Employees paid on time. Every payroll filing made on time.
Payroll runs, direct deposit, quarterly and annual payroll tax returns, W-2s and 1099-NECs — handled so that the deadline you never think about never becomes a penalty you did not expect.
Situations we handle every week.
S-corporation owners
You are required to pay yourself a reasonable wage through actual payroll. This is the least expensive way to do that properly, and it is where most single-owner S-corps first go wrong.
First-time employers
Hiring one person triggers federal registration, state withholding and unemployment accounts, new-hire reporting and a filing calendar. We set the whole thing up.
Remote and multi-state teams
One employee in another state creates a registration and filing obligation there. This is the single most common compliance surprise for small remote teams.
Contractor-heavy businesses
Collecting W-9s, tracking who crosses the reporting threshold, and getting 1099-NECs filed by the January deadline without a last-minute scramble.
What the fee covers.
Everything below is part of the flat price. Nothing on this list is an upsell you discover later, and if something does not apply to you it simply comes off the quote.
- Unlimited payroll runs on whatever schedule you keep
- Direct deposit set up for every employee
- Federal and state income tax withholding calculated and deposited
- Social Security and Medicare withheld, matched and deposited on time
- Forms 941 quarterly and 940 annually, prepared and filed
- State withholding and unemployment returns filed in every state you operate in
- New-hire reporting handled where your state requires it
- W-2s prepared, filed with the Social Security Administration and delivered
- 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC filing for contractors, with W-9 collection
- Payroll fully integrated into your books, not bolted on afterwards
Payroll tax is not like income tax, and that catches people out
Income tax is annual and forgiving. Payroll tax is not. Deposits are due on a schedule set by your history, penalties escalate quickly with how late the deposit is, and the trust fund portion — the money withheld from an employee’s wages — can be assessed personally against the responsible individual under Internal Revenue Code section 6672. That liability does not disappear because the business did.
None of this is a reason for alarm; it is a reason not to run payroll out of a spreadsheet and a reminder in your phone. It is a mechanical process with hard dates, which is exactly the kind of thing worth handing to someone whose calendar it lives on.
The reasonable compensation question, answered honestly
If you own an S-corporation and take money out of it, the IRS expects a reasonable part of that to come out as W-2 wages, subject to payroll tax, before anything comes out as a distribution. Set it too low and you are exposed; set it too high and you have given away the entire point of the election.
There is no percentage rule, whatever the internet says. The defensible approach looks at what the work you actually perform would cost to hire, adjusted for the hours you genuinely put in and the profitability of the business. We produce that analysis with the comparable data written down, so the number in your payroll has a reason behind it rather than a rumour.
It also interacts with things people forget. Wages paid are part of the qualified business income deduction limitation for higher-income owners, they set the ceiling on retirement plan contributions, and they affect the Social Security benefits you eventually collect. The lowest defensible wage is often not the best one.
One employee in another state is a filing obligation
Remote hiring quietly creates nexus. Employ one person in a state you have never visited and you generally need to register for income tax withholding there, register for unemployment insurance there, and file returns there — on that state’s schedule, in that state’s system.
We handle the registrations and add the state to your filing calendar. State payroll registration is $195 per state as a one-off; the ongoing filings are included in the monthly fee. It is a great deal cheaper than discovering the obligation two years later with penalties attached.
Flat fees, published before you ask.
These are the real numbers. Your written quote confirms them for your situation before any work begins, and published prices are honoured for 30 days from August 10, 2026.
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Payroll setup, including prior year-to-date figures | $295 one-time |
| Owner-only S-corporation payroll | $85 /month |
| Payroll administration, two or more employees | $95 /month |
| Each W-2 employee | $15 /month |
| Each 1099 contractor paid through payroll | $6 /month |
| Off-cycle or bonus payroll run | $45 each |
| Forms 941, 940, state returns, W-2s and W-3 | Included |
| Payroll registration in a new state | $195 per state |
| 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC filing, up to five recipients | $125 + $15 each after |
| S-corporation reasonable compensation study, written | $650 |
Every fee is flat and confirmed in writing before work begins. See the complete price list for returns, bookkeeping and add-ons.
Three steps to a price you can rely on.
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1
3 minutes
Tell us about your situation
Answer a short set of questions online, or call and we will take it down for you. No account to create, no credit card.
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2
Same day
Get a flat quote in writing
You receive a fixed price and a document list by email, usually within a few hours on a business day. If your situation turns out to be simpler than it looked, the price goes down, not up.
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3
15 minutes
Upload your documents securely
A private encrypted portal opens for you. Snap photos from your phone or drag files in. We chase anything that is missing so you do not have to remember.
About payroll & contractor filings.
Can you take over an existing payroll mid-year?
Yes, and it is common. We migrate year-to-date wage and tax figures so the W-2s at year end are correct and complete, and we reconcile them against what has already been filed on Forms 941 before the first run.
What if I only pay myself?
That is the most common payroll we run. A single-owner S-corporation still needs a real payroll with real filings, and the base fee covers it. It is also the setup where getting the wage figure right matters most.
Do you handle contractors as well as employees?
Yes. We collect W-9s, track who crosses the reporting threshold during the year, and file the 1099-NECs. We will also tell you honestly if someone you are treating as a contractor looks like an employee under the tests the IRS and your state apply — that misclassification is expensive to unwind.
Who is responsible if a payroll filing is late?
If the delay is ours, our accuracy guarantee covers the penalty and interest and we deal with the notice. If we cannot file because information did not reach us in time, it is not covered — which is why we chase, and chase early. The full terms are on the payment and guarantee page.
Can I keep my current payroll software?
Usually, yes. We will work in the system you already have if it is fit for purpose, or recommend one if you are starting out. Either way the account is yours and you keep access to it.
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