Why not just sign up yourself?
You can. Gusto's signup is friendly enough to finish in twenty minutes, and that is exactly the problem: nothing in it tells you when you have made a decision with a tax consequence. The software does what you told it to. It has no opinion about whether what you told it was right. We open self-configured accounts every year and find the same things.
Owner pay set by guess
For S corporations, the owner's salary is the highest-stakes number in payroll. Too low invites scrutiny; too high wastes payroll tax. It is a judgment call, and software will accept any number you type.
Missing state registrations
California has its own employer registrations and deposit schedules. Software will run payroll before those exist, and the notices arrive months later, with penalties attached.
Benefits in the wrong box
Health premiums, HSA contributions and retirement deferrals each have specific W-2 treatment. Mapped wrong, they land in the wrong box, and that is a correction, not a quick edit.
Mid-year history left out
Switch providers in August without entering January through July and your W-2s are wrong, your quarterly filings double up, and you spend the next spring explaining it.
Switching from ADP or Paychex
Most of our setups are switches, not first payrolls. Here is the honest comparison for a small business with a handful of employees.
| Big payroll processor | Gusto, set up by us | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | You call a rep, or you wait on hold | You, in about five minutes per pay period. Gusto files and pays the taxes. |
| What you pay monthly | Quoted per client, often with per-run fees, year-end fees and add-ons | Gusto's published price, billed to you by Gusto. Nothing monthly to us. |
| Setup | Done by a sales onboarding team that will never see your tax return | Done by the people who prepare the return the payroll lands on |
| Year-to-date history | Frequently entered wrong or skipped | Entered and tied out to your prior filings before the first payroll runs |
| When something looks off | A ticket | A text to the firm that already knows your books |
Timing matters for a switch. The cleanest cutover is the first payroll of a quarter, and cleanest of all is January 1. If you are mid-year, the setup includes entering your year-to-date history, which is why the quote asks.
What the $500 covers
- Company setup. Legal entity, EIN, addresses, bank account, pay schedule, and the state registrations your situation actually requires.
- Everyone who gets paid. Employee profiles, pay rates, pay types (hourly, salary, tips, commissions, reimbursements), withholding elections, and contractors if you have them.
- The tax-sensitive parts. S corporation owner compensation, benefit deductions and employer contributions mapped to the right treatment, workers' comp if you carry it through Gusto.
- Year-to-date history for mid-year switches, entered and tied to your prior provider's reports.
- A first payroll walkthrough with you, then the keys. You run it from there.
What moves the price
Mid-year migration adds $250. Each state beyond the first adds $100. Benefits deductions add $150. More than five employees adds $25 per person. Anything above about $800 we treat as a starting point and confirm with you on a short call before the proposal goes out, because at that size there is usually a detail worth asking about.
After setup
Payroll is one of the largest inputs to your business return and to your personal return, and it touches your books every month. Once we have set it up we already understand your entity, your owner pay and your benefits. That makes the next conversations short: whether your bookkeeping is set up to absorb payroll cleanly, whether the S corporation election is actually working for you, and what your return will look like in April. None of that is required. All of it is easier because payroll is done right.
Questions people ask
Do you run my payroll every pay period?
No. We set Gusto up so you can run payroll yourself in a few minutes, and Gusto handles the tax filings and payments. You keep control and you do not pay us a monthly fee for payroll.
How long does setup take?
Most are finished within one to two weeks. The pacing item is usually state agency registration, which can take longer for a brand new employer. Mid-year switches depend on how quickly we can get your year-to-date reports from the old provider.
What does Gusto itself cost?
Gusto bills you directly. As of September 2026 plans start at $49 per month plus $6 per person on the Simple plan, and most of our clients run the Plus plan at $80 plus $12 per person. Check gusto.com/pricing for current rates.
I already have a Gusto account. Can you help?
Yes. You add us as your accountant inside Gusto and we review and correct the configuration. That is a review engagement rather than a setup, so we quote it after a short call. The quiz will route you there if you pick "Already on Gusto."
I only pay contractors. Do I need this?
Probably not yet. Gusto has a contractor-only plan you can set up yourself, and the tax-sensitive decisions above mostly do not apply until you have a W-2 employee. Book a call if you are about to make your first hire; that is the moment to set it up right.
Do you get paid by Gusto?
Yes. We are a Gusto partner and receive a share of Gusto's subscription revenue for clients we set up. It does not change what you pay Gusto, and we would recommend Gusto for small business payroll regardless. We standardize on it because it does not fight us at year end.
Trailhead Tax is an independent tax and accounting firm led by an IRS Enrolled Agent. We are not affiliated with ADP or Paychex. Gusto is a trademark of Gusto, Inc.; we participate in the Gusto Partner Program.