With so many payroll solutions out there, it’s hard to know which option is the best fit for your company. If you have a small number of employees and you don’t offer many benefits, running payroll yourself or using a bookkeeper may be the right choice.  If you select this option, you may want to consider purchasing some type of basic payroll subscription.  It will provide you with updated tax withholding tables and keep you informed of other payroll tax changes. This a cheaper alternative to a payroll service and will allow you more flexibility.

Using a payroll service may be worth the investment if you have a large number of employees, offer complex benefits or if you have employees working in multiple states.  This is when withholding and reporting payroll taxes correctly becomes trickier and more time-consuming, so outsourcing may be a good option. The biggest negative to a large payroll service, other than the cost, is the lack of flexibility and control.  You still have to be involved to some extent to provide information regarding payment amounts, but you have no control over the actual process.  If a paycheck is incorrect, you can’t easily fix it.  You must go through a third-party, which means you are at the mercy of their time-table.   So, when choosing from the different payroll solutions, it’s best to consider whether or not you have enough knowledge and time to run payroll yourself, or if the cost and loss of control that comes with outsourcing is worth it.