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Payroll for one nanny or a few employees: withholding, stubs, quarterly totals and W-2s — $12 a month

Full-service payroll charges $45–75 a month to do arithmetic you can check. This ledger does the arithmetic — every pay run's federal, state and local withholding from the 2026 tables, Social Security and Medicare with the wage base, your employer taxes, a proper stub — and keeps the year straight: the quarter's Form 941 or Schedule H figures, deposit dates, and W-2 copies in January. You deposit and file (free, through EFTPS, SSA and your state); it keeps the numbers and the paper right. Everything stays in your browser. Free for one employee with watermarked stubs; $12 a month for unlimited employees and clean documents.

• 2026 tables — federal, all 50 states + DC, city taxes
• Household or business — Schedule H or Form 941/944
• Stubs, checks, W-2s — printed from the ledger
• Private — nothing uploaded; download a backup any time

What it does each pay period

1. Run payroll: pick the employee, enter hours (or the salary comes in), and the run shows gross, each withholding line, net pay, and your employer taxes — Social Security and Medicare match, FUTA on the first $7,000, state unemployment at your rate.
2. Record it: the ledger keeps year-to-date totals per employee, applies the $184,500 Social Security wage base and the Additional Medicare threshold on actual YTD wages, and prints the stub — an employer payroll record, not an employee-made statement.
3. Pay: print a check onto your own check stock from the same run, or pay by transfer and keep the stub.

Each quarter and at year-end

• Business employers: the quarter's wages, withholding, Social Security and Medicare (both shares) and month-by-month liabilities, ready for Form 941, plus EFTPS deposit dates.
• Household employers (nanny, caregiver, housekeeper): the year's Schedule H figures, the $3,000 threshold applied, and a note of what to add to your own withholding or estimated payments.
• January: W-2 Copy B/C for each employee with boxes 1–6, 12 and 16–19 filled from the ledger, W-3 totals, and instructions to file Copy A free through SSA Business Services Online. Deadline reminders download to your calendar.

What it does not do — on purpose

It does not move money, file returns or hold your data. Full-service providers charge for those; most small employers do not need them — EFTPS deposits take two minutes, SSA W-2 Online is free, and state portals take the withholding. The ledger tells you what and when. If you would rather never think about it, a full-service provider is the right buy.

Honest by construction

• Withholding is computed from the employee's W-4 elections and the tables — there is no box to type a tax amount.
• Stubs say “employer payroll record, prepared by [employer]”; the employer's name and EIN print on every document.
• The employer, not the employee, runs the ledger: an employee cannot generate an employer's payroll for themselves and the stub says who prepared it.