What payroll costs in Bernie - and what a late deposit costs
Payroll in Bernie, MO is sold on a monthly price and settled on a penalty schedule. Providers quote a $20-$150 dollar base plus $4-$15 per employee; the IRS charges 2% to 15% for deposits that land late, and Missouri sets its own unemployment-tax rate, minimum wage and final-paycheck deadline on top. All three layers are on this page with sources.
Two free marketplace paths: one form brings back multiple vetted payroll providers who know they are competing for the account.
Payroll services quoted to Bernie businesses in 2026 run $20-$150 a month in base fees plus $4-$15 per employee per month, which puts a ten-person Bernie payroll at roughly $70-$250 a month before year-end filing and add-on charges.
The federal penalty for depositing employment taxes late runs 2% up to 5 days late, 5% through 15 days and 10% beyond that, rising to 15% after an IRS notice goes unanswered - percentages applied to the deposit, not to the monthly fee a Bernie business is comparing.
Missouri sets the new-employer unemployment tax rate by state formula rather than as one flat number, and applies it to the first $9,000 of each employee's wages per year - the state-set portion of every Bernie payroll, shown in full in the table below.
Every payroll provider sells the same three promises - run the checks, file the taxes, keep you compliant - and prices them differently enough that identical Bernie businesses pay double what their neighbors pay. The comparison that matters is not the base fee: it is the all-in monthly total at your headcount, the per-state filing surcharge if anyone works remotely, and what the contract says happens at renewal.
Payroll pricing is quoted per month and consumed per employee, which is why the same provider can look cheap to a three-person shop in Bernie and expensive to a thirty-person one. Multiply the base fee by twelve, add the per-employee fee times your headcount times twelve, add the year-end filing charge, and only then compare providers.
Get competing payroll quotes - one form, several providers
Two free marketplace paths: one form brings back multiple vetted payroll providers who know they are competing for the account. Competing quotes are the only reliable way to see what your headcount actually prices at.
External links go to the marketplaces' own sites and forms. This site may earn a referral fee at no cost to you - it never changes the data above, and no individual payroll provider pays to appear in our research.
What payroll services cost in 2026
| What you are buying | 2026 published range | The number that actually matters |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly base fee | $20-$150/month | Meaningless alone - always price it with your headcount attached |
| Per employee, per month | $4-$15/employee/month | At 10 employees this is most of the bill: $70-$250/month all in |
| Fully outsourced processing | $30-$100/person/month | Quoted per person rather than base plus fee - bundles compliance work |
| Year-end W-2 and 1099 filing | $4-$8/form | Included at some tiers, billed at others - ask before January |
| Additional state filings (remote staff) | $6-$20/state/month | One remote hire in a new state can change the plan you need |
| Off-cycle or bonus runs | $5-$50 each | Bonus season is when this line shows up on the invoice |
| Setup / implementation | $0-$200 | Commonly waived at small-business tiers - ask, it is negotiable |
| A late federal deposit | 2%-15% of the deposit | The reason the monthly fee is the second-most important number (IRS IRC 6656) |
What a payroll quote should include - and what the padded version sells
A complete quote includes
- The all-in monthly total at your real headcount, not just the base fee
- Full-service tax filing and deposits stated as included, with the returns named
- Year-end W-2 and 1099 filing priced, or explicitly included
- Every state you employ someone in, registered and filed for
- A written error policy: who pays penalties and interest on a provider-caused late deposit
- The renewal price and the cancellation notice window, in writing
Red flags in a payroll proposal
- A headline price that excludes tax filing, sold back as an add-on
- Per-employee billing that continues for terminated employees
- 'Compliance guaranteed' with no named returns and no penalty policy
- Refusal to show filing confirmations for a sample client month
- An introductory rate with an unstated renewal price
- Payroll history you cannot export in full if you leave
What Missouri adds to every payroll
| Question | Missouri answer |
|---|---|
| State unemployment tax - new employer rate | 2.376% for 2026 (same for mining and construction); 1.00% for 501(c)(3) nonprofits (range 0.0% - 6.0%, NOT including the maximum rate surcharge or the contribution rate adjustment) |
| Taxable wage base per employee | $9,000 - Primary: labor.mo.gov DES tax rates page gives the 2026 taxable wage limitation of $9,000 (down from $9,500 in 2025, $10,000 in 2024, $11,000 in 2022) and a 2022-2026 new employer rate table showing |
| State minimum wage | $15.00 - Employers must pay tipped employees at least 50% of the minimum wage ($7.50) plus enough to reach $15.00 total |
| State income tax withholding | graduated, roughly 2%–4.7% |
| Local payroll or income taxes | Yes — two cities levy a 1% earnings tax on wages, withheld by the employer: St |
Missouri's taxable wage base ratchets down as the trust fund stays healthy - $11,000 in 2022 to $9,000 in 2026 - and construction gets no penalty rate, paying the same 2.376% new employer rate as everyone else.
This page is independent research, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Federal deposit rules and state wage, unemployment and final-paycheck laws change - verify current requirements with the IRS and your state labor and revenue agencies, or with a licensed CPA or attorney, before acting.
What a Bernie quote should contain
- Employee count, split into salaried, hourly and contractors - contractors are usually priced separately or per 1099
- Every state where an employee physically works, including remote staff - each one commonly adds 6-20 dollars a month
- Pay frequency, and how many off-cycle or bonus runs you expect in a year at 5-50 dollars each
- Whether full-service tax filing and deposits are included at the quoted tier or sold as an add-on
- Year-end W-2 and 1099 filing: included, or 4-8 dollars per form
- Implementation or setup fee, and whether prior-year payroll history is migrated at no charge
- Benefits, garnishments, time tracking and workers' comp integration - each is commonly its own line
- The renewal price, in writing, alongside the first-year price
Why only these two paths
Withheld income tax and the employee share of FICA are trust funds - money that was never the company's. That is why the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty can reach an owner or officer personally, and why 'the company can't pay' is not an exit from this particular bill.
Hard bar, verifiable by anyone: free to the buyer, and structurally multi-vendor - one request produces several competing quotes, which is the check against over-quoting that no single sales relationship provides. Marketplaces that charge buyers or route to a single seller are not listed, and any listed path that drops below the bar gets removed. We list no individual payroll brand as a recommendation: this site does not rank providers it cannot audit filings for.
| Path | What it is | Why it made the bar |
|---|---|---|
| BuyerZone | B2B quote marketplace covering payroll services and other business categories | One form, multiple vetted providers respond with competing quotes - free to buyers |
| 360Connect | B2B quote marketplace with local service-area matching for payroll solutions | Matches up to five suppliers per request, 100% free to buyers |
The Bernie decision path
A late deposit costs 2% to 15% of the deposit; a full year of payroll processing for a small Bernie employer costs less than one such penalty on a modest payroll. Price the service second and the failure mode first.
This page is independent research, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Federal deposit rules and state wage, unemployment and final-paycheck laws change - verify current requirements with the IRS and your state labor and revenue agencies, or with a licensed CPA or attorney, before acting.
Get competing payroll quotes - one form, several providers
Two free marketplace paths: one form brings back multiple vetted payroll providers who know they are competing for the account. Competing quotes are the only reliable way to see what your headcount actually prices at.
External links go to the marketplaces' own sites and forms. This site may earn a referral fee at no cost to you - it never changes the data above, and no individual payroll provider pays to appear in our research.
Common questions
If my payroll provider files late, who pays the IRS penalty?
The employer is responsible to the IRS regardless. The IRS states that outsourcing payroll duties does not relieve an employer of the responsibility to deposit and report employment taxes - the notice follows your EIN. Many providers offer a contractual guarantee to cover penalties they cause, but that is a private contract, not a change in tax liability. Get the guarantee, its limits and its claim process in writing.
Is it worth switching payroll providers?
Switching costs are lower than most owners assume - the practical constraints are having complete year-to-date wage data, timing the move at a quarter boundary where possible, and confirming the new provider registers you in every state. The savings case is rarely the base fee; it is usually the elimination of per-state, per-form and off-cycle charges that accumulated with a legacy plan.
Is payroll priced per employee or per payroll run?
Both models exist. The common structure is a monthly base fee plus a per-employee fee, which is predictable regardless of how often you run payroll. A per-run model charges each time you process, which favors businesses paying monthly and penalizes weekly payrolls. Ask for the all-in annual total under your actual pay frequency - that single number makes the two models comparable.
Can I do payroll myself instead?
Yes, and for a single-state business with a handful of salaried employees, software plus discipline is genuinely cheaper. The variables that change the answer are multi-state employees, hourly overtime, tipped wages, garnishments and turnover - each multiplies the number of deadlines. For scale, an in-house payroll specialist averages about $64,865 dollars a year in 2026 wage data, so the real comparison for most small employers is software plus your own hours versus a service.
What is the penalty for depositing payroll taxes late?
The federal failure-to-deposit penalty runs 2% for deposits up to 5 days late, 5% for 5-15 days, 10% beyond 15 days, and 15% if the tax remains unpaid more than ten days after the IRS issues a notice. Filing Form 941 late adds a separate penalty of about 5% of the unpaid tax per month, capped near 25%.
What do I need to give a payroll company to get a quote?
Employee count split into salaried, hourly and contractors; every state where someone physically works; pay frequency; expected off-cycle runs; and whether you need benefits, time tracking, garnishments or workers' comp integration. Providing all of it up front is what makes competing quotes genuinely comparable - and it is exactly what a marketplace form collects once and sends to several providers.
Get competing payroll quotes - one form, several providers
Two free marketplace paths: one form brings back multiple vetted payroll providers who know they are competing for the account. Competing quotes are the only reliable way to see what your headcount actually prices at.
External links go to the marketplaces' own sites and forms. This site may earn a referral fee at no cost to you - it never changes the data above, and no individual payroll provider pays to appear in our research.
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