SurePayroll: Best Household Online Payroll Service

After conducting extensive research and analysis, we recommend SurePayroll as our 2017 pick for the best online payroll service for paying household employees. We chose SurePayroll from a pool of payroll services for household employers as well as general payroll providers that offer household employer services. To understand how we selected our best picks, you can find our methodology and a comprehensive list of online payroll services on our best picks page.

Why SurePayroll?

SurePayroll offers services for all types of household employees, allows unlimited payroll runs and provides full tax services. SurePayroll charges a monthly fee of $49.99 for one employee, plus $4 for each additional household worker. Here's a more detailed breakdown of why it's our best pick.

Services & Features

SurePayroll provides everything household employers need from a payroll service. The company handles all payroll and payroll tax responsibilities.

Nanny Payroll Service

Unlike some of the other providers we considered that only offered services for child care providers, SurePayroll can be used for all types of household employees: nannies, elder caregivers, home care providers, private nurses, drivers, yard workers and cooks.

With SurePayroll, you can run payroll as often as you want each month and pay household employees with a written check or by direct deposit. Not all of the services we analyzed offered direct deposit for household workers.

The service also handles all payroll tax obligations. This includes calculating and deducting Social Security, Medicare and federal and state unemployment taxes, along with filling out and filing federal, state and local tax forms. In addition, it makes all tax payments for you.

SurePayroll provides a 100% guarantee that your taxes will be filed and paid correctly and on time. Should an error be made, the company pays any of the fines or interest fees you incur. Not all of the services we looked into offered this type of guarantee.

SurePayroll also files a quarterly 1040-ES on your behalf and provides you with a signature-ready Schedule H (Form 1040) that attaches to your annual 1040 filing.

It is important to note that, in California, SurePayroll only supports household employers who are designated as quarterly filers. Annual filers in California need to change their filing status to quarterly to use this service.

Cost

Of all the household payroll services we examined, SurePayroll was one of the cheapest. There is a flat monthly fee of $49.99. This includes services for one employee. For each additional household worker, there is a $4 per month charge.

Most other services charge between $20 and $75 for each additional household employee.

We like that SurePayroll has a monthly fee rather than the quarterly fee that many other household payroll providers charge. Because there is no long-term contract, you have the option to cancel your service at any time and not pay for months you're not using it.

The only added cost is $45, plus $4 per employee, for year-end tax forms. Most of the other services we looked into not only charged more for year-end tax services but had initial setup fees of at least $100.

Ease of Use

SurePayroll is a cloud-based service that has no software to install or maintain and can be accessed online from anywhere.

Upon logging in each time, the system's homepage provides a quick snapshot of any tasks that need to be completed. It shows your payroll status and any important reminders, such as your upcoming payroll processing dates and bank holidays.

To pay employees, all household employers need to do is enter the hours they worked and their pay rate. They are then shown a preview of the payroll, which includes the employee's gross pay and how much is being deducted from each check for employee and employer taxes.

If everything is accurate, the final step is to click the Submit for Approval link to run the payroll. At that point, you are provided details on when the money will be transferred for direct deposit or when you can write out checks.

Household employers can also use a mobile app to run their payroll. SurePayroll's mobile app, available on both Android and iOS devices, allows household employers to enter earnings, deductions, hours worked and benefits, such as vacation and personal time. Most of the other household payroll services we examined did not offer a mobile app.

Household employees also have access to the system. They can log in online or use the mobile app to review pay stubs and pay history.

Customer Service

We were pleased with the level of support we received from SurePayroll. To gauge the type of service a new customer can expect, we called and emailed the company numerous times posing as a household employer interested in the company's services.

Each time we called, we were immediately greeted by a representative who provided clear and detailed answers to our questions. At no time did any of the representatives we spoke to try to pressure us into signing up for the service. Many of the other payroll providers we called had us wait on hold, gave short (sometimes just one word) answers to our questions and spent most of the call trying to get us to commit to their service.

SurePayroll was also the only payroll providers that offered to let us test the system on our own. One of the customer service agents we spoke with gave us temporary login credentials that allowed us to see exactly what it was like to use the platform. This gave us a feel for what it would be like to set up the system, enter in new employees and run payroll every month.

Another aspect of SurePayroll's support we found appealing is that customers receive the same high level of service, regardless of whether they call about payroll for household employers or small businesses. When conducting our investigation of SurePayroll, we called on separate occasions to inquire about both types of service. During each of those calls, we received the same level of support. That is a sign to us that SurePayroll values each of its clients equally, regardless of the size of its payroll.

SurePayroll provides customer support between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. (CST), Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (CST) on Saturdays. We like that the help lines are open later in the evenings and on Saturdays, which is something many of the other services we examined didn't offer. SurePayroll's website is also filled with a lot of valuable resources, including a full glossary of payroll terminology and articles on payroll and payroll taxes.

SurePayroll is an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau. According to the BBB website, as of March 2017, there were 74 complaints filed against SurePayroll over the past three years. Of those, 17 complaints were resolved to the complainants' satisfaction, with 57 still awaiting resolution. It's important to note, however, that nearly all of the payroll providers we reviewed had some criticism levied against them with the BBB. Despite the complaints, SurePayroll has a BBB rating of A+. You can read more specifics about the complaints on the BBB website.

Limitations

One potential downside of SurePayroll is that it doesn't offer different packages like some of the other nanny-specific payroll providers we considered. Some of SurePayroll's competitors offered cheaper plans for lower levels of service. For example, they gave the option to pay less if you only wanted the service to calculate tax withholdings and prepare your tax documents. If you would rather pay your employee and send in tax documents on your own, you don't have that option with SurePayroll.