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Square Debuts Payroll Service for Small Businesses

July 1, 2015         By: Melanie Macinas

San Francisco-based financial services company Square is gradually positioning itself as a one-stop shop for merchants by diversifying its product offerings beyond credit card payment processing.

In the past year, it has launched several paid features using its point of sale Register app, including analytics, marketing features, appointment scheduling, cash advances, and invoices.

Now, the company is launching Square Payroll, a program designed to help businesses better track employee hours and financial records.

Square began testing the payroll service as far back as September with 600 merchants in California. The program is now available in California for $20 per month plus $5 per month per employee paid. Square plans to expand the service to more states soon.

Square Payroll has the ability to track and pay both salaried and hourly workers. Employees just clock in and out from the Square Register app to automatically log their hours into the system.

The payroll software also allows employees to set up direct deposits and online pay stubs, and handles tax and withholding computations, along with payments and filings for businesses.

Square is set to take on payroll giants ADP, Intuit’s QuickBooks, and Paychex with its payroll service. To distinguish itself from competitors, Square Payroll mainly targets small businesses with fewer than 100 workers and those with hourly employees, which accounts for majority of the six million businesses in the US.

Statistics show that three out of every five workers in the country are paid hourly, while 90 percent of businesses have less than 20 employees.