Payroll year-end fees by provider in 2026
Most payroll providers headline a monthly sticker that excludes year-end W-2 and 1099 fees. The fees are real money: $25 per W-2 at Patriot, $6 at ADP, $7 at Paychex, $0 at Gusto and OnPay. For a 10-employee business, the gap is $250 a year between worst and best. This page is the side-by-side honesty.
Year-end W-2 and 1099 fees by provider
| Provider | Per W-2 | 5 EE year-end | 10 EE year-end | 25 EE year-end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gusto Simple / Plus | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| OnPay | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Square Payroll | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| QuickBooks Payroll | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Homebase Payroll | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Roll by ADP | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Wave Payroll (tax-service state) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Wave Payroll (self-service state) | $6 | $30 | $60 | $150 |
| ADP Run Essential | $6 | $30 | $60 | $150 |
| Paychex Flex Essentials | $7 | $35 | $70 | $175 |
| Patriot (Basic or Full) | $25 | $125 | $250 | $625 |
Patriot vs Gusto at 10 employees once year-end fees are counted
Monthly sticker comparison: Patriot Full Service at $77 per month versus Gusto Simple at $100 per month. Patriot saves $23 a month, or $276 a year. This is what most cheap- payroll comparisons stop at.
Add year-end W-2 fees. Patriot charges $25 per W-2, so 10 employees is $250 at year-end. Gusto includes W-2. The Patriot annual all-in cost is $924 base + $250 W-2 = $1,174. The Gusto annual all-in cost is $1,200. Patriot's annual advantage drops from $276 to $26.
At 25 employees, the gap closes further. Patriot annual base is $137 monthly x 12 = $1,644 plus $625 W-2 = $2,269. Gusto annual is $190 monthly x 12 = $2,280. The difference is $11. Essentially tied.
At 50+ employees, Patriot's year-end fees can push past Gusto's all-in cost. The cheapest payroll provider ranking flips entirely at higher headcounts once year-end fees are honestly accounted for. This is the structural argument for including W-2 in the monthly fee: providers that do (Gusto, OnPay) win at scale.
The pricing-structure logic and why it bites scaling customers
Patriot's per-W-2 fee is a deliberate pricing design. Patriot's per-employee monthly fee is the cheapest in the market at $4. To make that pricing sustainable, Patriot collects a larger annual fee at year-end via W-2 charges. The combined revenue per customer over a year is roughly comparable to OnPay's monthly $6 per employee, but distributed differently.
The customer-facing effect is that Patriot looks cheapest in cheap-payroll comparisons (which usually focus on monthly sticker), wins the customer, and surprises them with the year-end bill. The surprise is a recurring source of customer churn for Patriot.
For a business that genuinely will run at low headcount permanently (1 to 5 employees), Patriot Full Service is the cheapest all-in option. For a business that plans to grow past 10 employees, OnPay or Gusto Simple is the lower all-in cost once year-end fees compound.
Year-end fees on enterprise-tier products are commonly negotiable
ADP and Paychex year-end W-2 fees are commonly listed at $6 to $7 per form set, but they are negotiable. New customers signing 12-month contracts can often get the W-2 fee waived for the first year. Existing customers can sometimes negotiate down on renewal.
For an ADP Run customer at 10 employees paying $119 per month base and $60 in year-end W-2 fees, asking for a waiver is a $60 annual saving with no downside. If the sales rep says no, you have lost nothing by asking.
The Paychex pattern is similar. Paychex pricing is also fully negotiable and the year-end fee waiver is a common concession on multi-year contracts. Ask explicitly. The published price is the starting point of a negotiation, not the final price.
The line items to look for in January and February
Year-end charges typically appear on your January or February invoice. The line items to look for:
- W-2 processing or "annual W-2" fee (Patriot, ADP, Paychex)
- W-3 transmittal fee (often bundled with W-2)
- 1099-NEC processing for contractors paid more than $600 in the year
- 1099-K reporting where applicable (less common for traditional payroll)
- State year-end annual reconciliation (some states)
- SSA filing or "annual SSA submission" fee
If you see a line item not on this list and you cannot explain it, call support before paying. Year-end "fee inflation" is a known industry pattern where providers add small additional line items each year that customers do not notice. The biggest single cumulative cost saving in payroll is reading the bill carefully.
Other hidden-cost and reality-check pages
Hidden fees (existing)
Eight charges providers bury
Annual cost (existing)
12-month all-in with add-ons
Cheapest Patriot plan
Where Patriot wins and loses
Cheapest payroll for 6-10 employees
Where year-end fees flip ranking
Free payroll honest review
Where 'free' is real, where it isn't
Switching from Paychex to cheaper
Paychex year-end surprises
Common questions
Which payroll providers include year-end W-2 in the monthly fee?
Gusto Simple, OnPay, Square Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll Core, Homebase Payroll, and Roll by ADP all include W-2 and 1099 filing at year-end at no extra charge. Patriot, ADP Run, and Paychex charge per form at year-end on top of the monthly fee.
How much does Patriot charge for year-end W-2 filing?
$25 per W-2 form set at year-end. The set includes filing the W-2 with the SSA, sending a copy to the employee, and the matching state filing if applicable. For 5 employees that is $125. For 10 employees that is $250.
How much does ADP Run charge for year-end W-2?
Typically $6 per W-2 form set at year-end on ADP Run Essential. This is in addition to the monthly fee. The amount is sometimes negotiable in the original contract; confirm in your quote.
How much does Paychex charge for year-end W-2?
Typically $7 per W-2 form set on Paychex Flex Essentials. Paychex year-end fees are commonly the source of customer surprise because the published monthly sticker excludes them.
What about 1099 filing at year-end?
Providers that include W-2 filing typically include 1099-NEC filing at no extra cost. Providers that charge for W-2 typically charge a similar per-form fee for 1099-NEC. Patriot is $25 per 1099 set; ADP and Paychex are $6 to $7.
Do year-end fees change the cheapest-provider ranking?
Yes, at higher headcounts. At 1 to 3 employees the year-end fees are too small to change the ranking. At 10 employees the $250 Patriot W-2 fee narrows Patriot's $276 monthly-sticker advantage over Gusto to $26 net. At 25 employees the year-end fees can flip the ranking entirely.