Warning: that cheap payroll software cost me $450 in penalties

I signed up for a $20 a month payroll service for my landscaping crew last year. Figured it was good enough. Then I got a letter from the IRS saying I missed a quarterly filing deadline because their system didn't flag it. By the time I paid the late fees and hired a bookkeeper to fix the mess, I was out $450. Anyone else get burned by skimping on payroll tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

terryh201mo ago

yeah that's rough but honestly I almost had the same thing happen but with a different system. I was using some free trial for a payroll thing and it kept saying everything was good, then I randomly checked my account and saw they hadnt even processed half my tax forms. I just got lucky I caught it before the deadline. The thing is these cheap services dont have real humans watching the calendar, its all automated and if something glitches you're on your own. I bet half the people using those budget tools are sitting on a ticking time bomb and just dont know it yet.

james_kim1mo ago

You know, I used to think the cheap stuff was fine too, but this story changed my mind.