Easy to use and affordable payroll software

Pros

I would assume every payroll software is relatively similar once set up. With Patriot's full service plan, the set up was even easier and a breeze compared to trying to set up payroll with competitors or even my bank. Aside from just set up, there is a ton of helpful information on the site so I don't have to consult with support often.

Cons

It feels a little more "old" design-wise. For me, this isn't a problem since it functions the way I need it to.

Love this Software

Everything has been amazing. The customer service is awesome, the software is easy to use, and the price is just the best.

Pros

I love everything about this. 1) The ease, it is so easy to use 2) the customer service team is always so helpful and listens to suggestions and has implemented suggestions we have made 3) the Price, we came from Intuit and the price savings was crazy amazing 4) They process all payroll forms, Intuit would not process our local LST returns, but Patriot does, they do them all!

Cons

The few items I would like to see changed are mainly just with check printing. It would be nice to be able to print DD stubs with a layout that looks like a laser check so that they could be folded and put into double window envelopes like the checks are. The second thing would be to be able the change the stub options on checks. Currently, laser checks take up both stubs on a check to make one pay stub. It would be nice if you could have an option that it all fit on just one of the check stubs, and then repeats again on the second stub for the employer's copy.

Patriot Software

Customer Service is great . It's not always intuitive with where to find things, but over the year + we've used it they've made a few great improvments (like multi hour wages, and pto tracking).

Pros

We use Patriot Software in a wide variety of industries (restaurant, retail, day care, and more). I love how I can set it up for a client, and show them briefly how to run their own payroll. Very easy for simply payrolls.

Cons

My biggest pet peeve is the inflexibility of making tax adjustments. For Example: a restaurant where they pay out tips each night means that a check would be for sever hours only, usually about $40 for the week. The tips justify enough taxes that they end up with a negative paycheck. In any other system I can manually adjust the taxes held to get the check to zero or close. (the server ends up owing money at the end of the year). With PS, I have to come up with other options for getting the paycheck to zero (like getting the business to cover the taxes in the meantime).

Get a real company to do your payroll

Pros

It is very inexpensive and takes on clients that have very few employees. Customer service reps are EXTREMELY HELPFUL, polite, and very knowledgeable of the program abilities and shortfalls.

Cons

You can cancel ANYTIME, but then you have to send all the State/Government taxes collect to their respective agencies with the appropriate paperwork. Patriot sends all the taxes back to you to deal with. Some taxes are due annually, due the end of January, so if you want Patriot to file it, you have to keep the subscription until that date. Nickel and diming. If you want them to track sick days, accumulated vacation days etc, it is included. If you want your employees to be able to track it through the online portal, that will cost you additional per month. Check out the list of add-ons to determine what is important to you. They offer QuickBooks import of data, but I have yet to see how anything matches anything on the bank statement. Like taxes are deducted from payroll, they show in a different month than the payroll, and the payroll imports as the gross amount which is not the amount sent to the employee by NatPay. If you use a dummy account in your accounting software (QuickBooks) to run all the payroll functions through, this will not bother you and your accountant will made the journal entry additional adjustments. I could not get my first payroll to reconcile, and it was determined that Patriot made an error and did not collect $ 3.60 in taxes somewhere. I am going with when the taxes were going to be sent to the agency, the error would have been found and corrected (depending on the tax agency, some are sent monthly, some quarterly, some annually.) The next payrolls were done correctly. NatPay is a 3rd party vendor that facilitates the employee direct deposit. If you enter a payroll incorrectly and want to cancel, even seconds later, Patriot says it is canceled, but you have to CALL NATPAY otherwise it goes through. Be sure to not miss the pop-up warning. I was advised they are working on a better solution to make sure it is clear what to do in order to cancel a mistake payroll that was submitted. The site is not all that easy to navigate. There are report and default options that may not be easy to locate how to set. Strongly suggest that you contact customer services and they will walk you quickly through the process. I have worked with 4 different Payroll service companies over the last couple of years. They are not all the same, they each have strengths and weaknesses and wide range of costs. From what I can tell, they all do the payroll functions of collecting and distributing employee payments and taxes correctly. The big difference, besides costs, is what they include in the base price, and if/how they enter this information into your accounting system like QuickBooks. With any payroll service, you always have the option to enter it manually into your system from the paystubs which ensure it is entered how you want it.

Easiest and best service and value!

Patriot Software's customer service team has been friendly and helpful every time I have reached out. All of my questions have been answered quickly so I could get back to work.

Pros

I love Patriot Software Payroll's incredible ease of use. I used it for a year, then switched to Quickbooks Payroll because I thought it would be easier because we use QBO. I was wrong. Quickbooks Payroll was much harder to use. The primary reason is that you still have to do a great deal when using QBO Payroll. With Patriot Software, once it is set up, the do so much more FOR you as part of the service. This gives me peace of mind, because I don't worry about making a mistake or overlooking one of the many filings.

Cons

For Patriot Software's Payroll software, I have experienced no downsides.