PaymentEvolution

Overview

The service calculates payroll, pays employees by direct deposit, and supports tax filing, payment, and reconciliation. It calculates EI, CPP, QPP, and income tax, and can prepare TD1, T4, T4A, ROE, and RL-1 documents. That makes it a sensible option for Canadian employers handling recurring payroll and year-end forms in one workflow; it is less compelling for organizations that only need occasional form filing.

PayChequer gives employees access to pay information and tax documents and lets them update their own information. TimeTracker connects time tracking with payroll. Accounting integrations include Kashoo, FreshBooks, Sage Business Cloud Accounting, QuickBooks Desktop and Online, Software4Nonprofits, and Xero, a useful spread for businesses already using one of those systems.

Key features

• Payroll and tax administration: Direct deposit, tax calculations, filings, tax payments, reconciliation, and year-end form preparation cover the core work of Canadian payroll. Employers needing this end-to-end scope have less reason to split payroll processing from tax administration.
• Employee self-service: PayChequer lets employees retrieve pay and tax documents and maintain their own information, shifting routine updates away from payroll administrators.
• Payroll-linked time tracking: TimeTracker connects employee time records to payroll, making it relevant to employers who want time capture and pay processing in the same service.
• Accounting connections: The integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, Sage Business Cloud Accounting, FreshBooks, Kashoo, and Software4Nonprofits give businesses several routes to connect payroll with accounting software.
• Custom integrations: A payroll web services API supports custom calculations and integrations. Its calculations are sold in prepaid bundles, with a minimum package of 1,000 calculations per month for $500, so it is better suited to planned, recurring integration use than sporadic API calls.
• Security and residency: PaymentEvolution states that it encrypts data in transit with TLS 1.3 and at rest with AES-256, requires multi-factor authentication, lists SOC 2 Type II certification and ISO 27001 infrastructure, and keeps data in Canada. These are meaningful considerations for employers with security and residency requirements.

Pricing

All three named employer plans charge a one-time $55 setup fee and a per-employee, per-pay-run amount. The monthly price alone therefore understates the cost for businesses that process payroll regularly.

Growth has no monthly minimum, but its employee cap and $4.00 per-employee pay-run charge make it a narrow fit for small payrolls. Business Basic raises the monthly floor in exchange for a 25-employee limit, phone support, and a lower run fee. Business Plus costs more each month but lowers that fee again and extends the cap to 300 employees. PaymentEvolution offers a 15-day trial; advisors managing client payroll are directed to Evolv rather than these employer plans.

Platforms

PaymentEvolution runs in the cloud and requires no downloads. It is offered for web, Android, and iOS, with an API for custom payroll calculations and integrations.

Who it's for

PaymentEvolution is aimed at Canadian businesses running payroll for their own employees, from very small teams through employers with as many as 300 employees on Business Plus. Its Canadian tax calculations, filing and payment support, employee portal, and accounting connections make it a stronger fit for recurring payroll operations than for businesses seeking only standalone tax-form filing. Advisors handling payroll for clients should consider the separate Evolv offering.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Canadian payroll calculations, tax filing and payment, reconciliation, and year-end forms sit alongside direct deposit.
• Pros: Employee self-service, payroll-linked time tracking, and a broad set of accounting integrations can connect staff and finance workflows.
• Pros: Priced plans scale from three to 300 employees, with lower per-run fees and broader support as plans rise.
• Cons: Every priced plan carries a $55 setup fee and per-employee, per-pay-run charges, so Growth is not a zero-cost payroll option.
• Cons: Growth is capped at three employees and limited to email support; Business Basic starts at $30 per month before per-run charges.
• Cons: API use starts with a prepaid $500 package for 1,000 calculations per month, a substantial entry point for small or irregular integration needs.

Alternatives

For tax-form products rather than a full payroll service, TaxZerone has a free W-9 request plan and federal information-return filing priced at $2.49 per form for 1 to 25 forms. efile4Biz offers a free Basic plan with pay-per-form filing, one user, summary reports, chat and email support, and $1 per TIN match; it is a better fit when form filing is the main need. TaxBandits is another tax-compliance option, with a Basic plan at $19.00 USD per month and $0 employee fee, and a Plus plan at $29.00 USD per month.

Yearli offers a free-to-start Core plan for W-2 and 1099 forms, quarterly filing, and per-form TIN matching, with an annual subscription plus filing fees; consider it when those filing tasks matter more than full payroll. HMRC Basic PAYE Tools is free payroll software for businesses with fewer than 10 employees, while Wagepoint offers paid Solo and Unlimited plans. ADP Workforce Now and Auris Tax Compliance are also alternatives.

For a broader category comparison, see Payroll Tax Software.

Verdict

PaymentEvolution is a strong fit for Canadian employers that want payroll processing, tax administration, employee self-service, and time tracking in one service. Its main advantage is the breadth of Canadian payroll and tax work it covers alongside useful employee and accounting connections. Look elsewhere if you only need occasional tax-form filing, want to avoid per-run charges and setup costs, or need a ready-made plan for advisors managing client payroll.