Payroll software update reflects tax changes

Hopefully your company is already ahead of the various changes in payroll processing that were set to take affect at the end of January 2012. In case you are not, here is a new product to consider: Halfpricesoft.com has updated ezPaycheck, a payroll software application backed by eight years of real-world exposure.

ezPaycheck 2012 Payroll Software handles pretty much every nitpicky tax thing that small businesses need to worry about including how to figure tips, commissions, federal withholding tax, Social Security, Medicare tax, employer unemployment tax, and so on.

The changes in the new version include integration of various tax code changes (including the new form 941), a database restore function, and a duplicate account function. The software is designed for small-business owners who have limited accounting or technical expertise.

Halfpricesoft.com will let you download a sample version of the software to play with for 30 days.

Here are some of the specific features it offers, aside from up-to-date tax tables for all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the federal government:

• Support for adding local taxes
• A feature for printing paychecks on a laser printer (on blank computer checks or preprinted checks)
• Ability to print MICR numbers on blank check stock
• Reporting for federal tax forms W-2, W-3, 940 and 941
• Ability to handle daily, weekly, semimonthly or monthly payroll schedules
• Free technical support

The software runs on Windows systems, including the Windows 7 operating system. ezPaycheck is priced at $89 per year for a new license; or $59 if you are renewing.

What other options does your small business have for making sense of payroll processing?

• Intuit Quickbooks Payroll: If you already use the venerable accounting software package, you can get comparable features for less than $20 per month for up to three employees. (The basic version is about $7 per month, but it doesn't include the tax reporting information that ezPaycheck promises.)
• Payroll Mate 2012: Priced at $99, this is another standalone payroll processing package. Reports can be exported in various formats including a general ledger format that can be pulled into the Microsoft accounting software applications.
• PayWindow from ZPAY: A Windows-based application that offers a 30-day trial period. The 2012 version of the software costs $89.95 if you are buying it new; the annual upgrade runs $40 per year. The company offers billing and time component software modules that integrate with PayWindow.