Payroll calculators are useful tools that can be used by business owners (employers) and employees. It can be a viable tool for employers in organizing and managing businesses, irrespective of their size. Payroll calculators also help employees to calculate payroll taxes and have an idea of their after-tax payments.
Every pay period, many businesses and employees are confronted with payroll related challenges. It is the Human Resources or the payroll processing department’s responsibility to ensure satisfactory, timely, and accurate processing of employee payroll calculations and other related records. A good payroll calculator can help avert most of these challenges and errors.
There are countless payroll calculators in Canada; however, we’ll consider seven of the best payroll calculators with factors such as ease of use, cost, and features.
What is Payroll?
Payroll is a list of employees of a business or company entitled to receive payment and other work benefits. Payroll can also refer to the process of calculating and distributing employee wages and taxes.
What is a Payroll Calculator?
A payroll calculator or software manages and automates every payroll process aspect, including paying employees and filing employment taxes. It keeps track of the hours worked by each employee, calculates the wages, taxes, and other deductions. The payroll calculator ensures the distribution of payments via cheques or direct deposit and the payment of employment taxes to the relevant authorities.
How Payroll Calculations Work
Payroll Calculator for Employers
Regardless of the nature of your business, employees are the most important asset of any organization. Therefore, you must ensure timely and accurate payroll calculations and records.
Payroll management can be a daunting task, sometimes leading to errors, which invariably attract fines. There’s a lot to take note of when managing a business. Sometimes you forget the little but important details that could significantly impact the enterprise’s smooth running.
It can also be time-consuming and stressful to manage a business and ensure proper employee records and documents. The solution lies in using a payroll calculator for employee payments and setting up automatic direct deposit and tax deductions.
Payroll Calculator for Employees
If you have a job, you’re entitled to receive salaries or wages, either through a weekly, biweekly, or monthly payroll. With a payroll calculator, you can calculate your take-home pay, payroll deductions, and other withholding taxes.
From an employee’s paycheque, the employer/company withholds taxes, CPP and EI contributions. Therefore, online payroll calculators let you calculate your tax deductions and other payments such as overtime, vacation pay, etc. In the event of any error or discrepancies, you can easily have it rectified quickly.
Best Payroll Calculators in Canada
1. Payroll Connected
A member of the Certified Professional Bookkeepers of Canada (CPBC), Payroll Connected is an online payroll calculator that does more for less. Payroll Connected calculate Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Employment Insurance (EI), and Income Tax, as well as statutory Holiday Pay, Vacation Pay, and Overtime based on the labour standards applicable in each province or territory.
With its automatic wage and deduction payroll calculator, Payroll Connected boasts a solution that accomplishes accurate payroll deductions and wage calculations by provincial labour starboards. Besides, with Payroll Connected’s free online scheduler, employee wages can be calculated instantly in seconds by provincial labour standards using the payroll processor.
With its unique features such as direct payroll deposit, Records of Employment (ROE) and T4 electronic upload, and high-level security for access, Payroll Connected has three packages – Light, Pro, and Elite packages.
Pros
- ROE and T4 electronic upload file.
- Easy to use with competitive features.
- Accessible on mobile devices.
Cons
- Premium support only available to the Elite package.
- Covers only 25 employees. Additional employees attract extra cost.
- The lowest package (Light) doesn’t include a direct deposit.
2. CRA’s Payroll Deduction Online Calculator
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has an online payroll calculator known as the Payroll Deductions Online Calculator (PDOC). The PDOC is a free and accurate online payroll calculator for payroll deductions, including Income Tax, Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and Employment Insurance (EI).
The accuracy of this tool depends on the accuracy of the information you provide. You can equally use the PDOC to calculate salaries, commissions, pensions and verify CPP contributions and EI premiums.
The PDOC is suitable for calculating federal, provincial, and territorial payroll deductions, except for Québec. The Québec provincial government administers its provincial income tax, Québec Pension Plan (QPP) and Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP). To calculate payroll taxes and deductions for Québec, use the WebRAS or WinRAS tool from Revenu Québec.
Pros
- Free online payroll calculator.
- Integrated for mobile application usage.
- Easy to use the tool.
Cons
- Information submitted is not entirely secured.
- Printed calculations are not reliable for a statement of earnings.
- Limited features.
- Does not incorporate provincial labour laws.
3. ADP Canada
The online payroll calculator from ADP is a free and easy-to-use tool, suitable for small businesses, especially those new to payroll calculations. It has a simple and straightforward interface for salaried employees and hourly paid employees in every province and territory in Canada.
To use this free ADP payroll calculator, complete the on-screen form with the province of employment, payroll payment date claim amount, pay periods (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, or annual), and Gross salary or wages.
Pros
- Free and easy to use online payroll calculator.
- Perfect for small businesses.
- Suitable for all provinces and territories.
Cons
- Limited reporting features.
- Not suitable for large establishments.
4. Intuit Quickbooks Canada Payroll Calculator
Intuit Quickbooks is an all-in-one payroll calculator that helps in the smooth running of businesses, management of business accounting, and employee payroll organization. The free online payroll calculator offers excellent features and an intuitive interface.
You can use Quickbooks free payroll calculator to estimate Gross Pay, deductions, and Net Pay for yourself and your employees. Integrated with the labour standards of each province and territory in Canada, Quickbooks provides accurate payroll calculations with every pay run automatically.
To use Quickbooks payroll calculator, input the pay frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, or annual); select your province or territory; input the salary or hourly wages, taxable benefits and other earnings including overtime, bonus, or vacation pay; select the applicable payroll deductions from CPP, EI, and Income Tax; input the federal and provincial income tax exemptions (TD1) amount.
Furthermore, the Quickbooks Online and Quickbooks Payroll provide an opportunity for employers to run payroll and manage business accounting in one place. You can also use these tools to file taxes, track time for your employees, calculate workers’ compensation, make direct deposits, print paycheques, and so much more. These services come in three packages – Easy start ($10 per month), Essential ($17.50 per month), and the Plus ($25.00 per month).
Pros
- Easy to use payroll calculator.
- It has an intuitive interface.
- Easy integration with Quickbooks accounting tool.
Cons
- No tax-filing feature for the low-tier plan.
- Not a good value for the cost
5. WebTOD Payroll Tax Deductions Calculator
WebTOD is free to use online payroll calculator designed for Canadians. WebTOD calculates employee payroll deductions for Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Québec Pension Plan (QPP), Employment Insurance (EI), Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP), and Federal, Provincial, and Territorial income tax.
WebTOD also allows you to print a clear and easy to read payroll deductions calculation result. WebTOD calculates Canadian payroll on regular salary or wages, bonuses, pension income, and other income payments for any payroll period.
You can use WebTOD as an alternative to the CRA Payroll Deductions Online Calculator (PDOC) and other CRA payroll deduction tables. Unlike the PDOC that does not calculate Québec payroll deductions, the WebTOD payroll calculator can be used as an alternative to Revenu Québec’s WINRAS program.
Pros
- Free and easy to use.
- Incorporates CRA’s PDOC and Revenu Québec’s winRAS program.
- User-friendly interface.
Cons
- Limited features.
- No direct deposit feature.
6. Simple Pay
Simple Pay payroll calculator has a comprehensive and easy to use interface. You can use this free tool to calculate payroll for any province or territory on regular salary or wages, additional earnings, and other deductions.
Pros
- Print and manage payroll cheques.
- Simple and easy to use.
Cons
- Setup is totally manual.
- Too detailed for beginners.
7. Payment Evolution Payroll Calculator
Payment Evolution is a free and online payroll calculator for Canadians. A member of the Canadian Payroll Association (CPA), Payment Evolution payroll calculator is an easy to use tool with advanced tax deductions options.
With Payment Evolution’s payroll calculator, you can calculate the Gross Pay and Net Pay of each employee, depending on the accuracy of the information you provide, such as the province/territory of employment, number of pays per year, pay rate unit, number of hours per week, etc.
Pros
- Free to use
- Simple and intuitive interface.
Cons
- No direct deposit payment feature.
- Limited features.
