• Handwritten ledgers of yesteryear give way to payroll softwareaccounts image by Alexey Klementiev from Fotolia.com
  
  Hands-on business owners have found out the hard way payroll is about much more than getting the checks out on time. According to the Internal Revenue Service, 40 percent of small businesses annually are subject to an average penalty of $895 annually due to late or incorrectly filed payroll tax reports. Software solutions have evolved to help mitigate errors, and many of the best ones offer tiered levels of service to help with the complicated reporting.
  
  

Peachtree Complete

• Venerable business suite maker Peachtree wins accolades for its ease of use and extensive feature set, but it can be a little more than a small business owner needs. Payroll functions are complete and easy to navigate including check printing, time billing and partial or complete payroll runs. Add on services aid in tax filings and reporting requirements.
  
  

MYOB Business Essentials

• Payroll features in MYOB's software are streamlined and very user-friendly. Once an employee record is entered, the only necessary input is the time worked during the specified payroll run. MYOB handles direct deposit and offers three layers of service for tax filings and reports. Do-it-yourselfers can handle those functions alone with paid support available for questions and issues.
  
  

Quickbooks

• Industry leader Intuit built its success on platforms that are easy to understand and a familiar flow chart interface. Desktop and online versions are available and both offer multiple payroll options and five levels of paid support.
  
  

RUN

• Do-it-yourselfers have an easy and dirt cheap option in RUN, the ADP Software payroll-only program that is simple to use and understand. There is no e-filing functionality for state taxes and data export is limited, but for the price and the ease of use, it provides a solid option for very small businesses.
  
  

Paycycle

• Paycycle offers a stripped down but effective and inexpensive payroll solution that interfaces with Microsoft Money or Quickbooks. It organizes records, prints checks and helps with tax filings.