I finally stopped doing my own payroll after a $500 tax mistake

For two years I tried to handle payroll myself with a spreadsheet, but last quarter I messed up the state tax deposit for my three employees. The penalty was $500 and a huge headache. Now I pay $40 a month for a service that does it all automatically, and I haven't had a single issue since I switched in January. Anyone else have a good payroll service they like that's cheap?

3 comments

3 Comments

stone.jesse3mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, but like wesley83 said, that $500 is just the start of the trouble you can get into.

palmer.zara1mo ago

$500 is a cheap lesson alright... unless you're me and that "one bad day" turns into three bad months because you forgot to save the original spreadsheet too.

wesley833mo ago

Honestly, a $500 mistake sounds like a pretty cheap lesson to me. For a business with three employees, that's what, one bad day? I get the headache part, but switching to a monthly fee forever for one mess up seems like an overreaction. The spreadsheet probably worked fine for two years before that.