service. On top of that the attitude from QuickBooks felt like, be quiet and just keep paying, with absolutely no real interest in fixing issues for a small business. Maybe larger companies get treated differently but I honestly wouldn't know.

“Payroll setup made painless”

Pros

With it getting payroll done is very easy. Everything is already laid out so all you really need to do is enter each employee's information and it takes care of the rest. It has made things much easier to manage and has saved me from a lot of major frustration.

Cons

One thing I don't care for is that you cannot just purchase and download the software anymore. Now it's a monthly subscription that you have to keep paying for as you go and the cost has increased quite a bit as well.

“clean tax workflow”

Pros

Getting started with QuickBooks was fairly recent for me and one thing I have really appreciated is how automated the platform feels. I am able to schedule payments and even set up future payments for clients and the people I work with which saves time and keeps things organized. It's been efficient and accurate and downloading invoices is quick and convenient. The layout is clean and overall it's very user-friendly when it comes to managing taxes.

Cons

There was a bit of a learning curve at the beginning even though the platform itself wasn't difficult to use. I do think having more tutorials upfront would have made the onboarding process better. That said customer service was very helpful when I needed support.

“smooth accounting sync”

Pros

The system is quite easy to use and it works well with my accounting software which makes managing payroll much more convenient.

Cons

Getting support is very frustrating whenever something stops working properly or I need an answer to a question. The help can be hard to understand since support is not handled by Americans which makes communication difficult at times.

“Reliable reminders and reporting”

Pros

QB Payroll does a really good job of keeping upcoming deadlines on my radar and I appreciate that it comes with a lot of pre-filled forms already built in. Payroll gets processed accurately and on time and having several reporting format options makes it much more useful.

Cons

One thing that could be better is printing prior-year W-2 forms. It only keeps one year of W-2s available at a time so when I need to pull and print an older one quickly, that's not really possible.

“user-friendly payroll navigation”

Pros

Right away, the navigation and overall layout felt very user-friendly. The website is also nice, simple to follow and doesn't take much effort to understand. It's also really helpful that customer support is available through chat whenever needed.

Cons

At times, the website can be a little slow especially when updating the bank account used for payroll processing.

“Accountant access is a plus”

Pros

Because it was already included with our QuickBooks Online account, I decided to try handling payroll myself to cut costs. It was simple to get to within QuickBooks and the initial setup process was fairly manageable. One thing QuickBooks does well is letting your accountant access and import payroll which is a much better option than trying to manage everything on your own.

Cons

It didn't take long before I started hitting obstacles while setting up payroll in QuickBooks and getting support was almost impossible. The dashboard wasn't very useful and even after pushing through the more complicated setup steps, I was still dealing with tax withholding errors. At that point, I decided it made more sense to bring in a professional payroll service.

“all-in-one payroll convenience”

Pros

Running payroll for our small business has been much more manageable with QuickBooks. We have six full-time employees and it lets us pay everyone through direct deposit without hassle. It also helps me stay organized when tax season comes around since everything is tracked in one place. Having all the payroll tools together makes the software very user-friendly.

Cons

One downside is that QuickBooks costs more than some other payroll software. I also wish they offered discounts or promo deals for long-term recurring users.

“User-friendly payroll automation”

Pros

payroll set up with this has been really easy and user friendly. It emails my employees the forms they need to fill out for taxes and direct deposit, then handles depositing their payroll into their accounts and paying my taxes directly from my account. It makes the whole process feel very simple.

Cons

It does cost a bit more than Square but I decided to go with QuickBooks because linking it to my bank account and to QuickBooks Online for my business was much simpler.

“payroll records done right”

Pros

Getting started with QuickBooks Payroll was easy and using it day to day has been just as simple. It keeps all payroll records organized in one place and calculating CPP, EI and the rest of the deductions is very convenient.

Cons

It only comes as a paid version but honestly it feels worth the cost.

“W2s at hand”

Pros

After using it for years, I can quickly get to everything I need, from payroll details to W-2 forms, without any hassle.

Cons

Honestly I haven't run into any issues with this platform at all as it's been very helpful throughout.