7 Best Nanny Payroll Services for Household Employers in 2021

Among the shortlisted providers, Paychex scored the highest at 4.40 out of 5 in our evaluation. More than the basic payroll and HR features, Paychex provides dedicated payroll specialists along with employment and income verification services to improve your nanny payroll experience. It is also readily accessible online or through its mobile app to ensure fast and efficient payroll delivery. Moreover, Paychex offers new hire reporting, accounting and HR productivity tools, benefits (retirement and health plans) management, and time tracking integrations to help you do more for your nanny.

However, the downside of using Paychex for nanny services is that you have to pay more for federal tax filing, unlike when you use Patriot, SurePayroll, and HomeWork Solutions. Its year-end report filing (W-2s and Schedule H) will also cost you extra. It does, however, come with a self-service portal for your nanny to access pay stubs and personal data. When you need help, you can even call its 24/7 live phone support. Moreover, real-time users praised its intuitive platform and fast payroll delivery. The only concern they raised was that sometimes payroll specialists are unresponsive and there were noticeable glitches with its third-party integrations.

Although pricier than the rest of the listed providers, HomePay scored well at 3.88 out of 5 in our evaluation. Aside from its payroll and HR features, HomePay also tracks PTO accruals for you and provides you with lifetime access to payroll records and pay stubs. You can also rely on HomePay for unlimited support for you and your employees by a team of household employee payroll experts.

It also has a no-penalty tax guarantee (Service Accuracy Guarantee) and a reimbursement program (Happiness Guarantee) that assure you of accurate calculations and remittance and excellent service. However, with HomePay, only federal and state taxes are filed, and just like Paychex, you need to pay extra for your year-end tax preparation. It also has very few user reviews, which is why it is rated low on popularity.

Among the nanny payroll services on the list, Patriot is the most cost-effective, earning it a 3.84 out of 5 in our evaluation. It offers a full-service payroll and a do-it-yourself option that costs only $10 monthly plus $4 per employee if you choose to file your taxes. It is popular with household employers because both plans offer unlimited payroll runs using any gadget and it also allows different payroll frequencies and customizable hours, money, and deductions. You can also pay your household employee through direct deposit or manual checks.

Using its full-service plan, you can file and pay all federal, state, and local taxes, regardless of location, similar to SurePayroll and HomeWork Solutions. Patriot, like most other providers, offers a penalty-free guarantee. Although it does not do as well as Paychex for HR features, users recorded positive reviews for Patriot, citing ease of use and responsive customer support. It also has budget-friendly plans that will entice any household employer, with a one-month free trial to boot (the same as Paychex).

Just a few points behind Patriot, SurePayroll is a cloud-based, affordable household employer payroll service that showcases all the features you could need to manage your nanny payroll. Using it, you can process unlimited payroll runs, withhold and pay payroll taxes on the federal, state, and local levels, and pay your nannies using direct deposit or through printing checks. It makes managing your payroll and tax compliance easy. However, it does not take care of your federal tax ID set up, and you need to pay extra to make SurePayroll file your W2s and Schedule H forms.

With a 3.82 out of 5, SurePayroll still has more solid features in our evaluation than other providers in the market. It gives nannies mobile access to their payroll records at half the cost of some outsourced household employer payroll services. It also does new hire reporting and offers a no tax penalty guarantee to ensure accurate tax filing. Real users like how straightforward to navigate SurePayroll’s platform is. The only complaints so far are its over-the-top security verification feature, which requires repeated log ins, and some system glitches.

HomeWork Solutions (HWS) is an all-in-one payroll and tax compliance solution. Unlike all the other providers, it offers direct payment from the employer, aside from direct deposit and live check emailed to the employee. It also pays your taxes on the federal, state, and local levels. The downside for budget-friendly employers is that HomeWork Solutions has a setup fee and the year-end report also costs extra. Aside from that, both Essential and Complete Payroll plans are for a single employee only.

With 3.66 out of 5 in our evaluation, HomeWork Solutions is similar to Paychex with its dedicated payroll representative. It also offers free HR consultation and provides employer and employee online management. Aside from that, you’ll have unlimited telephone consultations with its in-house tax experts for the latest domestic employment laws and regulations. It doesn’t handle workers’ compensation, but it generates Form 1040 Schedule H and W-2. Although there were few reviews, users commended HWS for its reliability and responsiveness when there are issues. Others admitted that it is quite expensive compared with the other providers and sometimes they cannot get a hold of customer support.

ADP Run is one of the more popular payroll providers on this list. It runs a complete payroll service, complete with tax withholding and filing. Although not the cheapest alternative, ADP Run can coordinate with taxing agencies (state and local) on tax deposits and returns for you. However, unlike all the other providers, ADP Run is not responsible for depositing and filing the federal taxes (Form 1040ES) and Schedule H. It just impounds federal taxes, which you will use to pay it before the deadline. You also need to pay extra for workers’ compensation

With 3.66 out of 5, in our evaluation, ADP Run has a self-service portal that allows you to run payroll anywhere at any time. You can pay employees via direct deposit or print your own check using ADP’s system. Your nanny can also view their pay stub or even pay history for up to three years using the employee portal on mobile. Users also liked that it is easy to use during payroll and it has new hire reporting and employee onboarding features. Others, however, think that the interface is overwhelming and customer support has had a longer turnaround recently.

As one of the top nanny payroll software, Savvy Nanny Payroll is an affordable, do-it-with-you service. It’s great for paying multiple nannies, because you can run payroll for two at a flat rate of $40 monthly. The service automatically runs your nanny payroll, withholds and deposits payroll taxes on the state and federal levels, and prepares your year-end tax forms for you. You can pay your employees via direct deposit. All these services are available in all 50 states, ideal for households that often travel.

With 3.63 out of 5, in our evaluation, Savvy Nanny is a reliable payroll tool. However, it does not help with employer ID and tax set up and it charges a lot of client error fees. The client error fees are for any inconvenience that you subjected Savvy Nanny such as insufficient funds, or failure to provide a state account number after repeated requests.

With Savvy Nanny, your household employee cannot access employment records or view pay stubs since it doesn’t have an employee self-service portal. Users, however, find it easy to use and implement. They like that it sends out email payroll and tax reminders so that employers won’t miss out on anything, including deadlines.