2017 Review of Real Business Solutions – Payroll Mate

Payroll Mate currently supports up to 10 companies/clients, with a maximum of 75 employees per client. For those with more clients, Payroll Mate offers an add-on that increases the number of clients supported to 100, with up to 1,000 employees each.

As an on-premise only product, Payroll Mate does not offer cloud accessibility, mobile access, nor an employee portal.

Payroll Mate offers a downloadable demo that users can try out prior to purchasing. The user interface is easily navigated, with options such as Checks, Employees, Forms, and Reports available. Users can access client payroll from this screen as well, with employee information easily viewed from the screen as well. Payroll Mate easily handles after-the-fact payroll entry, and supports tax tables for all 50 states; though state reporting capability is limited to five states: NY, IL, CA, TX, & Fl.

Reporting options in Payroll Mate are limited in the Small Business version of the product. Payroll Mate also contains various updates in the 2017 version of the product, including tax updates for CA, NY, IL, and FL as well as additional system reports added. Customization capability is limited in Payroll Mate, but all reports can be exported to Excel or as a CSV file for more robust customization capability.

Payroll reports available in Payroll Mate include a Journal Summary, Journal Detail, Tax Liability, and Tax Requirements.

The product offers users a calendar of tax due dates including state tax due dates, though the system only handles state reporting for the five states mentioned earlier. All federal tax report processing is included in Payroll Mate, though electronic filing is not supported, so users will have to print and submit the reports when due. The product does not offer integration with any time and attendance applications, though time data can be imported into Payroll Mate from Excel as well as other applications.

The product integrates with other Real Business Solutions products, including W-2 Software, 1099 Software, and ACA 1095 Software. There is also a QuickBooks or Sage 50 compatible version is also available. The product also offers integration with other third-party applications including QuickBooks, Sage 50, DacEasy, Kronos, ADP, Paychex, and PeopleSoft.

Payroll Mate does not offer client or employee portals, so payroll information such as check stubs and W-2’s will need to be sent to employees via email or with their paycheck. Payroll Mate does not offer dedicated HR tools, though it does contain an employee management function, which contains a series of user-defined fields that can be utilized for tracking additional employee data if desired.

Payroll Mate offers a series of wizards to assist users with product setup, and tutorials are available as well. Users can access product support via telephone, email, or chat. A user knowledgebase is also available as well.

Payroll Mate, from Real Business Solutions is a good fit for the smaller business that has limited payroll needs. While a lack of cloud or mobile access may deter some, for smaller businesses that prefer an on-premise product, Payroll Mate provides all of the features necessary.

Payroll Mate is available for $99.00 a year, and a payroll starter kit is available as well. There are also a variety of add-on products available from Real Business Solutions that are designed to work with Payroll Mate.

2017 Overall Rating – 4.5 Stars