Payroll Co
Small-business payroll with W-2, 1099, and direct deposit handled cleanly
Payroll Co is a payroll engine under your brand for small-business operators in the US. It handles W-2 employees, 1099 contractors, hourly and salaried pay, multi-state tax computation, direct deposit, and quarterly + annual filings — the not-glamorous-but-non-negotiable payroll mechanics. It is built to integrate cleanly with Clockwise (timesheets in) and QuickBooks / Xero (GL out), and to plug into a customer's existing benefits broker rather than try to be one.
Key features
- W-2 employee payroll with multi-state tax computation (50-state coverage)
- 1099 contractor payments with year-end form generation
- Direct deposit via ACH with same-day option for emergency runs
- Hourly + salaried + bonus + commission pay shapes
- Multi-pay-cycle support (weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, monthly)
- Quarterly federal + state filings, annual W-2 / 1099 generation
- Time-off accrual ledger linked to Clockwise (when paired)
- Employee self-service portal (paystubs, W-2 download, address change)
Architecture
Built on the Vertical SaaS Stack.
What you get
Payroll Co launches as a multi-tenant SaaS under your brand. The tax engine and ACH rails (Symmetry + Modern Treasury) are wired during onboarding; the customer’s first parallel-run payroll cycle (real numbers, no real money) validates the migration before going live on real direct deposits.
Sample customer story (placeholder — illustrative only)
A 110-employee multi-state restaurant group licensed Payroll Co to replace ADP after one too many surprise charges. The win after one quarter was the multi-state W-2 generation reducing a four-week February scramble to a two-day generate-review-file cadence — the staff accountant who had handled it for years described that as “the first February I have not dreaded since I started here.”
What’s NOT included
- Benefits administration / 401k. Out of scope; integrates with the customer’s existing broker (Guideline, Human Interest).
- HRIS / org-chart / performance reviews. Use a partner HRIS; Payroll Co is payroll-only.
- International payroll. US-only at launch. International expansion is a paid Pass-3 engagement and runs on a different timeline.
- PEO services. Payroll Co is software, not a PEO; we partner with PEOs rather than be one.
Whitelabel surfaces
| Surface | Themeable | Custom domain |
|---|---|---|
| Employer admin | yes | yes |
| Employee self-service | yes | yes |
| Email pay-day notifications | yes | yes (sender domain) |
| PDF paystubs and W-2 / 1099 | yes | yes |
Related apps
Affilipath
Affiliate and referral program platform with clean attribution and payouts
Boardroom
Async standups and meeting notes for distributed teams who hate sync calls
Clockwise
PTO, time tracking, and timesheets without ten years of HRIS bloat