I use Quickbooks to process payroll for my two employees on a biweekly
basis. I use their payroll module. They're raising the price to $169 a
year for their payroll subscription service, which all it does it
provide an updated tax table. I am furious that they keep on raising
the price.

Is there something cheaper that can compute tax and state (Calif)? I
need it to keep a running total for reporting purposes. Is there a
simple program out there?

Hi Lochness. Did some research and Quicken Payroll seemed to be the
most popular choice: http://www.intuit.com/payroll/quickpayroll/ and
it is supposed to be pretty easy to use. The software is free, but it
cost $129 a year for updates which is cheaper than Quickbooks. It
seemed like many of them were charging for updates.

There are a lot of other payroll packages out there. Here are some
others that I found. Not sure what your other business needs are so
you can look over these packages and decide if one of these might suit
you. Hope this helps! -shiva777


Peachtree: http://www.peachtree.com/peachtree2003/peachtree_accounting.cfm
NetLedger: http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227836-7-2702699.html
SurePayRoll: http://www.surepayroll.com/online-payroll/quickbooks-payroll.htm
CSS Accounting: http://www.ccsaccounting.com/Payroll/Payroll.htm
Industrial Strength Payroll:
http://www.phoenixphive.com/software-isp.html
Payroll Companion: http://www.distsoft.com/
Zpay: http://www.distsoft.com/
Peoplesoft Payroll: http://www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/products/line/hrms/payroll_na/features.jsp
FlexPay: http://www.adaptasoft.com/flexpay/

Here are a bunch from Download.com. Most of these are probably cheaper
shareware programs that might meet your needs since you only have two
employees: http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=payroll&tg=dl-2001

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Request for Answer Clarification by lochness-ga on 28 Apr 2003 16:36 PDT

Many of your suggestions cost more than what I have. I might as well
keep Quickbooks then. I just need something to keep track of payroll
for my TWO employees. Very simple, no 401k, no ira, just fed and state
and a report so I can pay the governement.

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Clarification of Answer by shiva777-ga on 29 Apr 2003 07:04 PDT

Lochness, I'm glad that you asked for a clarification because it
triggered an idea for me to look at some shareware programs that for
some reason I didn't think to look through yesterday. Here are a few
more inexpensive ones that might be enough to meet your needs.

Payroll 2002($15): 
http://download.com.com/3000-2066-10145888.html?tag=lst-0-1

PayWindow Payroll ($69.95): 
http://download.com.com/3000-2064-10172436.html?tag=lst-0-7


Payroll 2003 ($19.95):
http://download.com.com/3000-2047-10182437.html?tag=lst-0-8

Medlin Accounting ($45)
http://download.com.com/3000-2066-10109530.html?tag=lst-0-12

EZ Accounting Pro ($39.95)
http://download.com.com/3000-2066-6764479.html?tag=lst-0-20

Timeclock 2000 ($49)
http://download.com.com/3000-2651-10133074.html?tag=lst-0-22

You might just ask your bank what payroll options it offers. When I
was involved in setting up a small nonprofit that had only a small
payroll, doing payroll with the nonprofit's bank (Wells Fargo) was
quite reasonable. You'd get paperwork which you can summarize and
enter into QuickBooks.