Wave Payroll Review: Pros, Cons & Deciding Factors

Payroll itself isn’t automated, but it is easy to set up Wave Payroll with your pay schedules and get reminders to run payroll on time. Employees and contract workers can reporting contingent liabilities and gaap compliance set up their profiles and taxes themselves in an employee portal, and they’ll get paid three days after you process payroll if they choose direct deposit. You can also use its self-service payroll with do-it-yourself tax filings for only $20 plus $6 per worker monthly. However, that’s not to say that Wave Payroll is bad payroll software. On the contrary, it’s a great payroll software for businesses with basic payroll needs.

Wave Payroll can automatically track and post payroll expenses to Wave Accounting. Visit your dashboard or use your invoicing or accounting features, real estate accounting and click the peach “Upgrade now” button. Learn more about changing subscription periods and plan types, and how to cancel your Pro subscription in our Help Centre. We provide different levels of support, depending on the plan and/or the add-on features you choose. Our payroll software is seamlessly connected with the rest of your Wave account to reduce the time you spend on manual bookkeeping.

Easily switch from another payroll provider

We even consider the feedback that actual users posted on popular user review sites. Wave Payroll is committed to providing accurate tax calculation services. Its platform has a robust tax engine that automatically computes federal, state, and local taxes.

Review:

1. Enjoy zero annual or late fees, 1.5% cashback on all business purchases, and a flexible credit limit with the Stripe Corporate Card.
2. If your company is in one of the 14 states where it offers automated tax services, then you get its Tax Service States plan.
3. Employees and contract workers can set up their profiles and taxes themselves in an employee portal, and they’ll get paid three days after you process payroll if they choose direct deposit.
4. Payments are made via direct deposits and paychecks that you print yourself.
5. Some of the best payroll services that are also easy to use include OnPay, Gusto and ADP RUN.

In addition to changing personal information, you can update the workers’ employment status from active to inactive. You can exclude them what is a profit center and cost center for balance sheet items from your pay runs if they’re not working by tagging them inactive and then switching them back to active status as needed. If you’ve narrowed your search down to a few payroll providers but still can’t decide, read our guide on choosing the best payroll solution for help. Ramp offers a free corporate card and finance management system for small businesses. However, any business looking to offer healthcare options, a 401(k), or that needs to send garnishments will find Wave Payroll lacking.

Easy payroll software for small business

You still have to pay the $40 base fee per month (plus the per-employee costs) even if you opt not to get the provider’s automated tax filing services. Wave Payroll is a simple payroll solution for small businesses needing basic payroll features, such as direct deposit, deductions, check-printing, and much more. Wave Payroll’s seamless integration with Wave Accounting makes it one of the best payroll software options for businesses in need of a combined accounting and payroll solution. Wave Payroll is a good option for very businesses with simple payroll needs. It lets you run payroll in a matter of minutes and provides you with the information you need for filing taxes—or, if you are in one of the states it services, it files them for you. It has an employee portal for viewing pay stubs and tax forms (if applicable).

If your employees prefer to get paid via direct deposit, they should receive money three days after you process payroll. If they choose the check option, you’ll have to make sure you have checks for printing; Wave Payroll doesn’t offer a print-and-mail option. With a starting price of $40.00 per month +$6.00 per employee per month, Gusto is the costlier option compared to Wave’s price of $20.00 +$6.00 per employee per month.

Unfortunately, Wave Payroll has a lot of room for growth in its customer service offerings — earning a low 2.1/5 stars in the category. Wave Payroll lost points in this category due to its very limited support options and self-service resources. While Wave Payroll does offer a few customer support options, including email support and chatbot support, they’re not necessarily reliable. We tried to ask a question through the chatbot feature and didn’t receive a helpful response. You may have better luck seeking support via the self-service Help Center.

With timesheets, you can track the hours of your hourly and salaried employees. Keep in mind that this feature is only available for you as the employer as there are no timesheets for employees to fill out on their own. Your workers will have to track their hours in another way so you can enter them manually before you run payroll. Use this calculator to quickly determine your employees’ weekly hours for smooth and efficient payroll processing. Among the few complaints are a step-heavy process to set up certain benefits, a long lead time to run payroll and difficulty running an extra payroll cycle.