Wave Payroll Review 2024: Features, Pricing & More

Also included on the dashboard different types and formats of income statement is a Things to Do list as well as quick access to payroll setup and approved payroll. 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. Wave Payroll doesn’t include HR features, and its onboarding features are limited to new hire self-guided onboarding. Simply add your new hire’s email address, and they’ll be sent an onboarding checklist to complete. Wave’s pricing for its Payroll software is based on the services available in your state and how many employees you pay each month.

What is a PEO payroll service?

Wave payroll earned a low 2.9/5 star rating in the ease of use category, as the software can be tedious to set up, lacks many integrations, and doesn’t offer any white glove set up options. Wave Payroll’s simple, low-cost features may be basic but they’re well-suited for small businesses needing an affordable all-in-one accounting and payroll solution. However, Wave lacks a native time-tracking function, which means you’ll have to rely on a third-party integration to track how many hours you’ve worked on a project for a client. If you want your payroll processing and time-tracking functions to come from the same software, you’ll have to look at other solutions, like Gusto.

Users will need to rely on one of Wave Payroll’s time-tracking integrations to use that integration with payroll. Similar to its payroll processing features, Wave Payroll offers just enough employee management and PTO features to be functional. Businesses in states where tax services are available pay a base fee of $35 per month and an additional $6 per month for every employee or independent contractor.

What you may gain in affordability, you lose in functionality. More specifically, Wave Payments pricing starts at 2.9% + $0.60 per credit card transaction and 1% per transaction for AHC payments. If your business needs tax, bookkeeping, or accounting advisory services, Wave Advisor will provide them at a starting price of $149/month. User review sites such as Capterra and G2 give the company 4.0 and 4.1 out of five stars, respectively. Positive user reviews praise the software for its ease of use and extra features, such as invoicing and accounting tools.

Automatic tax remittances

Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships. 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.

There are currently 13 different reports available, and only two are specific to payroll. Employees can use self-service accounts to view pay stubs, updated information and access tax forms. It will cover up to $500 in penalties due to a payroll tax miscalculation. To qualify, all the information on your end must be accurate, and you must notify Wave within withdrawals by owner definition and meaning 90 days of receiving the fine.

Manage yourmoney like a boss.

Some negative points mentioned are the two-step process of paying 1099 contractors and the lack of international payrolls. Wave Payroll is cloud-based payroll software designed to help small business owners simplify and automate payroll processes while remaining compliant with taxes and deductions. This is an additional service that is only available in the U.S. and Canada. In fact, It feels like the entire data-entry system could be simplified, especially when considering that Wave Payroll only offers basic payroll processing. Adding a new employee is more time-consuming than it should be, with the process divided into multiple steps.

Which payroll company is best?

1. Create beautiful invoices, accept online payments, and make accounting easy—all in one place.
2. These 14 states include tax services with the option to automatically transfer tax payments and file the paperwork with your state tax office and the IRS (this excludes 1099 Filings).
3. G2 shows more than 30 customer reviews of Wave Payroll with a 4.1-star rating.
4. As a freelancer, solopreneur or independent contractor, Wave Payroll may cover all of your needs.
5. Employees can use self-service accounts to view pay stubs, updated information and access tax forms.

She realized she could earn a more lucrative and flexible living as a freelance writer, so she soon went all-in on being self-employed. Laura loves to write about managing your money, navigating your career, and running a successful business. Her work has been featured in Forbes, LendingTree, Rocket Mortgage, The Balance, and many other publications. She has also earned an MBA and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor.

Imputed income capability is not available in the application either, and currently, Wave Payroll does not offer an app for iOS or Android devices. Designed to integrate with Wave Accounting, Wave Payroll offers good integration between applications for automatic recording of any payroll-related expenses. 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. And if you have more than 20 employees, Wave Payroll isn’t your best choice. Wave Payroll doesn’t publish a list of its integrations but does integrate with Google Sheets and Zapier, which functions as a bridge to over 1,000 applications.

Blueprint is an independent, advertising-supported comparison service focused on helping readers make smarter decisions. We receive compensation from the companies that advertise on Blueprint which may impact how and where products appear on this site. The compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in our articles or otherwise impact any of the editorial content on Blueprint. Blueprint does not include all companies, products or offers that may be available to you within the market. Wave Payroll won’t help you much with benefits, such as health insurance and retirement plans. While what is the purpose of control accounts you can add these deductions, it’s up to you to purchase and manage them through different resources.