QuickBooks Payroll Pricing (2027): Plans, Promo and Fees

The plans, and the new names

Intuit now sells QuickBooks Payroll as QuickBooks Workforce. The old Payroll Core plan is now Workforce Payroll, and the other two tiers are Workforce Premium and Workforce Elite. The Core page now shows the Workforce name, so if you search for "Core" you are looking at the same plan.

This page is based on Intuit's payroll pricing, plan and disclosure pages, checked November 12, 2026.

Plan	Regular price	First 3 months (promo)
Workforce Payroll	$50/mo + $7 per employee	$25/mo base + $7 per employee
Workforce Premium	$88/mo + $13 per employee	$44/mo base + $13 per employee
Workforce Elite	$134/mo + $17 per employee	$67/mo base + $17 per employee
Contractor Payments	$25/mo for up to 20 contractors + $2 per additional contractor	50% off for 3 months

The promo is 50% off the base fee for 3 months, then the base goes back to the regular price (for example $25, then $50/mo on Workforce Payroll). It never discounts the per-employee fee. Instead of the promo you can take a 30-day free trial on the base price, and per-employee fees are still charged during it. An annual billing option shows "+10% off."

Bundles with QuickBooks Online

You don't need QuickBooks Online to buy payroll. Each Workforce plan is sold on its own, but the pricing page leads with bundles:

Bundle	Regular price	First 3 months (base)
Payroll + Simple Start	$88 + $6.50 per employee	$44
Payroll + Essentials	$125 + $6.50 per employee	$62.50
Premium + Plus	$203 + $10 per employee	$101.50

Bundles charge less per employee: $6.50 against $7 standalone for Payroll, and $10 against $13 for Premium.

What it costs at 5, 20 and 50 employees

Regular prices, standalone payroll, one state, employees only.

Plan	5 employees	20 employees	50 employees
Workforce Payroll	$85	$190	$400
Workforce Premium	$153	$348	$738
Workforce Elite	$219	$474	$984

Fees and traps

• Each additional state is $12/mo on Workforce Payroll and Premium. The promo and free trial don't discount it, and an employee's address change can add a state. Elite isn't listed for this fee.
• Same-day deposit, time tracking and certain local taxes are Premium and Elite only.
• Mineral HR advisors are included on Elite and a paid add-on below it.
• Next-day deposit for contractors costs extra.
• Background checks start at $29.99 per report.
• There is no pro-rated refund when you cancel, and sales tax is added where it applies.
• The $25,000 a year tax penalty protection is described for Elite only. It requires a setup review and forwarding the notice within 15 days of its date, and it excludes misclassification and wage-law errors.

What tax filing is included

Every plan files and pays federal and state payroll taxes, with one state included. Workforce Payroll does not file local taxes at all. Premium and Elite handle "certain local taxes," and the disclosures say some local forms must be printed and uploaded by you.

Every plan includes unlimited 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC e-filing. Employees can get W-2s in the employee portal, but Intuit's pages don't spell out W-2 filing terms for Workforce.

How QuickBooks compares on price

Workforce Payroll at $85, $190 and $400 for 5, 20 and 50 employees costs more than the cheapest full-service options, and it skips local taxes. Patriot Full Service is $62, $137 and $287. Square Payroll is $65, $155 and $335. OnPay Payroll Essentials is $79, $169 and $349, with multi-state included.

Premium, the first tier with any local filing, is $348 at 20 employees, more than double any of those three. QuickBooks makes the most sense if you already keep your books in QuickBooks Online and the bundle's lower per-employee rate helps. Its Trustpilot score is 3.7/5 from 16,965 reviews, but that covers all of quickbooks.intuit.com, not payroll alone.