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In "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," answering three questions correctly got you safely across the Bridge of Death, but a wrong answer meant, well, death. Small business owners can relate. They cross many such chasms with few safe bridges. But when it comes to cutting paychecks, help is as close as Excel with Basics Payroll 2013. This free Excel workbook simplifies the payroll process for small and medium-size businesses. It's compatible with Microsoft Excel 2007 and later; we tried it in Excel version 14 in Office 2010. While Basics Payroll 2013 is free, you must activate it to use it. And, like King Arthur, you must answer three simple questions to proceed: What is your city and state? What is your industry? And have you used Basics Payroll before?
When we first opened Basics Payroll 2013, Excel's Compatibility Checker listed components that are disabled or reduced in functionality in earlier versions of Excel, with recommendations for fixes. Basics Payroll's white font and green-on-black look don't resemble the typical Excel sheet, but everything's clearly laid out and labeled, including buttons at the top of the template for quickly opening the Data Sheet, viewing and printing checks, entering general information, and returning to the Menu. The Menu accesses the program's three steps: Submit General Info, Submit Payroll Input, and Process the Pay Period. Clicking Help opened a sheet of instructions with individually printable sections. We could also go directly to the tax tables or a particular timesheet. Since we didn't yet have any saved data, we started by entering our General Information in Step 1 and moving on to Step 2, Payroll Input. In Step 3, Print Checks, Basics Payroll offers two options, Print All Checks and Print Employee #, letting us run the payroll at once or cut checks as needed. We could center checks for neat printing, too, though we didn't have genuine check paper to test-print checks.
Basics Payroll 2013's simple, three-step process and familiar Excel format make for a short learning curve, and also make quick work of the payroll process. And it's free, if you answer these questions three!
Publisher's Description
From Small Business Friendly:
Basics Payroll is a pre-programmed Microsoft Excel Workbook. Microsoft Excel is required in order to use this application. Basics Payroll is a quick and easy payroll calculation and check-printing program. It calculates federal payroll for up to 30 employees. Prints check and check stub information to preprinted 8.5 x 11 "Top Check Format" style checks. It is an idea solution for small operations in states where no state income tax withholding is required (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming). For more see Basics Payroll State
What's new in this version: Version 6.0 includes 2013 Withholding Tables.
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All versions:
2.8 starsout of 4 votes
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Results 1-4 of 4
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"not what i was looking for. sorry, not for me"
Version: Basics Payroll 2013 5.0
Pros
not what i was looking for. sorry, not for me
Cons
not what i was looking for. sorry, not for me
Summary
not what i was looking for. sorry, not for me
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"Federal Tax does not use correct basis."
Version: Basics Payroll 2013 5.0
Pros
Snazzy interface, straightforward to understand.
Cons
CALCULATION IS INCORRECT for Federal Tax.
Summary
Federal taxes are based on the ADJUSTED GROSS income, and this program does not calculate this properly. Enter values for someone's pay, say $3000 biweekly and see what tax it calculates. Then, add a "non-taxable" pre-tax deduction of, say, 10% for a 401K contribution. This is supposed to reduce the Adjusted Gross, so less taxes are taken out. However, the calculation shows exactly the same amount of taxes to be taken out no matter if this person contributes to a 401K or not.
Yes, the Social Security and Medicare taxes ignore 401K contributions for the calculated amount, but Federal Tax does not.
No matter what I did, I could not get the values of this program to match up with my employer's pay statement to me. It was close on the SS and Medicare, but not even remotely close on Federal.
USE WITH EXTREME CAUTION. -
"easy to use, for our small company with only 2 employees it is perfect. 941, w2, w3 we can do on our own."
Version: Basics Payroll 2013 1
Pros
easy to use
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"Great! Great! Payroll Software"
Version: Basics Payroll 2013 1
Pros
Very Basic. Friendly User. This program is design for a small business. At times I have more than 30 employees and can still use the program. Highly recommend. Tech support is great by e-mail and by phone.
Cons
NONE. Try BASIC PAYROLL and is you don't like. Go to sbfac.com and try PAYROLL SB.
