PayMaxx, Inc. ' Power Payroll

PayMaxx, Inc. is a privately held company located in Franklin, Tennessee. They are rated as the sixth largest payroll service bureau in the country. They currently process payroll for over 130,000 employees in all 50 states. PayMaxx offers three separate payroll solutions: XpressPayroll (an Internet-based solution for companies with one to 10 employees), PowerPayroll (an Internet-based solution for companies with 10 to 100 employees), and PayLoad (a PC-based payroll suite for companies with 100 to 10,000 employees). The PowerPayroll solution was submitted for this review; information on the other two systems is available at the company’s web site.

The value of PayMaxx’s focus on payroll and HR applications is very apparent when you realize the depth and breadth of software and services they provide. Their business model provides for an accountant-centric solution where PayMaxx serves as the back office processor and your firm is the primary point of contact and service for the client.
Weekly, biweekly and semi-monthly payrolls cost $12 per payroll processing. Monthly payrolls are $15 per payroll processing. Tax filing fees are optional and cost $10 per state for the above payroll frequencies. Quarterly payrolls cost $25 per payroll processing, and tax-filing fees are optional at $25 per state. PowerPayroll also charges a per-employee check processing fee of $1 per employee per payroll. Onsite check printing is free. At year-end, there will be a $35 annual year-end reconciliation fee and a charge of $2.50 per W-2 produced. The following optional services are available: direct deposit ($6 per payroll), general ledger ($2 per payroll), benefit accruals ($2 per payroll), advanced reporting ($3 per payroll), and check delivery ($10 to $14 per payroll).

To calculate the pricing for PowerPayroll, select the payroll frequency, add tax filing (if desired) per state, add per-employee check processing and add any optional services. This will give you the total fee per pay period. For example, a 150-employee company processing a weekly payroll, printing checks onsite and filing taxes in two states would break down as follows: $12 for payroll processing, $20 for tax filing in two states, and $150 for employee processing. This equals $182 per payroll processing.

PayMaxx also offers a CPA Select Program, a referral program set up specifically for accounting firms that enables the firm to receive a variety of flexible pricing options including but not limited to discounted or even free payroll for their firm and discounted pricing for firm clients.

LEARNING CURVE – 5 Stars
The interface and menu structure offer a unique design that is well organized and relatively easy to navigate. Each menu section has a brief description of its purpose for clarification. The data-entry screens are well documented with notes and instructions to help you understand how to complete the data entry and/or use the information that is maintained.

BREADTH & DEPTH OF FEATURES & SERVICES – 5 Stars
The feature set found in PowerPayroll is extensive. Some of the more notable features are listed here:

Limit setting for paychecks and direct deposit limits to help protect against fraud.

Unlimited pay types and deductions with extended capability to define calculation method and taxability.

Tax filing for multiple jurisdictions: local, state and federal.

Check printing local or delivered.

GL Link interfaces with QuickBooks and other popular accounting systems.
Garnishment checks.

PayView screen gives you the ability to view check stub details and W-2s online for any employee.

Customer Corner provides you with online access to employment forms, instructional forms and various payroll processing forms. In addition, a tax calculator window provides the ability to calculate proforma gross pay, net pay, and W-4 withholding amounts. Contact information for support services from PayMaxx is also provided.

Employee Self Service center provides portals for employees to access to update their personnel information and send you an e-mail notification when they have done so.

Payroll Reminder is a free service that allows you to set up your own payroll reminders for important dates, deadlines, etc., and receive e-mail alerts.

TaxxPro, a complete tax payment and report filing service.

Employment background checks.

REPORTING CAPABILITIES – 4 Stars
A menu of nine standard payroll reports is available for the current year and five prior years. You have the option to print them in Adobe *.PDF format, MS Word, Rich Text Format and Crystal Viewer. For each year you select, the system displays a list of pay periods from which you can choose the reports. You can access reports online as well as have them mailed to your office.

INTEGRATION / IMPORT & EXPORT – 5 Stars
Paymaxx has an extensive set of ancillary systems and services to provide a complete payroll and HR solution including the following:

PayMaxx’s Power401k, a full-service online 401k retirement plan.

Integration with the Abra Suite HRIS system.

Time and attendance system integration.

HR Legal compliance and online performance appraisal system in partnership with HRN Management Group.

HIPPA compliance tool complete with an interactive CD with audio instructions on how to comply with HIPPA and over 60 sample forms, policies and documents.

Worker’s compensation reporting and management system.

Unemployment cost management service.

CUSTOMER SERVICE & SUPPORT – 5 Stars
PayMaxx offers a complete set of technical support services along with support to help you to market and brand the offering as yours.

SUMMARY
This is one of the best choices available for establishing a payroll service bureau offering. You have the benefits of a web-hosted application, and the vendor allows you to market the service with your firm’s branding and leverage them to do all of the back office processing. And the fact that PayMaxx offers a low-end web-hosted solution for companies with one to 10 employees gives you even more flexibility in develop ing your payroll service offering.

2004 OVERALL RATING: 5

Review Attributes

In order to maintain as much consistency
in our reviews as practical, the
payroll software solutions were
rated on the following five areas:
Learning Curve; Breadth & Depth of Features & Services; Reporting Capabilities; Integration/Import & Export; and Customer Service & Support.

We also looked at the vendor’s
history and vision in terms of the
company’s experience, resources
(personnel and financial) and reputation
in the profession and the extent
to which they are focused on payroll
services. We also considered how
the vendor approaches the accountant’s
role in the payroll service delivery
model.

The user interface is the primary
attribute evaluated to rate the
system’s Learning Curve. If
the software has an easy-to-follow
and intuitive interface, it received
the highest rating. On the other
hand, if it is not readily apparent
how and where to find features and
functions in the system, even though
the feature set may be complete,
we assessed a lower rating. This
is a key factor to evaluate because
of the intensive interaction of
the system that is required by your
staff and, in some cases, your clients.

The functionality of a payroll system
is a key characteristic to evaluate
because it will directly influence
the range of clients to which you
will be able to provide payroll
services, as well as the scope of
the services you will be able to
offer. Functionality is measured
in large part by the Depth &
Breadth of Features & Services.
How many options does the package
offer? Does it provide features
that meet the needs of a growing
company such as EFTPS (Electronic
Federal Tax Payment System)? MICR
(Magnetic Character Ink Recording)
and Direct Deposit? An extended
set of these types of features resulted
in a very high ranking in this category.

The following questions all relate
to the rating of the software’s
Reporting capability. What types
of reports does the system produce?
What is the content? How are they
designed? What flexibility is offered
in the sorting, selection and design
of the report contents?

Integration/Import & Export
assesses the packages ability to
integrate with other software applications,
such as client write-up, the client’s
accounting system, HRIS (Human Resource
Information Systems) and other applications
to minimize data entry and optimize
the potential to leverage the information
flow into and out of the payroll
system.

The true measure of a software’s
value is not limited to the program
itself, it is heavily influenced
by the vendor’s ability to
help you use and apply it. All it
takes is one frustrating afternoon
of system problems on a day when
multiple client payrolls need to
get out the door and you can’t
get the help you need from the vendor
to leave you with a long-lasting
distaste for the entire system.
We have done our best to rate the
vendor’s ability to deliver
Customer Service & Support,
but at the end of the day you need
to conduct your own due diligence
on this attribute and talk to a
few client references about their
experience with the vendor in this
area. It is one thing for a vendor
to say what kind of support they
offer, it is quite another to deliver
it. We have included the vendor’s
direct support of the accountant
in terms of marketing and practice
aids to help establish a payroll
service bureau style offering in
this category.