2016 Review of Payroll Mate from Real Business Solutions

Best Firm Fit: Payroll Mate is a good fit for smaller businesses as well as the smaller firm that has a limited number of clients.

Product Strengths

• Product is available for immediate download
• Offers quick and easy system setup
• Integrates with both QuickBooks and Sage 50 applications
• Offers a variety of add-ons to extend product functionality

Potential Limitations

• Product only supports state payroll reporting for five states (NY, IL, CA, TX, and FL)

Payroll Mate, from real Business Solutions is an on-premise payroll product that can support up to 10 companies that have up to 75 employees. For larger businesses and accounting firms, there is an add-on option that will support up to 100 companies with up to 1,000 employees each.

From the 2016 Review of Professional Payroll Systems.

Basic System Functions: 4.5 Stars

Available only as an on-premise product, users can quickly download a demo of the product to try out prior to purchasing. The main user interface is easily navigated, with a drop down menu bar at the top of the screen, with access to system functions such as Checks, Employees, Forms, Reports, Company, and Vendor Center available in a vertical menu on the left side of the user interface screen. A Step-by step wizard is included in the product that will guide new users through common tasks such as creating a new company and adding new employees. Users can also create new checks, backup and restore data files, generate direct deposit files and export to other applications from this screen.

Company employees are organized in a tabular view, with users able to quickly view employee information. New payroll checks can also be created through the tabular display as well. Users can also view all processed checks, with the ability to sort checks using a variety of filters such as current month, current quarter, current year, or last year. Users can also view a preview of all checks that are being processed, with the ability to make edits to checks prior to processing.

Payroll Mate supports multiple pay frequencies including weekly, biweekly, semimonthly and monthly payroll processing, and supports multiple pay types as well, including regular salary, hourly pay, overtime and double time pay, bonus pay and commissions. Payroll Mate also offers both vacation and sick pay accruals, which can be tracked in the system, with totals reflected in each pay stub. Users also have the option to override these totals if they’re incorrect.

Other feature in Payroll is the ability to handle unique payroll situations such as Income per Piece, income per mile, and farm payroll, and their integrated 1099 processing is able to prepare 1099’s for contractors. The product handles state withholding for all 50 states, and the District of Columbia.

Reporting & Monitoring: 4.25 Stars

Reporting options in Payroll Mate are decent, with a limited number of reports available in the Small Business edition of the product. Reports can be accessed by category, and include Journal Summary, Journal Detail, Tax Liability, Deposit Requirement, Employee Earnings, Employee List, Payroll Totals, Payroll Detail, Taxes & Deductions, State Taxes, and Pay Periods. There is a larger selection of reports available in the more robust version of the product. All reports can be exported to Microsoft Excel or CSV for further customization, or saved in the system as a PDF.  

Payroll Mate offers a calendar of payroll tax due dates, but does not offer any notification options. The product easily calculates all tax related deductions, as well as both state and local taxes. Payroll Mate also prepares related tax forms such as 940, 941, 943, 944, along with W2 and W3 processing. The product only supports reporting for a few states, including California DE-9, California DE-9C, Texas C-3, Texas C-4, New York NYS-45, Illinois 941, and Illinois UI-3/40, and Florida RT-6. Processing of ACA 1095-C and 1094-C forms is also available from 1095 Mate Software, which is an add-on to the payroll product.  

Integration/Import/Export: 4.25 Stars

Payroll Mate integrates with other Real Business Solutions products such as W2 Mate, which processes W-2’s and 1099’s. Other add-ons are available that are designed to increase product functionality, including MICR Printing, Direct Deposit, State Payroll reporting for IL, TX, CA, FL, and NY, and 1095 Mate, which processes ACA 1095-C and 1094-C forms.

The product also integrates with QuickBooks products, Sage 50, and Quicken applications, as well as other applications that can import CSV files. Payroll Mate can also import employee and payroll setup information from applications such as QuickBooks, Sage 50, DacEasy, Kronos, ADP, Paychex, PeopleSoft, and others.   Time keeping, and time clock support is currently unavailable in Payroll Mate.

Help/Support: 4.75 Stars

Payroll Mate offers users solid help functionality throughout the product, and the use of wizards helps new users through various tasks such as new company setup and how to add new employees. There are also a series of tutorials available for users to access from within the product. Telephone support is available during regular business hours, and users can access support via email or live chat as well.

Client Self Service Features: N/A

Payroll Mate is an on-premise product and does not include employee or client portals.

Advanced Features: 4.25 Stars

Payroll Mate supports a variety of user-defined payroll deductions including medical insurance, dental insurance, qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, club memberships, travel time, charitable contributions, child support payments, and others. The product does not offer an HR module or integration with third party HR applications at this time.

Summary & Pricing

Payroll Mate is available through Real Business Solution’s website and can be easily downloaded. Potential users can also download a demo of the product to try out prior to purchasing. The product is easy to use and is a good fit for small to mid-sized businesses that wish to handle payroll in-house. Installed on local workstations or servers, Payroll Mate does not offer online or remote access. Base pricing for Payroll Mate is $99.00 a year, or users can purchase the Payroll Starter Kit, which includes 250 checks that are compatible with the system. There is also a wide variety of add-on options available such as W2 Mate, which offers several versions as well. All add-ons are priced separately, with pricing available on the Real Business Solutions website.

2016 Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars