Managing your food truck employees may be difficult, but it doesn’t hold a candle to managing their payroll. Executing payroll manually involves a slew of complex calculations. Also, check cutting and tax withholding, which is a lot of extra work for a busy food truck owner. The price for mistakes can be steep. This may lead to a stressful (and costly) visit from an auditor or a letter from an attorney.

This is why many mobile food vendors choose to outsource payroll service. There are many options when it comes to managing payroll, including hiring an accountant and utilizing online or offline payroll services. Hiring an accountant might be ideal, but it also may not be in the budget for a small food truck start up.

This article breaks down some of top-ranked payroll service options (in no specific order) to consider for your food truck business, which will help you simplify your payment and tax-filing processes.

Food Truck Payroll Service Options For Vendors

Intuit/QuickBooks ($39/month)

Starting at $25 a month, Inuit Online Payroll is an affordable and simple option for newcomers to the world of payroll. It can be integrated with the popular QuickBooks accounting software to support federal and state tax requirements for $39 a month. It’s generally considered one of the most accessible and straightforward payroll service platforms for beginners, and it offers many helpful features, like Online Time Tracking for employees to record their hours. It provides employers with free mobile apps to manage payments. It also allows employees to check on their paycheck details online.

ADP ($160/month)

ADP is possibly the best-known brand name when it comes to payroll services. It offers a full-service system that can also be integrated with QuickBooks. ADP RUN, their small business-focused payroll service, has more features than Intuit does but it’s also significantly pricier. Additionally, some users find it slightly more complicated to set up due to a greater diversity of options.

Unlike Intuit, ADP RUN offers 24/7 customer service assistance as well as payroll mobile access for employees (rather than just employers). Due to the price, it’s often considered a better option for growing businesses that can afford its more extensive features.

ONPAY ($40/month)

ONPAY is another affordable full-service small business payroll service, which offers a lot of the perks of Intuit, like unlimited monthly payrolls, at a comparable price. It even has a few extra features, like employee compensation through Pay Cards, which are helpful for employees who may not have bank accounts. It can be integrated with QuickBooks, but lacks the ability to sync with other popular software, such as Quicken and QuickBooks Online.

Paychex ($88/month)

Another popular option, Paychex offers comprehensive online payroll services for small businesses. Like the previous two options, it can transfer payroll data into QuickBooks. It also offers very comprehensive online payroll options. Paychex does, however, charge an extra fee for certain services, such as direct deposit, and adds an extra charge per extra employee. It also lacks online employee access and a local check-printing feature offered by most other services.

SurePayroll ($80/month)

SurePayroll is a subsidiary of Paychex. It offers comprehensive web-based payroll options focused on small business. SurePayroll has all of the bells and whistles offered by popular services like Intuit. However, unlike most services, it does not charge an extra fee for adding extra states. It has the option of filing taxes for you and will work with the IRS on your company’s behalf. On the downside, it’s relatively pricey and may be a better fit for small- to medium-sized businesses rather than those with a handful of employees.

ProPayroll ($75/month)

ProPayroll is a comprehensive online payroll system with an impressive collection of features and pay options. It is known for its excellent customer service, but has more limited software integration capabilities and requires a few more additional fees compared to other payroll services.

MyPayrollHR ($75/month)

MyPayrollHR is another online option that offers integration with QuickBooks and Sage accounting software. It provides a good array of features and payment options. It offers several free features that many other services don’t. Such as not charging for the addition of extra employees, W-2 services or the inclusion of additional states. The only sticking point for smaller food truck operations may be the price. However it still can’t compare to the affordability offered by Intuit and ONPAY.

Please Note: Prices are rounded approximations of the cost of the full-service payroll and tax-filing assistance for a business with five employees. They may vary based on number of employees or additional features. These payroll service features and qualities of these service options are subject to change.

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If you use another payroll system we didn’t include, let us know. Share it in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Twitter | Facebook