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Gusto

Gusto

Overview

What is Gusto?

Gusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.

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Recent Reviews

Gusto is Great

9 out of 10
April 06, 2024
Incentivized
We have a small business with one employee, and then at times, employees or contractors in other US states. Gusto was able to onboard …
Continue reading

Gusto User Review

8 out of 10
April 06, 2024
Incentivized
an onboarding tool to get documents setup for new employees. Also, the main payroll platform for checks, there was also a savings tool for …
Continue reading

Gusto Review

8 out of 10
April 06, 2024
Incentivized
we use Gusto as our HR platform - it also includes all our payroll information. It is a consolidated one stop shop for all HR needs and …
Continue reading

Gusto Review 10/10

9 out of 10
March 30, 2024
Incentivized
We use Gusto as our main payroll software for all of our clients as well as our own payroll. Not only is Gusto a reliable source for …
Continue reading

Great for payroll

10 out of 10
March 28, 2024
Incentivized
We are a small business with a relatively small team of 6 people. We use Gusto for everything related to payroll, managing paid time off, …
Continue reading

Terrible with State Taxes

1 out of 10
February 14, 2024
Incentivized
Works well for payroll, but it has been a nightmare with State taxes. I have been trying to resolve the issue since June, and I cannot get …
Continue reading
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 6 features
  • Direct deposit files (161)
    8.3
    83%
  • Pay calculation (158)
    8.2
    82%
  • Salary revision and increment management (136)
    8.0
    80%
  • Benefit plan administration (109)
    7.7
    77%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Simple: A streamlined set of automatic payroll features and benefits integrations

$40/month + $6/mo per person

Cloud
$12 per employee/contractor

Plus: Comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools for employers building a great place to work

$80/month + $12/mo per person

Cloud

Premium: Scalable payroll and benefits, expert HR, and dedicated support for the complex needs of growing teams

Exclusive pricing, contact Gusto

Cloud

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://gusto.com/product/pricing?utm_s…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $46 per month
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Product Demos

Gusto Payroll Demo

YouTube

Gusto Demo: Refreshingly intuitive payroll, benefits, and HR for small business

YouTube
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Features

Payroll Management

Provides for pay calculation and benefit plan administration, in addition to managing direct deposit, salary revisions and payroll tracking.

8.4
Avg 8.2
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Product Details

What is Gusto?

Gusto is an online people platform that aims to help small businesses take care of their teams. According to the vendor, their products and services help customers onboard, pay, insure, and engage their team in one integrated, easy-to-use platform used by over 300,000 modern employers. Gusto aims to make taking care of teams a joyful experience, while helping users manage their bottom line and stay compliant. Gusto promises that users will feel like a pro no matter how complicated the situation.

Full-service payroll - According to the vendor, Gusto makes running payroll easy. Gusto automatically calculates and files payroll taxes, help keeps companies compliant, and provides awesome support.

Benefits that work for any team and budget - Gusto aims to make offering employee benefits a reality for any small business. Whether an organization is buying health insurance for the first time or wants to integrate an existing plan with payroll, Gust can provide expert guidance. They'll help with add-ons like 401(k), life insurance, and commuter benefits, which the vendor says allows companies to create a competitive package that attracts and retains employees. The vendor promises their modern, intuitive software and team of licensed advisors helps customers navigate benefits with confidence.


Gusto Features

Payroll Management Features

  • Supported: Pay calculation
  • Supported: Payroll history for each employee
  • Supported: Benefit plan administration
  • Supported: Direct deposit files
  • Supported: Payroll tracking and auditing
  • Supported: Salary revision and increment management

Gusto Screenshots

Screenshot of Flexible, automated payrollScreenshot of Time-off trackingScreenshot of The source of truth for HR data

Gusto Video

Gusto is more than payroll and benefits

Gusto Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported CountriesUnited States
Supported LanguagesEnglish, Spanish

Frequently Asked Questions

Gusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.

Gusto starts at $46.

Paychex Flex, ADP Streamline Payroll, and QuickBooks Online are common alternatives for Gusto.

Reviewers rate Reimbursement management highest, with a score of 9.5.

The most common users of Gusto are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(429)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 179)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Jake Wiesenthal | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Gusto helps me find extremely helpful information on my health benefits at a glance. It also helps me track my Paid Time Off and sick time so that I know where I stand. They also send helpful notifications when I get paid. All in all, their very user-friendly platform makes things extremely easy for our business as a whole and me on an individual level.
  • Benefits information.
  • Paycheck notifications.
  • PTO and sick time tracking and info.
  • Provide contact info on health benefit providers.
  • Project time off based on days accumulated.
  • Along with day off projections, the system allows users to put in anticipated days off in the future so they can see how that impacts their future totals over time.
It is well suited for general high-level Human Resource type information. Still, it could be even more helpful if it provided links or contact information for healthcare companies that you might have a plan for. It also shows information about your time off, which is nice, but it would be even more helpful if you could see the time projections over time.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I think it is a unique HR and Payroll app that is handy for personal banking. I no longer need to rely on brick-and-mortar banks to access my payroll funds at any time. I also personally use the app for its spending tracker pie chart, which helps me understand how I spend my money better. I enjoy that it is a free app and that Gusto upgraded me to the premium account, which is a perk of my employment at my organization.
  • The spending tracker is really helpful.
  • I enjoy how employees can get paid up to 2 days early once their paycheck is recognized.
  • The way the billing breakdown/transaction record and app are easy to read.
  • I already think the app is streamlined, and I've had no complaints about using it.
  • Since [I think] people can get a Gusto account mainly through an employer organization, the only doubt I had is that I thought my employer could see all of my financial information in my account. But after a 2-minute phone call and reassurance that this fear would violate federal banking laws, I was relieved. Maybe a disclaimer could be included on the webpage or in employees' onboarding that would put people with that concern at ease.
It is streamlined and the user interface is very user-friendly and modern.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am an employee at a mental health clinic and use Gusto daily. Gusto is extremely simple to navigate and the graphics used create a welcoming experience. The time tracker works wonderfully, and requesting time off is a breeze. All the information I need regarding my pay is readily available as well. I also love having access to the company calendar, so I know what to expect during the workday. Gusto has been the most accessible and most efficient system I have used as an employee of an organization.
  • Clocking in/out.
  • Time Off Requests.
  • Payroll information.
  • Company Calendar.
  • Graphics
  • When clocking in/out, sometimes the am/pm flips after I type everything in, and I cannot change the time (e.g., 30 on 5:30) without clicking outside the screen first.
Gusto is extremely useful for managing payroll systems, requesting time off, and tracking work hours. The company calendar is also handy for knowing when coworkers are out of the office and to whom to wish happy birthdays or work anniversaries. Gusto is very simple to use, with many features that benefit me as an employee. I also appreciate the fillable tax forms.
April 10, 2024

Love Gusto!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Gusto as our internal payroll software as well as use it to manage payroll for over 50 companies that we provide services to. Depending on the client, 4 day processing for direct debit causes issues, but this is typically for a client that has previously had insufficient funds.
  • HR and Tax forms. LOVE THIS!!
  • Auto filing 941s, 940 and SUTA reports.
  • Paying Tax Liability.
  • User Friendly.
  • 941 Filings: would like to be able to file a "final" 941 for companies that are closing down.
  • 941 Fillings: Would like the option to file an amended 941.
  • Paystub email alert to employees. Come day before payment instead of mid day on pay day.
As a small firm that manages payroll for 50+ clients, Gusto provides ease in payroll processing. We have cut processing time way down with Gusto. Auto generated 941s, 940s, W2, and 1099s are a game changer. We also enjoy the several billing options.
April 06, 2024

Gusto is Great

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have a small business with one employee, and then at times, employees or contractors in other US states. Gusto was able to onboard these other people, and and advise me on setting up the state employment accounts for them.

As other issues that come up from time to time, I email or chat with Gusto and they are very responsive in getting things cleared up.

Monthly payroll otherwise is a breeze.
  • Setting up new employees
  • Helping out on difficult issues
  • Reminding me about tasks that need to be done
  • Reminding me to remove '"dormant" employees that haven't worked for awhile from the active payroll.
  • It would be nice to have a state-by-state article about all 50 state employment regulations and procedures.
If you have one or more employees, and don't want to spend much time doing payroll-related activities, Gusto will get the job done for you. They have real people working in the office who are ready to help you with issues that come up. Otherwise, their web site is very straightforward, allowing you to do the regular stuff yourself that's needed to get new hires onboarded and set up with state employment agencies. They also have other programs for your overall employment strategy like employee savings accounts and medical insurance. I'm happy with them.
April 06, 2024

Gusto User Review

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
an onboarding tool to get documents setup for new employees. Also, the main payroll platform for checks, there was also a savings tool for saving for a rainy day that employees use.
  • Very simple login and navigation throughout system
  • Easy to get documents and records retrieved
  • The pay stubs are very organized and easy to read
  • the first log in attempt for onboarding was a bit confusing
  • it kept reminding me to use the rainy day fund
very well suited for businesses with a simple payroll process to track and allocate time to one general bucket of work. Not very well suited for more complex workflows for businesses needing to allocate time to different workers comp rates or pay rates.
April 06, 2024

Gusto Review

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
we use Gusto as our HR platform - it also includes all our payroll information. It is a consolidated one stop shop for all HR needs and provides everything employees need to access paystubs, benefits and anything in between.
  • Payroll
  • Benefits
  • Tax Forms
  • in app chat
Gusto is well suited for small businesses and their HR needs. It may not be best for large organizations.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
My organization used it for payroll. It was a small financial services firm and it was the perfect tool to make sure that everyone got paid and that other aspects of the business like stock, equity such as carried interest, and time off were managed in an easy to understand manner.
  • payroll
  • benefits
  • human resoruces
  • insurance
  • local and federal tax forms
  • net-to-gross calcualtions
  • i wish they had early direct deposit
  • time tracking can be confusing for freelancers
It is very good for full time employees and those who are on a more normal pay cadence. Some of their time accounting features are a bit more difficult to use for freelancers or those who aren't salaried employees, but that was not something that I frequently encountered while using this product.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Gusto has been primarily used by us to process payroll and contractors. It makes payroll seamless and easy as it is very user friendly and easy to get started. It also is great in handling tax forms and reporting.
  • Hiring of new hires (ease of onboarding)
  • Providing tax forms
  • Entering/running payroll
  • Functionality is slow when over 100 employees
  • Time tracking has room for improvement
  • Interfacing for benefit enrollment with outside parties doesn't always work.
Gusto is very appropriate for sub 50 employees and potentially up to 100. It is best when Gusto is the acting benefits broker as there are some hiccups when a third party is used.
March 30, 2024

Gusto Review 10/10

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Gusto as our main payroll software for all of our clients as well as our own payroll. Not only is Gusto a reliable source for payroll processing, the "upload a notice" feature has been incredible for our firm. The support that Gusto offers firms like ours is unmatched with 3 different communication options.
  • Support
  • Helping with any notice received.
  • Amending quarterlies as needed.
  • I would like to be able to file a return as final through the software.
Gusto is the perfect payroll software for start up and growing companies. It is much more user friendly than some other payroll processing software's. I would recommend Gusto to any business owner or accounting firm with payroll clients. Their support is unmatched and has an answer for your questions/issues in a timely manner.
Lisa A Lewis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
My Clients that use Gusto provide me with Accountant access to their Payroll in order for me to retrieve reports, etc. I find that it is not a user-friendly site as well as it takes significant time to figure out what the bank transactions actually are and what they match on the reports.
  • Timeliness
  • Large agency payroll
  • Unsure
  • Transaction matching to reports
  • More user friendly reporting is desired
I do not recommend Gusto as I use other payroll providers which I find are much better. Gusto does not suit my needs in any way unfortunately.
March 28, 2024

Great for payroll

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are a small business with a relatively small team of 6 people. We use Gusto for everything related to payroll, managing paid time off, distributing tax documents, and so forth. This service addresses many problems associated with handling payroll, it makes everything really easy. That is the full extent of our use case.
  • Time off dashboard
  • Communication
  • Easy access to tax docs
  • Faster direct deposit
  • Easier to navigate PTO dashboard
  • More communication about deadlines, etc
Gusto is great for any company of any size
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Gusto has caused me 10 times more problems than they have solved. I was doing my own payroll before hiring them to try to delegate some of my work, and hopefully reducing the stress I experience as a business owner. I was referred by a colleague to Gusto as a trustworthy payroll service, and I can with complete confidence say I will never take advice from that person again.
  • Nice looking website
  • Great at distracting you with referral incentives
  • Employees do a fabulous job reading scripts in a foreign language
  • Delaying responses to urgent matters until after they accrue late fees
  • Paying your payroll taxes effectively
  • Saving you money in late fees by filing your payroll on time
  • Actually doing what they promise to do
  • Not paying UI rate changes after you already paid them yourself and then holding your money hostage for 2 months.
  • Getting the idea that they are the tax police and actually a contracted service out of their protocol.
If you can imagine what your experience would be like hiring a company of circus monkeys to handle your payroll it would be an improvement over what I have experienced with Gusto. They have not only cost me hundreds of dollars in interest on payments they "forgot" to make but also hours and hours of time on hold trying to speak with someone not just reading from a script. I have never in my professional career experienced this level of complete lack of comprehension and organization. Take your payroll needs elsewhere, I promise it is not worth working with this company.
February 14, 2024

Terrible with State Taxes

Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Works well for payroll, but it has been a nightmare with State taxes. I have been trying to resolve the issue since June, and I cannot get a serious person to help me. They have not been able to file our state taxes as a result. They say there's a missmatch between out EIN and name with the stat and the IRS, but there is nothing, we have called and called and called and emailed and emailed and emailed, and no help.
  • messing up state taxes
  • payroll
  • ease of use
  • Customer service with tax issues
They're fine for the basics, but when you get to state tax things, they are a mess. They claim there is a missmatch between our EIN and or name and what the state has and the IRS has, so they cannot file taxes and will block the account. We have double checked about a million times with the state and IRS, there is no missmatch. Something in their system is triggering this. And I have called and called, emailed and emailed, and am never able to get an answer. Get a new clueless and very nice person every time. Never get to a person who can actually help. The more I read online, the more similar issues I am seeing from other people. We will leave them as soon as we can.
Joi Podgorny | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I used Gusto to process payroll for my small business
  • Payroll
  • 1099
  • W2s
  • Customer Service
When I used the service, they were fine, but it's been years. They were happily cashing my monthly payments while I didn't use the service. When I finally cancelled, they kept charging for another 2 months. I asked for a refund and they refused. Then I called my bank to dispute the charge and they apparently have a little used charge that only allows a dispute in 24 hours of charge. Awful customer service and a shame for a service that was helpful in 2020.
Ruth Ann Moss | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Gusto to manage HR operations and process payroll/taxes. It handles all of our organizational HR processes and we use it broadly across the team. In Gusto we store personnel information, file new hire reports, onboard folks, and store important documentation, such as performance reviews, pay history, signed employee handbooks, etc.
  • Processes payroll
  • Files taxes, new hire forms, etc.
  • Stores team information
  • Provides high quality customer support
  • Providing more differentiation between user roles
  • Ease of time tracking
  • Embedded reimbursements or ability to sync with a platform like Divvy
Gusto is incredible for our small team. I don't know enough about the options offered to large teams to know if it's well suited for companies with 100s of employees - but for our size, it's truly a flexible, cost-effective, excellence solution. Our payroll is not highly complex, so I'm unsure of how the solution would fare with a wide variety of employee and pay classifications, but the system seems prepared to handle it.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Gusto to on-board new hires, to pay our staff, and manage integrated benefits. Gusto has a delightful, intuitive and easy-to-use on-boarding process. Best of any system that I've tried, and every aspect of it is digital – including all document signing. This is great for virtual teams! We also easily, paperlessly and seamlessly sign up staff for benefits. Everything is integrated and simple to administer. We also use Gusto to manage payroll for all our clients. It's easy to toggle to different clients, and stay on top of the varied payroll and reporting schedules that our clients have.
  • Process payroll, generate payroll reports, keep track of quarterly and annual filings
  • Integrated with a host of other specialize applications to customize personnel management by client
  • Billing is simple to understand and easy for master account holders to manage when they have multiple clients.
  • The interface is terrific. Best SaaS, in my opinion!
  • Export reports directly to Excel instead of CSV.
  • Allow admins to build better, customized workflows and notifications to managers.
I would love to use Gusto for companies of all staff sizes but I understand that larger businesses will opt for a PEO and willingly give up flexibility and features to do that. However, I love that Gusto can be customized on so many levels – offer letter, adding documents for new hires, document verification, deploying documents to existing staff, tracking who has signed, helping staff select health benefits (love that this is an entirely paperless process!), screen share support (love this!), a host of integrations with other apps are easy to link up. The interface is delightful (love the piglet!), HR support for Master Admins is very professional. There are templates, forms, rules and updates provided for all States. And the reports are so easy to read, customize and understand. Amazing!
May 02, 2023

Gusto is great!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Onboarding and Payroll Gusto makes both very easy!
  • Onboarding is super easy for me and my employees.
  • Payroll is easy to enter.
  • Customer service is very quick and friendly.
  • Recently, they have let the ball drop a bit with submitting some state forms on time.
  • Other than this recent issues with timely forms, they have been great!
Our day-to-day needs are met with ease. Our employees are able to onboard super quickly and easily, and their pay is consistently delivered. On my end, entering my employee's work times is quick and painless. The fact that Gusto runs in the background with very little thought on my end (other than the recent issue with submitting some state forms in a timely manner), is a testament to how well they do.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Gusto for Payroll, Benefits Administration, HR Compliance, Employee Engagement Surveys, and Expense Reports.

We us it to administer employee payroll 2x month.

We use it for mandatory HR training to remain compliant with state laws.

We use it for monthly engagement surveys.

We use it for expense reporting on personal cards for reimbursement.

We use it to administer benefits and FSA management.
  • Payroll
  • Modern UX
  • No mobile app for expense reporting
  • Does not support international employees well
I would recommend for those who have primarily US Based employees or are willing to have a separate system/work arounds for those that are employed outside of the US.
Zafar Abraev | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The Gusto was used for payroll of the contractors and employees, who were worked for our company. It made tasks which were apprehended with ease and it helped to achieve in establishing a working system. The great option of Gusto, is that it gives you to choose the 1099 for you or you can do it yourself, which is very vital if your contractors from different states. And the last, but not least a positive greeting at your dashboard and upon completing tasks give you a really nice feeling in your work routine.
  • It is great to keep up yor payroll schedule
  • Good report management
  • You can even consider international contractors for payroll
  • It gives forehand alert for upcoming bank holidays
  • The scheduled payment always arrives on time
  • In my personal opinion, so far so good. However, my evaluation only as a user
If you are managing small business and you deal with different contractors on a distance work, Gusto is the best solution for your payroll and accounting system. It is working like Swiss watches and any support you needed you'll receive it from professionals in a step-by-step explanation. Any business starts with relations, and the best improvements of your relationship is timely managed payment which is a very good provided by Gusto.
April 26, 2023

Gusto, get Paid!

Todd Glad | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Within Alleva we used Gusto to get pay, to request time off, and to manage and organize an org chart. All these things were super easy to use in Gusto, and were simple enough that not much training was needed. The pay stubs were easy to find, and it was simple enough to request time off, and check time off balances.
  • Get Paystubs to the User
  • Helps with Requesting Time Off
  • Organizing an Org Chart
  • They always are looking for referrals.
  • Sometimes it wasn't super easy to find time off requests
I was able to check my paystubs on a regular basis easily, and I requested time off through the interface and that went really well. When I needed to look at the org chart it was laid out plain and simple for me. When I started there filling out documentation, and my own person info was pretty easy. All In all I think it's a great tool.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our organization uses Gusto to manage benefits and payroll and using it has been a great experience so far. I can easily modify bank account information, split up paychecks between banks, request time off, and manage my benefits. Gusto makes it easy to handle a lot of administrative tasks that were previously headaches.
  • Easily split paychecks between different banks
  • Request and manage time off hours
  • Health insurance and benefit enrollment
  • Submit receipts for reimbursement
  • N/A
Gusto is great one stop shop tool for HR and administrative tasks. It empowers workers to edit their payroll information, enroll for benefits, and request time off. It can also accomplish other tasks like tracking expenses and reimbursements. On the employee side of things, it's a pleasure to use and makes life much easier.
Teri Maco | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We advise small business startups, and strongly recommend Gusto for their payroll needs. Gusto is affordable, and very easy to use. After the start up phase (which is a bit cumbersome registering with all the state taxing authorities), gusto is on point, and payroll is completed accurately, all the time. Problem solving is thorough when a notice is received from a taxing authority. All of the employees I have dealt with have been professional and helpful.
  • Automatic payroll
  • correcting errors
  • being proactive
  • Registering with state tax authorities
  • Too many emails
  • Adjustments are sometimes difficult
S Corps where it is important to have reasonable compensation. Excellent at integrating benefits. Not appropriate with a temp firm or multi state. Then a larger firm is more appropriate
Elisha Montgomery | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Gusto to run payroll and pay all payroll taxes. We didn’t want to run into end of the year headaches due to unpaid or inaccurate payroll taxes. We also wanted an easy way to work with contractors and easily provide them with the proper payroll forms. Gusto made doing this very straightforward.
  • Automatically handles payroll taxes
  • Gathers state and federal tax info for you
  • Helps with sending out employee onboarding information
  • It also sends out both digital and physical notifications with ease
  • If I had to come up with some extra features I’d say: complete business tax help
  • Mobile app
  • N/A
Gusto has worked perfectly for my small business payroll needs. It was easy to setup and has required very little maintenance to ensure I stay compliant with local and federal regulations. However it is not a full accounting suite, so you need to make sure you have an accounting solution set up for your businesses needs.
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