FAQ

Answers to Our Frequently Asked Questions

There’s a lot to consider when you’re thinking about Payroll and processing. Our goal is to help you understand your options and make a decision that works for you. We’ve answered our most frequently asked questions below. If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out and talk to our team directly.

If you are a union / contractor shop and are in need of union-specific payroll answers, you can find those here: Construction & Union Payroll page.

We’re here to help.

Getting Started

How do I know which services I need?

Payroll is the core of everything we do. Every other service is something you choose, not something bundled in for you. That means you can start with what you need today and add more later, and you pay for what you use, not a package someone else picked.

Beyond payroll, here are the optional services we offer and the problem each one solves:

Time & Attendance: Saves time and cuts the errors that come from tracking hours by hand. The system can apply your rules for overtime, meal periods, spread of hours (New York’s extra pay for long workdays), PTO, and other time policies, and it sends hours straight into payroll.
Onboarding: Lets you hire new employees, collect their tax documents, get handbooks signed, and receive copies of licenses electronically, instead of adding one employee at a time by hand. You complete a short setup survey with us first.
HR support: Payroll and HR bundles give you access to an HR support team for your HR questions and tools to help create company handbooks.
Benefits & Open Enrollment: Plans and rates are kept in the system, and employees use a step-by-step enrollment wizard to review options and make their choices electronically. Less paperwork, less manual entry.
ACA compliance: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires many employers to report health coverage each year. Employee and coverage information is kept in the system, which simplifies year-end ACA reporting.
401(k) integration: Payroll and employee data go directly to your 401(k) recordkeeper, so you don’t have to prepare and upload contribution files yourself.
Workers’ comp Pay-As-You-Go: Your workers’ compensation premium is calculated on your actual payroll each pay period, instead of you putting down a large deposit (often 20%) up front. You set this up with your insurance broker, and we handle sending your payroll data each period.
Compliance posters: The Department of Labor requires employers to post certain notices where employees can see them. We can provide an all-in-one federal and state compliance poster.
Tax registration: If you need new payroll tax accounts set up, we can complete those registrations for you.

How do you decide? We start with a discovery call to understand your business, then show you a demo built around your situation, so you can see exactly what would help and what you can skip.

What happens if I want to add or remove services later?

You’re not locked into your day-one setup. If you’d like to add a service, whether you’re still getting set up or already running payroll with us, just let your Zuma contact know. We’ll talk through what you need before anything changes.

If you’d like to remove a service, the same applies: tell us, and we’ll review the request with you, talk through any impact, and coordinate the next steps. And since there’s no contract, you’re never stuck paying for something you no longer want.

Who on my team needs to be involved?

Fewer people than you might expect, but they need to be the right ones. The best person to lead setup is someone who understands how your company runs payroll today, knows your policies and employee setup, and has access to the information we’ll need along the way. It also helps to involve whoever can make or confirm decisions.

In our experience, setup slows down when the main contact doesn’t have the information we need or doesn’t have the authority to approve decisions. That leads to extra back-and-forth while waiting for answers. If we have to switch to a different contact partway through, we may also need new authorization forms signed. Bringing the right decision-makers in from the start keeps things moving and makes sure your system is set up correctly.

If you use accounting software such as QuickBooks or Sage, it’s also worth involving that software’s support team or vendor early, so the connection to payroll is set up correctly the first time.

What am I responsible for, and what does Zuma handle?

Think of it as a partnership. During setup, we need you to be an active participant: join our calls, answer emails, provide any verification codes needed to access your current payroll system, and send us the documents we need if we can’t pull them from your current provider ourselves. Setting these expectations up front keeps your transition on schedule.

Once you’re running, you’ll handle getting us your employees’ hours and submitting payroll on time. In many cases, payroll can be processed as late as 3:00 PM the day before payday with direct deposits still reaching employees the next morning. We handle the calculations, payroll tax filing and payment across federal, state, and local agencies, and correcting errors with you when something needs fixing.

Do I have to start at the beginning of a quarter, or can I start mid-quarter?

No, you don’t have to wait. You can switch to Zuma at any time of year. When you start mid-quarter, we enter your prior payrolls for that quarter one by one, building the payroll history needed so your quarterly and year-end filings stay accurate.

There’s no minimum number of payrolls that has to remain before the quarter ends. How much work the transition takes depends on how far into the quarter you are and how much payroll history needs to be entered. What makes it go smoothly is getting us complete, accurate information for every payroll you’ve already run that quarter, as early as possible, so our team has time to review and check everything before your first payroll with us. It also helps to keep us posted as you go, for example letting us know when you’ve run your last payroll with your current provider.

What industries and company sizes do you serve?

We serve a wide range of industries, including construction and union contractors, restaurants and hospitality, healthcare and medical practices, professional services, retail, nonprofit organizations, and other service businesses. Size isn’t a barrier: we work with companies from 1 employee to more than 1,000.

What changes is what you need from us. Smaller employers often need payroll plus a few additional services. Larger employers usually get more value from a broader setup that can include time and attendance, onboarding, HR, benefits and open enrollment, ACA services, and 401(k) integration. As a company grows, the value shifts from simply processing payroll to cutting manual work, creating consistency, and keeping employee information connected in one system.

We’re also honest about fit. If you need something we don’t currently offer, or a level of service we don’t provide, we want to find that out during our first conversations rather than promise something we can’t deliver.

Are you a PEO?

No, Zuma is not a PEO. A PEO (Professional Employer Organization) usually works under what’s called a co-employment model: the PEO shares certain employer responsibilities with your business and often bundles payroll, benefits, HR support, and workers’ compensation together under its own umbrella.

With Zuma, you remain the employer. You keep control of your employees, your policies, and your business decisions, and you choose the services and tools you need, such as payroll, time and attendance, HR tools, onboarding, benefits and open enrollment, ACA services, and 401(k) integration. That gives you the support you want without entering a co-employment relationship.

How long does setup take, from agreement to first payroll?

It depends on how complex your payroll is, but for most companies it takes roughly 3 to 6 weeks from the welcome call to your first payroll run. The welcome call is the official kickoff meeting with our implementation team. Simpler setups, such as one company with straightforward pay, are on the shorter end. Companies with multiple entities, multiple states, and custom reporting needs will be closer to six weeks.

The clock starts on the welcome call. Gathering documents, signing the electronic agreement, and getting everything submitted usually takes a week or two before that call is scheduled. We’ll be upfront: rushing setup makes for a bad experience for everyone. It’s better to start early and move your first payroll date back if needed than to cut corners.

What data and documents do you need from us to get started?

Before sending the agreement, we collect a standard set of supporting documents. Our team handles the data transfer, so you won’t need to move any information manually:

Voided check or bank account verification
An IRS letter or other official correspondence showing your legal name and address (we build your agreement to match what the IRS has on file, rather than what’s in your current payroll system)
State unemployment account information
Workers’ compensation information
Employee W-4s and current pay data (if you give us secure access to your existing payroll portal, we can retrieve this for you)
Prior year quarterly tax filings

If you’re coming from another provider, we may need login credentials to pull data directly, and we can sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) if needed. The more complete the package you send up front, the faster your welcome call gets scheduled and the smoother setup goes.

Can we run parallel payrolls during the transition to make sure everything matches?

While we can’t run payroll at the same time as your current provider, we do provide a sample payroll preview before your first live run. This lets you review employee information, payroll calculations, and tax setup to confirm everything looks right before you process payroll with Zuma.

The only thing that won’t appear in the preview is prior year-to-date payroll data, since that comes from your previous provider. Otherwise, the preview gives you a clear view of how payroll will process before your first official run.

Pricing and Contracts

How much does it cost, and is pricing based on headcount or payroll volume?

Pricing is based on a weekly base fee plus a per-employee charge for each person on that week’s payroll. So if you have 20 employees one week and 35 the next, you only pay for the employees you actually run. Smaller businesses with fewer than 10 employees typically qualify for reduced rates. Companies with several entities or FEINs (Federal Employer Identification Numbers) get volume pricing based on the full picture.

What’s included in the base weekly fee versus the per-employee fee?

The base fee covers your account, the platform, payroll processing, tax calculations, direct deposits, access to our service team, and your payroll archive, where all of your weekly reports are stored automatically.

The per-employee fee covers everything at the individual level:

Pay calculations
Tax withholdings and pay stub generation
Standard weekly reports, all generated as part of regular processing with no extra charge per report

Are there additional fees for W-2s, quarterly filings, or new hire reporting?

Yes, and they’re worth knowing up front:

W-2s: a per-employee fee at year-end, plus a base processing fee.
Quarterly tax filings: a flat fee per quarter covering Federal Form 941 (the quarterly employer’s federal tax return) and state filings. Fourth-quarter filings also include Federal Form 940 (the annual federal unemployment tax return).
New hire reporting: a small per-filing fee.
Additional tax jurisdictions: a small per-run fee when multiple states or local tax areas are active.

Your proposal will itemize all applicable fees before you commit.

Are volume discounts available for companies with multiple entities or FEINs?

Yes. Pricing is laid out per entity based on estimated headcount, then reviewed as a full annual picture. Discounts are proposed as a percentage across the board and approved quickly, without a lot of back and forth.

What does year-end processing cost, and what’s included?

Year-end includes a base processing fee plus a per-employee charge for W-2 preparation and distribution. W-3 filing and year-end reconciliation are included. Employees can download their W-2s directly through the self-service portal. Fees apply to every employee paid during the calendar year, even if they were paid only once.

Is there a contract, and what happens if we want to leave?

There’s no contract. Zuma bills week to week, and if you decide to leave, you leave. No termination fees, no buyout, no lengthy exit process. Our view is simple: if you have to lock people in, you’re not confident in your product. We’d rather earn your business every week. The only requirement to keep your account active is processing at least one employee per week, even if that’s just the owner or a spouse.

Payroll Processing and Checks

If something goes wrong with a payroll run, who do we contact?

You work directly with the same service team that already knows your account. There’s no separate support queue or ticketing system to navigate.

For example, sometimes an employee’s hours are entered incorrectly and they’re underpaid, so a manual check needs to be issued right away so they receive the correct wages. Other times an employee was paid correctly, but their hours were charged to the wrong job or department, so the related reports need to be corrected. Either way, you reach out to your service team and they work through the correction with you.

Issues happen in payroll. What matters is how quickly they’re resolved, and having a team that understands your payroll handling the corrections with you.

What is the cutoff time for submitting payroll each week?

One of our biggest strengths is the speed and flexibility of our payroll processing. In many cases, you can process payroll as late as 3:00 PM the day before payday and still have direct deposits reach employees’ accounts the next morning. For example, if your payday is Friday, it’s possible to run payroll Thursday afternoon and still fund it for Friday, even for a very large payroll. Most payroll companies can’t support that kind of turnaround.

You also have the option to print your own checks in your office. When the time between the end of a pay period and payday is tight, waiting for a courier isn’t always practical, so many clients print the few checks they need themselves while most employees are paid by direct deposit.

If Zuma prints our checks, when are they printed and when do they arrive?

Checks are printed at our office in Melville, Long Island. Once printed, they’re left for the courier service, which picks them up that evening. Delivery is typically by the end of business the following day, though earlier delivery may be possible depending on your location. We’ve found it helps to build a relationship with your regular courier driver so you can work out a consistent delivery window. If you need checks by midday, let us know up front so expectations are set with the courier from the start.

Can we print checks ourselves from our office, and what do we need to do that?

Yes. You can print payroll checks yourself if you’d rather not have us print and courier them, or if there isn’t enough time between entering payroll and needing checks in hand. Many clients prefer this because they sometimes need to get checks out quickly and can’t always wait for a courier.

Checks print on standard 8.5 × 11 blank check stock (with the check on the bottom). It’s available on Amazon for about $35 for 500 sheets, and no special printer is required. After payroll runs, you simply download the check file and print from your office.

You can also mix payment methods. Many clients print only a few live checks, while the rest of their employees are paid by direct deposit and view their pay stubs in the employee portal. This is very common when only a few employees aren’t on direct deposit. It also avoids weekly delivery fees and allows same-day checks when you need them, for example for a final check.

How do final checks work, and how quickly can they be produced?

If you print checks in your office on blank stock, a final check (for example, when someone is laid off) can be produced the same day. You process it through the system and print it right there. If we’re printing and couriering your checks, the timing depends on when the request comes in relative to our print schedule.

That’s one reason we recommend keeping blank check stock on hand even if we normally handle your printing. With that in your office, you can cut a final check in about 45 minutes when someone needs to be paid on the spot.

Can employees split their direct deposit across multiple accounts?

Yes. Employees can split their direct deposit across as many accounts as they need. The first accounts are set up as fixed dollar amounts (for example, $100 to a savings account), and the final account is set as “remaining net,” which catches everything else. We’ve seen employees split their deposit five different ways, so there’s no practical limit.

Do you generate positive pay files for fraud prevention?

Yes. Positive pay is a bank service that checks each check presented for payment against a list of checks you actually issued, to stop fraud. Positive pay files are generated as part of the payroll process, and if your bank uses positive pay, we provide the file in the format your bank requires. Even companies that pay hundreds of employees by physical check use this as part of their standard fraud prevention.

Can third-party deductions, like credit union payments, be sent automatically?

Yes. Third-party deductions such as credit union payments are set up as a recurring deduction on the employee’s profile, and the payment is sent directly to the third party by ACH (electronic bank transfer). You don’t have to mail a check each pay period. It works much like a child support garnishment: the deduction is taken from the employee’s pay, and the payment is sent electronically to the institution.

This is a real improvement for many companies. We’ve found some were taking the deduction from the employee’s check but then had to cut and mail a separate check to the credit union by hand.

Employee Self-Service

How do employees access pay stubs and W-2s if everyone is on direct deposit?

Every employee gets access to a self-service portal. They receive a registration email when they’re set up in the system, and from there they can log in from any device: phone, tablet, or computer. Through the portal, employees can see their full pay history for the life of your account. We don’t purge pay records after a couple of years the way some systems do.

Employees can download individual pay stubs or several at once, which is useful when someone needs their last three stubs for a mortgage or car loan. W-2s are also available in the portal at year-end, so employees can download their own without calling your office. Even someone who worked for you for only two months can pull their W-2 at the end of the year without anyone on your team getting involved.

Can employees update their own tax withholding and direct deposit, or does that have to go through us?

That’s entirely up to you. By default, tax withholding and direct deposit information is view-only for employees, but you can open it up so they can make changes themselves. You can also decide feature by feature. For example, you might let employees update their tax withholding (dependents, filing status) but keep direct deposit locked so those changes come through you. There’s also a middle option: employees submit changes, and those changes come to you for approval before they take effect.

In our experience, letting employees manage their own withholding saves your team time and puts the responsibility where it belongs. If someone owes at year-end because of how they set up their withholding, that was their choice, not something your office set up wrong. But every company is different, so the system supports whatever level of control you’re comfortable with.

Time and Attendance

Do our employees need to download an app to record their time?

No. We offer several ways to capture time, and the setup can match how your team actually works. Employees can punch in and out with a mobile app (with optional GPS or geofencing), but many companies prefer to have a supervisor enter time for their team.

Common time entry options include:

Supervisor entry: A supervisor or foreman enters hours for their team by employee, job, and day. This works well when people move between jobs or tasks during the same day.
Employee mobile punch: Employees clock in and out on a phone or tablet. GPS or geofencing can limit punches to a work location.
Custom spreadsheet upload: Supervisors or managers enter time in a custom Excel or Google Sheet that maps directly into the payroll system.
Direct entry: Hours are entered directly in the payroll grid by employee, job, and day.
CSV upload or integration: If you already use another time system, ERP (business management software), or reporting tool, you can export the time data and upload it into Zuma. We don’t force you to use our time system if yours already works. In many cases we encourage clients to keep the tools they already like and simply bring the time data into payroll.

Many companies also track cost codes or job codes to record not just the hours worked, but what type of work was done. The right setup depends on your team size, how many supervisors you have, and how comfortable your team is with technology. The goal is to fit how your business already runs, not force a single system.

How does geofencing work, and can I see where employees punched in?

Geofencing is an optional feature in the time and attendance system. You set up a virtual boundary around a work location, and when an employee punches in on their phone, the system checks whether they’re inside it. If they’re outside, the punch is flagged.

Even without geofencing, every mobile punch records the GPS location. From the admin side, you can see on a map exactly where each employee was when they punched in. Employees don’t see this information on their end.

We’ve found that many clients who think they need geofencing realize the GPS location alone gives them what they need, and it doesn’t cost extra. Geofencing is available if you want the added layer of enforcement, but the location visibility is there either way.

Can the system track PTO balances and handle time-off requests?

Yes. The system can track PTO (paid time off), sick time, vacation, or any combination you use. If you bundle everything into a single PTO bank, it tracks that balance. Employees submit time-off requests through their portal, and those requests come to you, or whoever you designate, for approval. That replaces tracking balances in a separate spreadsheet.

Payroll Taxes and Compliance

Do you handle all payroll tax filings at the federal, state, and local level?

Yes. Zuma handles payroll tax filings across federal, state, and local agencies. That includes federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax, state unemployment, and local taxes like New York City and Yonkers resident taxes. The system is driven by zip code, so when you enter an employee’s address, the correct local tax withholding fills in automatically.

If you have active state unemployment accounts in states where you’re not currently paying employees, we can file zero returns to keep those accounts open so they’re ready when you need them.

How do you handle state-specific requirements, like paid family leave or New York commuter tax?

State-specific requirements are built into the system based on where your employees work and live. Programs like New York commuter tax, state disability, paid family leave, Washington paid leave, and similar state-mandated programs are handled as part of standard processing. When these requirements change, with new rates, new thresholds, or new programs, we make the updates on our end. You don’t have to track legislative changes or update rates yourself. If you operate in multiple states, each employee’s tax setup reflects the rules for where they work and where they live.

Do you handle ACA reporting?

Yes. ACA reporting, including preparing Forms 1094-C and 1095-C (the forms employers use to report health coverage offered to employees), is part of our service offering.

Integrations and Reporting

Do you integrate with our accounting software?

Yes. We support integrations with QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Sage 300 CRE, Sage Intacct, Sage 100, Sage 50, Vista, and Trimble, among others. For QuickBooks, after payroll runs, a file is generated that you download and upload directly into QuickBooks. It can include job cost allocation, so labor costs flow into QuickBooks broken out by project without manual journal entries.

If your accounting software accepts a CSV upload, our team can typically work with the vendor to get the file specifications and build a custom upload file that maps to your chart of accounts (your list of accounting categories). We recommend involving your software vendor early in setup so the mapping is right the first time. The key is finalizing your chart of accounts before the integration is built, because changes afterward can break the upload file.

Can custom reports be developed?

Yes. Clients often ask for custom reports, either to match reports they already know or to automate reports they currently build by hand in Excel. These are commonly used for general liability audits, workers’ compensation audits, and other audits.

There is a small one-time flat fee to create the report, after which it can be generated automatically and downloaded weekly at no additional cost. Most custom reports are built in Excel format.

Construction and Union Contractors

We’re a union or construction contractor. Where can we find answers specific to us?

We have a full set of answers just for you. Union payroll, certified and prevailing wage payroll, union remittance reports, benefit calculations, union audits, and job costing are covered on our Construction & Union Payroll page. Our contractor team works only with construction contractors, so when you call, you’re talking to people who already know your world.