10 Best Payroll Software For Solar Installation Businesses

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The right payroll software will streamline and automate every step of your solar installation payroll processes. Payroll software aims to assist you in managing payments for your employees by making direct deposit setups, payroll tax payments, and record-keeping as efficiently and straightforward as possible. We’ve put together our list of the top ten payroll software solutions that could take your solar installation business to new heights.

Why Payroll Software Is Important

The manual payroll process can be complicated and time-consuming, and just as you finish it, the next round rolls over. It can feel like a never-ending cycle of administration. You need to collect and store your employees’ correct documents and records, withhold taxes and deductions, and calculate everything correctly.

Manual payroll is risky, particularly when you consider that in 2019-2020, the IRS issued nearly $5 million in penalties for payroll problems like bad checks and failure to pay deductions. A wide range of modern payroll software solutions can help keep your business compliant with legal requirements.

10 Payroll Software Solutions

Let’s unpack the available options, considering cost, features, ease of use, integrations, convenience, and support.

For Blue-Collar Businesses:

Hourly

Hourly is a fully automated, affordable payroll and workers’ compensation solution that enables you to pay your employees, taxes, and workers’ comp insurance in a few clicks. It’s especially suitable for blue-collar businesses.

It automatically files and sends payroll taxes and allows you to run payroll as much as you want. It includes W-2s and 1099s, along with direct deposit and paper checks. Hourly also syncs all your payroll data with your workers’ comp, so your premiums are based on actual wages, and not a guess. What’s more, Hourly seamlessly tracks employees’ time, breaks, and attendance, so you don’t have to.

The platform provides comprehensive support for your solar installation business. It can help you understand IRS letters, answer any HR questions, and everything in between. Do it all from your smartphone with Hourly’s convenient mobile app.

Hourly’s payroll software subscriptions start at just $6/month per person + $40/month base cost, giving you unlimited payroll runs, next-day direct deposits, and self-service garnishments.

For Small to Medium-Sized Businesses:

Quickbooks Payroll

Quickbooks Payroll is another strong option for solar business owners. If you already use Quickbooks for your accounting, then Quickbooks Payroll could be a logical next step since you’re accustomed to the Quickbooks platform.

Quickbooks Payroll is known for its easy setup and user-friendly interface, its fast direct deposit options, and tax filing services at higher pricing tiers.

The software features are highly rated, but they may be somewhat limited depending on the tier you choose. The lowest-priced plan starts at $45/month + $4/month per person. The premium plan (at $75/month + $8/month per person) offers more features like HR support, tax filing, and expert payroll setup review. The Elite plan even offers tax penalty protection and comprehensive 24/7 user support. While Quickbooks is a great tool, it is pretty costly if you want all the bells and whistles.

Paychex Flex

Paychex Flex offers businesses clear insights into taxes, wages, turnover, staff time cards, and more. Paychex includes comprehensive reporting features. It files payroll taxes automatically, offers unlimited payroll runs, ensures legal compliance, and facilitates multiple accounting and benefit app integrations. It can integrate with Xero and Quickbooks accounting software, time tracking and attendance apps, health insurance, benefits apps, and popular HR software.

Paychex Flex has 24/7 support, offers excellent ease of use, a range of HR add-ons, and a library of upgrade options to assist your solar business as it scales. The lowest Paychex plan starts at $59/month + $4/month per person. But you will need to opt for a higher tier to access all of the available reports.

OnPay

OnPay is a cost-effective, easy-to-use payroll software solution. It poses no hidden fees, and its full-service payroll system automates local, state, and federal taxes and payroll calculations alike.

Setting up payroll with OnPay for the first time is simple, thanks to the service’s dedicated setup wizard. Just follow the steps and ensure that your information is correct. It shouldn’t take longer than a few hours. You can also import data from other payroll services using this software.

OnPay’s plans start at $36/month + $4/month per person, but this service offers plenty of extra features for its somewhat higher cost. These include handy HR features like eSigning, letters, automated onboarding, and cloud document storage.

Workful

Workful is a relatively new payroll service solution. It’s already gained quite the reputation for great customer support. The platform offers geolocation time clock tracking, employee expense submissions, and document storage. Plus, the easy-to-use interface integrates with Quickbooks Online and a limited range of other HR, accounting, and benefits apps.

While this is an affordable and convenient option, it does pose restrictions if you grow. It doesn’t perform automatic tax filing, and it’s only available for state payroll tax filing in certain states like California, Georgia, Florida, and Texas. However, if you are in one of its listed states, you can look forward to top-notch customer service and guidance for small business owners.

Payroll4Free

Are you looking for a completely free payroll service for your solar business? If you’re willing to put in some manual work, Payroll4Free is a good option. It offers an inexpensive way to file taxes and pay via direct deposit and allows you to pay W-2 and 1099 workers. However, you won’t be able to use Payroll4Free to file payroll taxes or pay your employees without spending a small fee upfront.

Essentially, Payroll4Free is the only free-to-use software that contains all the admin services needed to perform payroll. It allows you to input hours for your business’s payroll and performs calculations. However, it doesn’t eliminate many of the manual tasks that come with payroll management. Although the service offers a setup tool to guide you, it’s still a very manual process. It’s better suited to small business owners.

Payroll4Free is free to use unless you have more than 25 employees or use the service to file payroll taxes. Tax filing costs $12.50 per month. If you want to pay your staff via direct deposit, that will cost $12.50 per month.

Rippling

Rippling is an HR program that includes add-on payroll features. It boasts robust integrations with a wide range of leading programs, and its payroll software enables users to pay employees anywhere in the world and integrate with over 500 popular apps. Features like this make it easy to sync your data and run payroll effectively and efficiently automatically. It’s best suited to medium-sized businesses. It can get pricey as you grow.

Rippling offers custom-priced plans, so you’ll have to contact them for a quote. However, their base fee is $35/month + another $5/month per employee for payroll, depending on the features you choose.

For Large Businesses:

Gusto

Gusto offers four options for solar installation companies that need payroll and human resource features rolled into one. The platform includes full-service automated payroll, unlimited payroll runs, paid time-off tracking, and basic reporting services across all pricing tiers.

This service offers check and direct deposit employee payments and automatically tracks and files local, state, and federal taxes for safe-keeping. As you opt for higher pricing options, the speed, and convenience of the services available will increase.

Gusto’s Basic plan costs just $19/month and $6/month per person. If you want to offer your staff health insurance options, you’ll need to opt for the Core or Concierge plans that offer time tracking and dedicated support features.

ADP

ADP is another household name in solar business payroll management. This brand has been around for years. Its decades of experience make it perfect for larger companies and rapidly growing businesses looking for scalable payroll software. ADP’s most affordable plan includes full-service payroll, reporting, direct deposits, and a self-service portal for employees. Higher plans include features like HR services and customizable reports.

It isn’t easy to compare the costs of ADP’s plans to other leading payroll software because ADP creates custom quotes on a case-by-case basis. Instead, you will need to fill out a web form and request a unique quote for your solar business.

Uzio

Uzio is a complete HR, payroll, benefits, and time tracking app that offers benefit plans with employee tracking. It’s a cloud-based payroll system that adapts to evolving tax laws. The service is known for being user-friendly and easy to navigate, assisting users in mastering everything from its onboarding processes and open benefits enrollment to its employee direct deposit features.

Uzio does not yet offer additional integrations. Instead, it provides independent solutions to replace them for a truly centralized experience. The payroll software’s plans start from $30/month + $4.50/month per person after a 30-day free trial.

The Bottom Line

Payroll software can take your solar business to the next level, streamline your payroll processes, and leave you more time to focus on winning and retaining valuable customers. Check out these ten popular payroll solutions to change your payroll game for good!

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