What Outsourced Payroll Costs, and What You Get for It

How payroll pricing works

Most payroll platforms charge a monthly base fee plus a fee per employee paid. Intuit, for example, lists QuickBooks Payroll that way, with the base fee depending on the plan, as of September 2026. Watch for introductory discounts that expire, and for extra charges for contractors, additional states or year-end forms.

Example: a 15-person company on a plan with a base fee plus a per-employee fee pays the base once and the per-employee fee 15 times each month. Adding five hires raises only the second part.

What a payroll provider files for you

A full-service payroll provider typically handles the recurring filings. Know what they are, because the liability stays with you.

• Form 941 each quarter, reporting federal income tax withheld and both halves of social security and Medicare tax.
• W-2s to employees and to the Social Security Administration, due February 1, 2027 for 2026 wages.
• State withholding and unemployment filings in the states where you have employees.
• 1099-NEC forms for contractors, if your plan includes them.

Having someone run your payroll platform

Many small businesses already use a payroll platform but want someone else to run it: approve hours, add new hires, check each run and book it correctly. That work is part of bookkeeping, not the software.

When payroll and bookkeeping are handled by the same team, wages, taxes and benefits land in the right accounts every pay run, which is where most payroll errors in the books start.

A monthly check catches the rest: payroll tax liabilities on the balance sheet should fall back toward zero after each deposit, gross wages in the books should match the payroll register, and year-to-date totals should match what the platform will print on the W-2s. When those three tie every month, year-end is quiet.

Remote employees in other states

An employee working from another state usually means registering with that state for withholding and unemployment tax and filing there. Each new state adds setup work and, on many platforms, a fee. Plan for it before the hire's first paycheck, not after. Registering late often means back filings and notices from the state, which cost more to fix than the setup would have.

What drives your cost

Beyond headcount, these move the price most.

• Pay frequency: weekly runs cost more to manage than monthly.
• Number of states you pay employees in.
• Benefits, garnishments and tip or commission calculations.
• Fixing past errors, which often means amended quarterly returns on Form 941-X.