Payroll Score

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Directory · September 2026

The first paycheck starts a state clock. Software does not erase it.

Payroll Score is an independent directory. We grade payroll software by state. We ask how much of your first hire’s state paperwork the software takes off your desk. We also ask how much you still file with the state. That paperwork is the unemployment-tax account, the wage returns, and the new-hire report. Workplace injury insurance is a separate job. It is not a payroll-tax form.

Updated September 2026 · Independent · How the three grades work · Guides

Ready for payroll? Try these services.

Gusto grades higher on the directory scorecards. Patriot is the one we have a referral link with.

Three grades per company. They can disagree. Letters are explained on the methodology page.
Company Tax account CA returns New hire
Gusto B- B B
Patriot C B- C

Start with a guide

How the first paycheck starts a clock in each place

A first paycheck can start a state clock. These places do not share that clock.

Vendor scorecards

A first paycheck starts a state clock. We grade how much of that new-employer paperwork the vendor takes off the owner’s desk versus what the owner still files with the state.

Gusto

Payroll software
EDD / UI account
B-
Middesk (Gusto’s business-verification company) may open state income-tax withholding and state unemployment tax (SUI) if no California account exists. You still enter the eight-digit EDD number and the unemployment-tax rate.
CA returns
B
Help article claims DE 9, DE 9C, and DE 88. Confirm those forms on your live EDD account.
New-hire DE 34
B
Help article claims electronic DE 34. Confirm the live EDD New Employee Registry, not a software checklist.

EDD account: Gusto’s California help article says Middesk may register state income-tax withholding and state unemployment tax when there is no existing California account. You still enter the eight-digit account number EDD assigns, and the unemployment-tax rate EDD assigns. Leave Employment Training Tax (ETT) out of that rate field.

Returns: Gusto’s California help article lists DE 9, DE 9C, DE 88, and DE 34 among the forms it files or reports.

New hire: Gusto’s California help article lists DE 34, the California new-hire report, as filed electronically.

Retrieved: 2026-08-31

Gusto

Patriot

Payroll software
EDD / UI account
C
Help article tells you to register at EDD. You still open that account yourself.
CA returns
B-
Full Service claims DE 9 / DE 9C after 8655 + TPA. Confirm what your plan actually files.
New-hire DE 34
C
Patriot’s help article puts DE 34 on you. The 20-day new-hire clock is still Unemployment Insurance Code § 1088.5.

EDD account: Patriot’s California help article says you register with EDD. It does not claim Patriot opens the eight-digit employer payroll tax account for you.

Returns: Patriot’s help article says Full Service claims DE 9 and DE 9C after Form 8655 and third-party administrator (TPA) authorization. Confirm what your plan actually files.

New hire: Patriot’s help article puts DE 34 on you. The 20-calendar-day clock still sits on you either way.

Retrieved: 2026-08-31

Official page

How to use this site

  1. If the first wages will be paid in California, confirm registration on EDD and workplace injury insurance on DIR before you treat a vendor checklist as current.
  2. If the first wages will be paid in American Samoa, confirm withholding on the Tax Office page.
  3. If the first wages will be paid in Guam, confirm withholding on the Form W-1 page.
  4. If the first wages will be paid in the Northern Mariana Islands, confirm withholding on the withholding guidelines.