2018 Review of AccountantsWorld Payroll Relief

From the 2018 reviews of professional payroll systems.

Payroll Relief, part of AccountantsWorld suite of accounting and practice management applications designed exclusively for accounting professionals. Completely online, Payroll Relief can be used as a stand-alone payroll solution or coupled with other AccountantsWorld applications for greater program functionality.

Best suited for small to mid-sized accounting firms, Payroll Relief can also be accessed from a mobile device, providing users with even greater program flexibility. Payroll Relief supports multi-state payroll, multiple pay schedules, and multiple checks per employee. Payroll Relief also supports a variety of check-printing options, with users able to print checks in-house for their clients, or email payroll to clients for them to print.

The Firm Administration option provides users with easy access to payroll options, including the Payroll Center, where users can easily manage payroll activities for all clients from one central location. The Payroll Snapshot screen lists all active clients, the next pay date for each client, the current payroll status, and if there are any past due forms that need processing. Each client has its own dashboard that displays pay day reminders, taxes due, and forms due.

To expedite data entry, Payroll Relief uses exception-based data entry, with users only entering changes or exceptions to the regular payroll. For firms that only handle payroll reporting for clients, AccountantsWorld also offers After-the-Fact-Payroll, an add-on module that offers complete payroll and tax compliance.      

Payroll Relief offers complete tax tables for all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, along with local tax compliance. The product also handles electronic filing for all federal and most state forms, and also electronically files end of year forms such as W-2’s, 1099 MISC and 1096 forms.

Payroll Relief offers a variety of reports, including Payroll, Compliance, Management, and Employee, with Report Sets available as well. Clicking on a category will display the reports available, with reports such as Payroll Register, Payroll Comparison, Payroll History, and Deductions Summary available, along with numerous others. All reports can be emailed, archived, exported to Microsoft Word or Excel, or saved as a PDF.

Payroll Relief allows easy import of time data from both Advantek and SwipeClock, and an Excel template is available to import data from other systems. The product also offers seamless integration with AccountantsWorld products such as Accounting Power and Practice Relief, as well as integration with both QuickBooks and Sage 50 Accounting.

Payroll Relief offers an unlimited number of client portals, with firm users able to restrict portal access for each client individually, if desired. Access to the portal allows clients to enter payroll data via the portal, or users can restrict access to a spreadsheet interface that can be imported into the product. Once a client receives portal access, they can in turn provide their employees with access to payroll related information such as current and historical paystubs as well as W-2’s.

Payroll Relief does not currently offer any HR tools or resources, but a partnership with outside vendors has provided access to additional services such as Pay-As-You-Go Workers Compensation, 401(k) Administration, and Payroll Debit Cards.

Payroll Relief provides all new users with a professional development consultant, and AccountantsWorld also offers free education and training, with users able to access help and support options directly from the application, with toll-free support available during regular business hours. Users can also access support via email as well.   A variety of recorded webinars and training videos are offered as well.

Payroll Relief, like all AccountantsWorld products, is designed for accounting professionals. A terrific payroll solution for firms offering payroll and related services, Payroll Relief can be used as a stand-alone payroll application, or in conjunction with other AccountantsWorld applications for a robust, completely integrated system.

2018 Overall Rating – 5 Stars