Outsourced Payroll Services and Processing
An offshore and outsourced accounting and tax staffing company built for CPA, EA, and accounting firms. We run multi-state payroll processing, payroll tax filings, and compliance inside your systems, with multi-layer review before anything reaches your desk.
What is payroll outsourcing?
Payroll outsourcing is hiring an outside provider to run some or all of your payroll – calculating pay and deductions, processing pay runs, filing federal, state, and local payroll taxes, and producing reports and year-end forms. You keep ownership of the payroll. The provider does the work to your standards.
With Accountably, that work runs inside your existing software and follows your documented procedures, so outsourced payroll services do not mean handing over control. They mean handing off the production while a trained team and a multi-layer review keep accuracy where it belongs.
Time Back
Pay runs, tax deposits, and filings handled on a schedule so your hours go to advisory and growth, not data entry.
Fewer Errors
Multi-layer review catches the rounding, withholding, and garnishment mistakes that single-person payroll misses.
Compliance Coverage
Multi-state rules change constantly. We track filings and registrations across all 50 states so deadlines do not slip.
No Coverage Gaps
A dedicated team with backup-trained staff and continuity planned in means pay runs ship on schedule even when a single in-house hire would be out.
What Outsourced Payroll Services Cover
Full-cycle payroll processing services and payroll administration – from pay runs to tax filings to reporting – handled by U.S.-led, trained teams inside your existing systems.
Multi-State Payroll Processing
Accurate payroll runs across multiple states with proper tax withholding, deductions, and garnishment handling.
Payroll Tax Filings
Timely preparation and filing of federal, state, and local payroll tax returns with zero-error accuracy.
Compliance Management
Stay current with evolving payroll regulations across all jurisdictions your clients operate in.
Employee Onboarding Support
Streamlined employee setup with proper documentation, tax forms, and benefits enrollment processing.
Benefits Administration Support
Accurate tracking and processing of health insurance, retirement plans, PTO, and other employee benefits.
Payroll Reporting & Analytics
Comprehensive payroll reports including labor cost analysis, tax liability summaries, and custom management reports.
Benefits of Outsourcing Payroll
The reasons businesses and accounting teams move payroll off their desk – and what separates a structured provider from a staffing body.
Save time every pay cycle
Calculating pay, cutting deposits, and filing returns can eat 5 or more hours a week. Outsourcing hands those hours back for advisory and client work.
Reduce errors and penalties
Misclassified wages and late deposits trigger IRS and state penalties. A multi-layer review catches them before filing, not after a notice.
Stay compliant across states
Withholding, unemployment, and new-hire rules differ in every state. A dedicated team tracks the changes so you do not have to.
Protect sensitive payroll data
SOC 2 aligned controls, role-based access, encrypted exchange, and a zero local storage policy keep pay rates and bank details secure.
Tap specialist expertise
Trained payroll specialists handle garnishments, multi-state filings, and year-end forms day in and day out – depth a single hire rarely has.
Run on a predictable schedule
Pay runs, tax deposits, and filings happen on a fixed cadence with turnaround SLAs, so deadlines hold even as headcount and pay schedules grow.
The trade-off most guides warn about – loss of control – comes from vendors who take payroll onto their own black-box platform. Running payroll inside your systems, to your SOPs, keeps visibility and control where they belong.
How Much Does It Cost to Outsource Payroll?
A few billing models dominate the market. Which one fits depends on your headcount, pay frequency, and how much review you want built in.
Per-run / per-employee
Most national payroll companies charge a base fee plus roughly $30 to $100 per employee per month, scaling with pay frequency and add-ons. Simple to start, but the per-head cost climbs as you grow and review is usually basic.
Dedicated outsourced team
Priced by capacity, not per head. A dedicated specialist or team runs payroll inside your systems, so the cost is flat as headcount grows, with multi-layer review and turnaround SLAs built into the engagement.
Within those two approaches, providers bill in a handful of standard ways. The model matters less than what it includes, so read the review and SLA fine print before you compare headline rates.
| Billing model | How you pay | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Per employee per month | A base fee plus roughly $30 to $100 per active employee each month. | Small, steady headcounts that want one per-head number. |
| Per pay run | A charge each time payroll is processed, so weekly costs more than monthly. | Businesses on a single, infrequent pay schedule. |
| Flat monthly fee | One predictable monthly price no matter how many runs you process. | Teams that run frequent cycles and want a fixed line item. |
| Dedicated team / capacity | Priced by the capacity assigned, not per head, with multi-layer review and SLAs built in. | Growing or multi-entity payroll where per-head pricing keeps climbing. |
What actually moves your price: employee count, how many states you file in, pay frequency, the number of off-cycle and bonus runs, garnishments and benefit deductions, and whether year-end W-2 and 1099 work is bundled in. Two businesses with the same headcount can land on very different numbers once multi-state filing and weekly pay enter the picture.
Weigh the direct fee against what in-house payroll really costs: salary, benefits, software, training, coverage when staff are out, and the penalty risk of a missed filing. The full pricing breakdown walks through both models for your situation.
Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Payroll
Outsourcing is not the right answer for every business. Here is the straight version of what you gain and what you give up.
What you gain
- Hours back every pay cycle, redirected to advisory and growth instead of data entry.
- A second and third set of eyes on every run, so withholding and garnishment errors get caught before filing, not after a notice.
- Multi-state compliance tracked for you as withholding and unemployment rules change.
- Coverage that holds when one person is out, because a backup-trained team runs the cycle.
- Cost that scales with capacity rather than climbing with every new hire.
What you give up, and how we handle it
- Some direct control. We run inside your software on your SOPs, not on a black-box platform, so you keep visibility into every run.
- A handoff of sensitive data. SOC 2 aligned controls, role-based access, and a zero local storage policy govern who can touch pay rates and bank details.
- An onboarding period. Mapping states, calendars, and rules takes about three weeks before the first clean run.
- Dependence on a provider. Documented SOPs mean the process owns continuity, not one specialist who could leave.
When keeping payroll in-house still makes sense: a single-state business with a small, steady headcount and a capable person already on staff may not need to outsource at all. The math tips the other way once payroll crosses several states, headcount moves up and down through the year, or the person running it is too senior to be spending the time.
Outsource Your US Accounting & Tax to a Trusted Partner
Trained U.S.-led offshore teams for accounting, tax, payroll, and audit support. Documented SOPs and turnaround SLAs. No resume farming.
How Outsourced Payroll Works in 3 Weeks
A structured onboarding that gets payroll handled fast – without the black-box, untrained-vendor problems outsourcing is known for.
Discovery Call
We learn your payroll systems, pay schedules, state requirements, and review expectations.
Team Assembly
We match payroll specialists with experience in your industries, states, and software.
SOP Training
Your team trains on your payroll procedures, compliance checklists, and review standards.
Pilot Engagement
Start with a small pilot. We handle the payroll, you review. Scale when ready.
Most engagements complete onboarding in 2–3 weeks and scale to full capacity within 60 days.
In-House vs. Outsourced Payroll
The average U.S. payroll specialist costs $60K–$75K in salary alone. Add benefits, payroll tax, training, supervision, and turnover and you are looking at $80K–$95K fully loaded per head before they process a single pay run. A fully managed, outsourced payroll team converts that fixed overhead into scalable capacity with review built in.
| Comparison | U.S. In-House Staff | Accountably |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Payroll Specialist (Annual) | $70,000 – $85,000 | $26,000 – $34,000 |
| Staff Payroll Processor (Annual) | $50,000 – $62,000 | $19,000 – $25,000 |
| Time to Productivity | 3–6 months | 2–3 weeks |
| Multi-State Experience | Varies | ✓ Standard |
| Multi-Layer QC Built In | ✗ Not included | ✓ 4-tier review |
| Backup Coverage | ✗ No coverage | ✓ Always covered |
| Payroll Processing SLA | No guarantee | ✓ Same-day processing |
| Turnover Risk | High – 8–12 mo avg | ✓ 98.7% retention |
We Work Inside Your Software
Our teams train on your tech stack during onboarding – no migration needed.
QuickBooks Online
Certified TeamGusto
Certified TeamADP
Trained TeamPaychex
Trained TeamOnPay
Trained TeamKarbon
Trained TeamBill.com
Trained Team+ Any Other
We'll TrainOffshore Payroll, Built for Multi-State Compliance
Most payroll outsourcing companies sell a platform. We sell delivery – a trained, U.S.-led offshore team running your payroll to documented standards, with review that generic providers do not show you.
Multi-layer review
Preparer, senior, quality, and final review before anything is filed or released – the mechanism behind accuracy, not just a promise of it.
All-50-state coverage
Registrations, withholding, unemployment, and new-hire reporting tracked per state, with deposits and Forms 941, 940, and year-end W-2s on calendar.
Continuity built in
Backup-trained staff and a U.S. manager who owns the engagement, so a pay run never depends on one person being available.
Every safeguard sits on SOC 2 aligned security and compliance controls, with engagement options from a single project to a dedicated or white-label delivery team.
Four-Stage Review on Every Pay Run
A resume tells you who someone was. Review tells you what reaches your desk. Every cycle passes through four named stages before a deposit, a filing, or a register is released, so what a partner sees is already review-ready.
Preparer
A trained payroll specialist runs the cycle inside your software, against your SOPs and state calendar.
Senior Review
A senior checks wages, withholding, garnishments, and multi-state allocations against the prior period.
Quality Review
A quality reviewer ties deposits and Forms 941, 940, and state filings back to the register before release.
Final Review
A final pass confirms the cycle is clean and review-ready, so the partner signs against settled work, not a draft.
The signature and the final call stay with your firm. The four stages underneath are what make that signature safe.
What You Keep, What We Carry
Outsourced payroll only works when the line is drawn cleanly. Your firm keeps every decision that carries its name. We carry the preparation, the workpapers, and the review underneath.
Your Firm Keeps
We Carry
Outsourced Payroll for Businesses and Firms
The model flexes to two common situations. The work is the same; the framing differs.
For small and growing businesses
Outsource payroll for your business without hiring a payroll person or learning multi-state filing rules. We run pay cycles, deposits, and year-end forms inside your software, so you get clean payroll without the headcount.
For accounting firms and in-house teams
Add white-label payroll capacity without adding headcount. Our team runs client payroll under your brand and your SOPs, freeing senior staff from production and protecting margins during peak cycles.
What to Look For in a Payroll Outsourcing Company
Use this as a checklist when comparing outsourced payroll providers. The right partner clears all six.
1. Real compliance depth
Ask how they handle multi-state registrations, garnishments, and quarterly filings – not whether they "support compliance," but how.
2. Transparent pricing
You should be able to see the model and the range. Hidden "get pricing" gates and surprise add-on fees are a warning sign.
3. Documented security
Look for SOC 2 aligned controls, role-based access, encryption, and a zero local storage policy – payroll data is high-risk.
4. Works in your systems
The best providers run payroll inside your software, so you keep visibility and control instead of moving to a black box.
5. Continuity and backup
One specialist out should not stall a pay run. Ask about backup-trained staff and who owns the engagement.
6. Defined SLAs and review
Turnaround commitments and a documented review process separate a delivery partner from a staffing body.
How One CPA Firm Eliminated Payroll Penalties and Freed 30+ Hours Per Week
A 15-person CPA firm struggling with multi-state payroll across 120+ client employees. Late filings caused IRS penalties quarterly. Within 60 days, Accountably standardized the entire payroll workflow – zero penalties since deployment.
"We haven't had a single payroll penalty since switching to Accountably."
– Managing Partner, regional CPA firmFrequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about outsourced payroll services and how the model works.
Start With a Free 40-Hour Proof Pilot
Proof before your name is on the line. Before any live client file moves, we run a fixed 40-hour block of your own payroll work on your SOPs, through the full four-stage review, so you grade real work against your standard before you commit.
40 hours of your work
A real payroll block prepared on your software and SOPs, not a sample task or a generic test file.
Graded by you
You review the output and the workpapers and decide whether the work earns a live file. The work has to clear your bar.
Start with 1 to 3, scale seat by seat
Placed and ramped in about 3 to 4 weeks. Begin with one to three specialists and add seats only as trust builds.
Backed by the guarantee
Not the right fit in the first 30 days and we replace them free. On rolloff we shadow and hand over so the workflow never takes a hit.
Cut Compliance Time Without Compromising Quality
Trained offshore payroll staff and multi-layer review, placed inside your firm in ~3–4 weeks. Not a fit in 30 days? We replace them free. Don't trust us. Test us.