Savvy Nanny Review: Is It the Right Nanny Payroll Solution for You?
Charlette has over 10 years of experience in accounting and finance and 2 years of partnering with HR leaders on freelance projects. She uses this extensive experience to answer your questions about payroll.
Robie has more than five years of content writing experience and specializes in writing about payroll and human resources software for small businesses.
This article is part of a larger series on Payroll Services.
What We Recommend Savvy Nanny For
Savvy Nanny has a comprehensive set of payroll and tax features that a household employer can use if they want to have a total hands-off nanny payroll experience. Setup is easy. You get an implementation specialist and can automate as much of the process as you want. While you are granted access to online tools for paying household workers, it lacks employee benefits options and dedicated payroll support that similar providers offer—which is why it didn’t make our list of best nanny payroll services.
In short, Savvy Nanny is best for:
- Families with multiple household employees: Savvy Nanny charges a flat monthly rate of $40 (plus $50 per year for annual tax filings) for two employees. If you have more than two workers, you only need to pay an additional $6 per employee (plus $5 per staff for year-end tax reporting)—Savvy Nanny will handle all payroll and payroll tax processing for you.
- Employers who need a pay-as-you-go payroll solution for a temporary nanny or caregiver: Savvy Nanny doesn’t require you to sign a contract, so you can cancel your account anytime—great when paying temporary household employees. When you cancel, you have two options: pay through the end of the quarter, or pay a reduced monthly rate through the end of the year. You just have to choose between the two options and then complete and sign the cancellation form using DocuSign.
- Household employers who prefer a do-it-yourself (DIY) payroll and tax solution: If you are someone who wants to run payroll yourself, Savvy Nanny gives you the option to do it manually. Whether you choose manual or automated pay processing, you’ll receive email reminders from Savvy Nanny about payroll schedules and tax filing deadlines.
When Savvy Nanny Would Not Be a Good Fit
- Families with a single household employee: If you only have one household helper, Savvy Nanny will still bill you its flat monthly rate of $40 (which covers two employees) and a $50 annual tax filing fee. If you don’t plan to hire more household staff and only need to process payments for one employee, consider Paychex, as its nanny payroll services only cost $35 per month for one household employee plus add-on fees for tax filings (pricing is based on a quote we received).
- Household employers who want to offer benefits plans to their employees: Savvy Nanny payroll services can help you efficiently manage pay processing and payroll tax filings, but it doesn’t provide access to benefits plans you can offer to your household staff. If this feature is important to you, we recommend SurePayroll, as it has health insurance and retirement plans (via its partner brokers), including a reasonably priced nanny payroll service with unlimited pay runs (Savvy Nanny charges an extra $35 if you want to re-run payroll).
- Household employers who need to track household employees’ work hours: Savvy Nanny does not have time tracking features to monitor your household employee’s time-in/off. It is also unable to monitor their sick time, vacation leaves, and paid time-off (PTO) accruals. If you’re set on using Savvy Nanny, but still need to track your employee’s time and PTO accruals efficiently, check out our top recommended time clock solutions.
- Families who want to pay employees with paper checks: Savvy Nanny will only pay household employees via direct deposit. While it has the capability to print paper checks, you’ll have to purchase the materials (check stock, ink, printer) to do it yourself. If you opt to still use Savvy Nanny and need to print paper checks, follow our guide on how to print paychecks for free to help.
Looking for something different? Read our guide to the best payroll services to find other services that may work for you.
Savvy Nanny Overview
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| No registration and setup fees | No employee self-service portal for viewing payslips |
| Direct deposit and manual check options | No employer ID and tax setup assistance |
| Emails pay stubs to employees | Limited integrations |
| Affordably priced; payroll plan covers pay processing for two household employees | Year-end tax filings and payroll re-runs cost extra |
Savvy Nanny Pricing
Savvy Nanny offers a simple payroll plan that lets you pay up to two employees. Priced at $40 per month, it comes with full-service payroll and tax filing services, including year-end tax reporting. While it doesn’t charge setup fees, you have to pay $50 per year for annual tax filings. Also, adding another nanny or household employee to your plan costs $6 monthly per employee for payroll and another $5 per employee for annual filing.
Payroll Add-Ons
Apart from the monthly plan and annual tax filing fees, Savvy Nanny charges extra for direct deposits returned from financial institutions, instances of non-sufficient funds (NSF) to pay employees, tax form corrections, and account or payroll-related errors. Here are its add-on fees.
Add-ons | Pricing |
|---|---|
Missing EIN/State Tax ID Account Number | $50 |
Entity Change | $150 |
Setup Adjustments After First Pay Run | $100 |
Re-run Payroll | $35 |
Phone-in or Fax Payroll | $100 |
Direct Deposit Returns (deposits returned from financial institutions) | $50 |
Direct Deposit Reversals | $50 |
Trace Deposits | $50 |
Non-sufficient Funds | $150 (1st NSF) $250 (2nd NSF) $400 (3 and more NSFs) |
Correct W-2s | $35 |
Amend Quarterly Returns | $150 |
Replace Quarterly/Annual Reports | $35 |
Filing Fees for Reports After Termination | $50 |
Retrieve Data Older Than Two Years | $150 |
Base Fee for Year-end Corrections to State/Federal Forms | $200 (before Feb. 28) $300 (after Feb. 28) |
Per-hour Fee for Year-end Corrections to State/Federal Forms | $75 |
Per-hour Fee for Government Audit Support | $75 |
Other Adhoc Requests | $75 |
Plan Cancellation
Savvy Nanny offers a pay-as-you-go solution; you are not bound by a contract and can cancel at any time. However, there are two options to think about before canceling. You can pay through the end of the quarter to complete quarterly tax payments and filings. You can also opt to pay a reduced monthly rate through the end of the year if you want quarterly tax payments/filings, year-end W-2s, and Schedule H reports.
After selecting the cancellation option and informing Savvy Nanny of your choice, the provider will prepare the required forms for you. You simply have to complete the form, electronically sign it (via DocuSign), and send it to Savvy Nanny.
Savvy Nanny Features
Since our Last Update:
We go into more detail on Savvy Nanny’s pay processing features, penalty-free tax guarantee, and integration and reporting options.
Savvy Nanny doesn’t have a built-in payroll software. It partners with a premier payroll solution provider, allowing it to offer comprehensive pay processing and payroll tax filing services for both first-time and experienced household employers. It also provides customer support six days a week for any payroll issues at no extra cost. Here are some of its essential features.
Payroll processing
Savvy Nanny processes payroll for any pay schedule and for both hourly and salaried employees. It supports two hourly rates for the same employee, but it doesn’t track staff attendance and PTO accrual balances. However, you can input the applicable sick and vacation pay, including an employee’s actual hours worked, overtime, allowances, and bonus payments, directly into its system for pay processing.
While you can use its system to calculate nanny tax and process payroll yourself, you can also set it to run automatically. Savvy Nanny even sends payroll reminders and employee payslips via email.
Savvy Nanny’s partnership with PaycheckRecords.com allows it to send online payslips to your household employees via email.
(Source: Savvy Nanny)
Multiple employee payments
With Savvy Nanny, you can pay employees via direct deposit, handwritten paychecks from your checkbook, and computer-printed checks you print yourself. When printing paychecks using your printer, you need a three-part voucher check stock with a top portion for the check and the bottom two portions for the pay stub.
Payroll tax management
Along with payroll, Savvy Nanny calculates, withholds, and deposits your local, state, and federal payroll taxes on time. Also, it can generate and file your quarterly and year-end federal and state tax reports, including preparing W-2 and Schedule H forms, on your behalf.
Its penalty-free guarantee helps ensure you aren’t responsible for payroll tax mistakes its representatives may make—Savvy Nanny will pay all tax filing penalties. However, when you are responsible for the tax errors, Savvy Nanny will charge you for it.
Accounting integration
While it has efficient nanny payroll services, Savvy Nanny doesn’t connect with a wide range of third-party software. As of this writing, it only integrates with QuickBooks. This means you don’t have to input payroll and tax payment details into QuickBooks, eliminating errors from manual data entries.
Savvy Nanny has an “export” button that lets you send all payroll and tax information to QuickBooks.
(Source: Savvy Nanny)
Reporting tools
Savvy Nanny offers real-time reports that are easy to read and can be exported to Microsoft Excel. While you can’t create a new report directly from the system, it lets you choose any date range when running employee- and employer-related payroll reports.
A screenshot of the reports you can run with Savvy Nanny.
(Source: Savvy Nanny)
Customer support
Savvy Nanny has a team of reliable customer support representatives who are available six days a week—Mondays to Fridays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Central time. They will assist you in completing enrollment, running payroll, and anything involving your payroll taxes and filings. You can contact its payroll support team through phone, and via email and chat directly from your online Savvy Nanny account.
Savvy Nanny also has a support team that handles new client enrollments and plan cancellations. Phone support is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time, although you can send your enrollment/cancellation queries via email.
Savvy Nanny Ease of Use
- Generally easy to use
- Guided setup for new users
- Intuitive interface
- Email reminders for payroll and tax deadlines
- Support team for account enrollments and cancellations
- Customer support via phone, email, and chat
For new clients, Savvy Nanny has an enrollment support team that can help you with documents you need to set up your account. However, it won’t assist you in getting your EIN and state account number in case you’re a new household employer. What it provides is an online guide on how to secure these numbers. If you have questions, you can contact its enrollment support team via phone and email—although email has a quicker response turnaround time compared to phone as it may take time to get in touch with a rep.
It is also relatively easy to set up—Savvy Nanny will guide you through all the steps to set up your account and pay your household staff. Plus, it has an intuitive interface that you can get accustomed to easily while it takes care of your payroll and tax filings. It even sends payroll and tax reminders to ensure that you don’t miss important deadlines.
Apart from its enrollment support team, Savvy Nanny offers on-demand payroll support via phone, chat, and email. While you have access to specialists who can answer your payroll and tax questions, it lacks a robust library of how-to guides that most payroll service providers have. And although it has an online FAQ page, the information is limited and only covers general nanny payroll information—none about its services.
What Users Think About Savvy Nanny
There are very few Savvy Nanny reviews online. Some of the feedback is posted on its website, in which reviewers said that its efficient nanny payroll and tax filing services are its best features. Meanwhile, a few users who left Savvy Nanny reviews on BBB complained about its support team’s slow response and having experienced difficulties canceling their payroll plans.
Top Savvy Nanny Alternatives
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
Best for: Employers looking for a reasonably priced nanny payroll and tax filing services | Best for: Household employers looking for full-service nanny payroll and benefits | Best for: Families that only need assistance with filing nanny payroll taxes |
Base fee from: $49.99 per employee monthly | Base fee from: $35 per employee monthly | Base fee from: $200 per employee quarterly |
Payroll tax filing fees: None | Payroll tax filing fees: Quarterly and year-end tax filings cost extra; call Paychex for quote | Payroll tax filing fees: $100 for year-end tax preparation |
Unsure which nanny payroll service to get? Read our guide on choosing the best payroll solution to find the right one for you.
Bottom Line
Savvy Nanny is an affordable payroll service for families needing to pay their nannies and household workers. It offers an online tool that helps file and pay all state and federal taxes, process salary payments via direct deposit, create pay stubs, and download payroll details to QuickBooks. Taxes are automatically remitted to the appropriate tax agencies after each payroll run instead of on a quarterly schedule, and you even get email reminders when it’s time to pay. Overall, it is a good option for employers who want help managing their household payroll.
Sign up for a Savvy Nanny account today.
