Payroll Relief
Firm-only US payroll: run client pay, file the taxes, and transfer a journal into QuickBooks Online or Accounting Power.
Best for
US CPA firms and payroll service bureaus that want to run many client payrolls from one login and bill the client themselves.
Not ideal if
A DIY owner or office manager who wants to buy payroll this week. AccountantsWorld will not sell it to you, and there is no public per-person price.
Standout
Accountant-only payroll with a per-paycheck or per-payroll bill, batch processing across clients, and a vendor that does not sell to those clients.
About Payroll Relief
Payroll Relief is AccountantsWorld's cloud payroll desk for US accounting firms. The firm adds a client employer, imports employees, and runs payroll from exception hours, a spreadsheet, or a client login. Payroll Relief calculates withholdings, sends direct deposit, pays federal and state payroll taxes, e-files the forms, and can pay child support. After the run you transfer a general ledger report into QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks, Sage 50cloud, CS Accounting, or AccountantsWorld's own Accounting Power. The client's books still close there. AccountantsWorld sells only to accountants and does not sell to the firm's clients.
It does not replace QuickBooks Online or Xero. Gusto and OnPay are owner-facing payroll with published per-person prices and a mapped journal into QuickBooks Online or Xero. Patriot sells cheaper payroll plus an accounting module under one login. Rippling is the broader HR, IT, and spend platform. Payroll Relief's job is the opposite: the CPA or payroll service bureau runs many clients from one login and keeps the vendor from competing for those clients. After-the-Fact Payroll is the same vendor's compliance-only product when the client already ran payroll elsewhere.
Firms that stick want a pay-per-check or pay-per-payroll bill instead of a monthly seat on every client, plus batch W-2s and 1099s and a portal so hours and stubs do not live in email. Accountants on r/taxpros and r/Accounting cite a short run once EFT setup is done, and the option to let the client enter hours.
What people who used it say
What they tend to like
Pay when you run a check
Accountants on r/taxpros and r/Accounting describe buying a bank of paychecks (or paying per run) instead of a monthly seat on every client, including once-a-year S-corp payrolls.
A short run once EFT is live
r/taxpros users say clients can email hours, fill the spreadsheet, or enter hours in the software, and the firm reviews and files. One firm said each CPA/EA now runs their own payroll after leaving QuickBooks Desktop payroll.
Firm login, not the client's MFA
Accountants like having their own login and reports without waiting on the client, plus a vendor that will not sell payroll around them.
What they hesitate about
EFT setup before the first clean run
r/taxpros calls the EFT application for electronic tax payments arduous. Until that is done, the software is not the hands-off bureau pitch.
Older tax-calc misses
One r/taxpros accountant said they left about 10 years ago after two tax-calculation errors in a year that forced amended W-2s and 941s, and that support did not make it right. Treat as a historic complaint, not a 2026 test.
The iOS app looks abandoned
App Store version 1.0.4 shipped 28 May 2021 (4 ratings). Play Store had a 18 Dec 2024 update. Staff still work in the web app.
How it hits your books
- Replaces your ledger
- No
- QuickBooks Online
- Yes
- Multi-entity
- Yes
- Inventory
- No
- 1099s
- Partial
- Payroll
- Yes
The firm exports or transfers a general ledger report after the run. The client still closes in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Sage 50cloud, CS Accounting, or Accounting Power. Payroll Relief is not the ledger.
The CPA is the user. Reports, W-2s, 1099s, and archived forms live in Payroll Relief and Cloud Cabinet. There is no DIY year-end package for an owner to email a different CPA.
Images
Features
Run client payroll and file the taxes
The firm runs each client from exception hours, a spreadsheet-style screen, or a client login. Payroll Relief calculates federal, all 50 states, localities, DC, and Puerto Rico, sends direct deposit (including split accounts and HSA), pays payroll taxes on the due date, e-files federal and state forms plus W-2s and 1099s, and can pay child support. Brochure size range is 1 to over 1,000 employees per employer.
Batch many clients at once
Approve payrolls, print checks, email paycheck PDFs, archive forms to Cloud Cabinet, and release W-2s and 1099s to employee portals in batch. Year-end print, email, e-file, archive, and portal release can run across employers. The Snapshot screen lists upcoming payrolls and the status of e-filing and tax payments for every client.
Client hours and check printing
You set how much the client can do: no login, hours only, or almost every function. Clients can fill an exception timesheet or enter hours in the software for your review. Checks can print in your office, or you email a PDF (or drop it in Cloud Cabinet) so the client prints on site. Employee portals for stubs, W-2s, and 1099s are included.
Transfer the journal to QuickBooks or Accounting Power
The official integration page ships a general ledger report you transfer into QuickBooks, CS Accounting, Peachtree / Sage 50cloud, or Accounting Power. The 2025 brochure also names QuickBooks Online and an API that can send payroll data to an accounting system (call for the current API list). This is not a live Gusto-style mapping wizard. Xero is not named on the product or integration pages.
Employee Self Service is an add-on
ESS digitizes onboarding, training tracking, and employee data updates. It is sold as an add-on. The included employee portal is only stubs and year-end forms. Implementation includes a specialist and free phone, chat, and webinar support. New York support hours on the After-the-Fact page are Mon–Fri 9am–7pm ET; the shared onboarding page lists phone support 9am–5pm ET.
Mobile app for the firm and the employer
The free iOS and Android app shows today's payroll queue, lets staff or the employer enter and approve a run, and pushes NSF, funds-required, and rejected-form alerts. Play Store last updated 18 Dec 2024. The iOS listing last shipped version 1.0.4 on 28 May 2021. Treat the web app as the desk.
Pricing
Contact sales. Official pages publish the model, not dollars: a per-paycheck or per-payroll fee, plus ESS as an add-on and a nominal ACH fee if the firm auto-collects its own fees. A DIY 5-person shop cannot buy this. A firm running that client pays an unpublished check inventory; the owner pays whatever the CPA bills. Forum comments about a yearly platform fee or a dollar-per-check rate are not official list prices. Do not publish them.
Payroll Relief
Accounting firms and payroll service bureaus. Quote only. Official copy is a low per-paycheck or per-payroll fee, not a published dollar table.
- Direct deposit, tax deposit, and e-filing of quarterly and yearly forms
- W-2 and 1099 processing (brochure names 1099-MISC and 1096)
- Employee portals, management Snapshot, and the mobile app
- Implementation specialist, training, and live support
- SOC 2 Type II
Employee Self Service
Firms that want digital onboarding and employee-maintained data on top of the included portal.
- Digital onboarding and training tracking
- Employees update their own profile
- Sold as a module, not in the base brochure feature list
Integrations
Platforms
Audience
Pick something else instead of Payroll Relief
Gusto
Pick Gusto instead if you are the owner (or a firm that wants published per-person pricing) and you need a mapped journal into QuickBooks Online or Xero without becoming a reporting agent.
OnPay
Pick OnPay instead if you want the other owner-facing full-service payroll with a published $49 + $6 base and all-50-state filings in that sticker.
Patriot Software
Pick Patriot instead if you want cheaper DIY payroll plus an accounting module under one login, or a firm product with published prices. One r/taxpros shop said they left Patriot's annual bill for Payroll Relief; the opposite move is the published-price path.
After-the-Fact Payroll
Pick AccountantsWorld After-the-Fact Payroll instead if the client already ran payroll and you only need compliance, W-2s, and 1099s (including 1099-NEC on that product page).