Most families leave SurePayroll for one of two reasons: the cost doesn't make sense for a single nanny, or they lost trust in the service after a filing issue they didn't catch until the IRS reached out.
Either way, switching is straightforward. You can do it mid-year without any tax problems, and you can have NannyKeeper running on its free tier before you cancel anything. This guide covers what to grab from SurePayroll before you cancel, how to cancel, and how to get running on NannyKeeper.
Why Families Leave SurePayroll
SurePayroll is a low-priced full-service nanny payroll option, backed by Paychex. On paper, it looks solid. In practice, three things tend to push families away.
You're paying for full-service you don't need. Filing quarterly taxes takes about 15 minutes on the IRS website. If you're comfortable doing that yourself, $39/month for someone else to do it is hard to justify -- especially when NannyKeeper calculates the exact amounts and tells you where to submit them.
Tax filings don't always happen. When you pay for full-service filing, you're trusting that every quarterly payment and form actually gets submitted. Some families have discovered that filings they assumed were handled never went through, and only found out when the IRS reached out. And remember what you signed at the start: to file for you, a full-service provider has you grant power of attorney over your federal and state tax accounts, so a third party is acting as you with the agencies, while the liability stays yours. The part most people miss: even SurePayroll's tax-filing guarantee only reimburses a penalty if the mistake was theirs, and never the tax you owed in the first place. Nanny taxes get reported on your own 1040 through Schedule H, under your Social Security number, so the IRS comes to you regardless of who was supposed to click submit.
Getting help can be difficult. SurePayroll offers phone support on weekdays, but its public BBB complaints describe calls and emails going unanswered and issues dragging on for weeks. When something goes wrong, especially with a tax filing, that makes a bad situation worse.
See what you'll owe
Use our free calculator to estimate your nanny tax costs for 2026.
Before You Cancel: Grab Your Records
Before you cancel, download everything. Once your account is closed, getting this data back is painful.
Download from your SurePayroll account:
- Year-to-date payroll reports (every pay period this year)
- Prior year W-2s and Schedule H documents
- Quarterly tax filing confirmations (check that they were actually filed)
- Your employee's current tax withholding details (federal and state)
- Any state tax registration numbers
You'll need these specific numbers:
| Info You'll Need | Where to Find It |
|---|---|
| Employee's gross wages YTD | Payroll summary or tax report |
| Federal income tax withheld YTD | Payroll summary or tax report |
| Social Security + Medicare withheld YTD | Payroll summary or tax report |
| State income tax withheld YTD | Payroll summary or tax report |
| Your EIN | Any tax filing confirmation |
| State tax account numbers | State registration documents |
Save the PDFs. You'll need them at year-end, and whether you enter them in NannyKeeper depends on the W-2 question below.
Important: Verify your quarterly filings were actually submitted. Log into your state's tax portal and the IRS EFTPS or IRS Online Account to confirm payments were received. Don't assume SurePayroll filed just because they were supposed to.
How to Cancel SurePayroll
SurePayroll allows cancellation through your online account or by phone.
Online: Log in and navigate to Account Settings. Look for the cancellation option under your subscription.
Phone: Call SurePayroll support. Have your account number ready.
Things to ask when you cancel:
- Outstanding filings. Has SurePayroll completed your current quarter's tax filings, or do you need to handle them yourself? Get this in writing.
- Refund policy. If you've prepaid for months you won't use, ask about a prorated refund.
- Year-end documents. If you cancel before year-end, confirm whether SurePayroll will still provide your nanny's W-2 for the portion of the year they handled. If not, send us a message and we'll set NannyKeeper up so its W-2 covers the whole year. Your Schedule H is always one form for the whole year, filed with your own tax return.
When to Switch
The cleanest time is at the start of a quarter:
| Quarter Start | Switch By |
|---|---|
| Q2: April 1 | End of March |
| Q3: July 1 | End of June |
| Q4: October 1 | End of September |
| Q1 (next year): January 1 | End of December |
You can switch at any point though. NannyKeeper handles mid-quarter transitions fine; what matters is the W-2 question below, not the date.
Setting Up NannyKeeper
You don't have to cancel SurePayroll first. NannyKeeper's free tier lets you create an account, add your nanny, and record the payments SurePayroll is currently running, so you can see what taxes you'd owe and compare it with SurePayroll's reports before anything changes. Nothing is billed until you upgrade to run payroll. The switch itself takes about 10 minutes.
Create your account. Sign up here and add your basic info: name, address, EIN.
Add your employee. Enter their name, address, pay rate, and schedule. If they need to update their W-4, NannyKeeper's employee portal lets them do it themselves (available on the Plus plan).
Ask SurePayroll about the W-2. This is the critical step. Find out whether SurePayroll will issue your nanny a W-2 for the months it ran payroll. If it will, make sure your nanny's start date in NannyKeeper is the day they first worked for you, then, before your first payroll here, open their profile, choose Add earlier wages, enter the total SurePayroll paid, and answer Yes, their W-2 has these wages. If it won't, send us a message before your first payroll here and we'll help you bring those months in.
Set up direct deposit (optional). Connect your bank account in Settings. Direct deposit costs $6/transfer on Plus or $8/transfer on Starter, plus 0.8% on amounts over $1,000 per transfer. SurePayroll included direct deposit in their price, so factor this into your comparison.
Run your first payroll. NannyKeeper calculates federal, state, and local taxes for all 50 states. You'll see the full breakdown before you confirm.
What Changes (and What Doesn't)
| SurePayroll | NannyKeeper | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax calculations | Automatic | Automatic |
| Pay stubs | Yes | Yes |
| W-2 generation | Included | Included |
| Schedule H generation | Included (signature-ready) | Included |
| Direct deposit | Included (2-day) | $6--$8/transfer |
| Deadline reminders | Not listed | Yes |
| All 50 states | Yes | Yes |
| Filing taxes for you | Yes | No |
| Annual cost | $468 | $100--$180 |
The one real change: you file the tax forms yourself. Each quarter, NannyKeeper emails you before the deadline with the exact amounts. You log into the IRS website, enter the numbers, and submit. Most families finish in 15 minutes.
The difference is you know it happened because you did it yourself.
See what you'll owe
Use our free calculator to estimate your nanny tax costs for 2026.
Mid-Year Switching: How It Works
Switching mid-year is fine from a tax perspective, as long as every paycheck is reported once. What NannyKeeper's W-2 covers depends on one question for SurePayroll: will it issue your nanny a W-2 for the months it ran payroll?
| If SurePayroll... | Your nanny gets |
|---|---|
| issues a W-2 for the months it ran payroll | two W-2s: SurePayroll's for its months, NannyKeeper's for the rest |
| won't issue one | one W-2 from NannyKeeper, covering the whole year |
Many providers issue a W-2 for the months they handled, so ask before you enter anything. If SurePayroll issues a W-2 for those wages and NannyKeeper's W-2 includes them too, the same wages are reported twice.
The year's tax thresholds and wage limits still count every paycheck, including SurePayroll's. So if SurePayroll will issue that W-2, enter its months as earlier wages and answer that SurePayroll's W-2 has them (the steps are above). They count toward the year's totals, and we leave them off the W-2 we make. If it won't, send us a message before your first payroll here.
Two W-2s from one year are normal. Your nanny adds box 1 of each on their tax return. Whether SurePayroll's months also go on your Schedule H depends on whether SurePayroll already reported and paid the taxes for them, so when you enter them we ask who handled the taxes for those months.
What You'll Save
| Annual Cost | |
|---|---|
| SurePayroll (regular pricing, 1 nanny) | $468 |
| NannyKeeper Starter (annual billing) | $100 |
| NannyKeeper Plus (annual billing) | $180 |
| Subscription savings (Starter) | $368/year |
| Subscription savings (Plus) | $288/year |
Direct deposit math matters here. SurePayroll bundles direct deposit, NannyKeeper bills it per transfer ($6 on Plus, $8 on Starter, plus 0.8% of any transfer over $1,000):
- Pay by check: save the full $288--$368/year
- Biweekly direct deposit on Plus, paychecks of $1,000 or less ($6 × 26 = $156): NannyKeeper costs $336 vs. SurePayroll's $468, so you save $132/year
- Nanny living in a different state from where they work: SurePayroll's general pricing calculator lists multi-state payroll at $9.99/month extra, and its nanny plan page doesn't say whether that applies. NannyKeeper's price doesn't change with the number of states
Ready to simplify nanny taxes?
NannyKeeper does the calculations, tracks the deadlines, and prepares the paperwork so you can focus on your family.
FAQ
Can I switch from SurePayroll mid-year?
Yes, any time. First ask SurePayroll whether it will issue your nanny a W-2 for the months it ran payroll. If it will, your nanny gets two W-2s: before your first payroll here, enter SurePayroll's months as earlier wages and answer that SurePayroll's W-2 has them, and NannyKeeper's W-2 covers the rest of the year. If it won't, NannyKeeper's W-2 can cover the whole year; send us a message first and we'll set it up with you. Switching at the start of a quarter makes the transition cleanest, but any time works.
Will my nanny's pay change?
No. Gross and net pay stays exactly the same. The only thing that changes is which service calculates the taxes and generates pay stubs.
Do I need a new EIN?
No. Your EIN stays the same. Enter it when setting up NannyKeeper. If you don't have it handy, check any previous tax filing or W-2 from SurePayroll.
What if SurePayroll already filed my quarterly taxes?
Good -- just make sure you know which quarter they completed. Start NannyKeeper payroll from the next pay period after SurePayroll's last one, so no paycheck is run twice.
What if I'm not sure SurePayroll actually filed?
Check directly. Log into IRS Online Account to verify federal payments, and your state's tax portal for state filings. If filings are missing, you may need to submit them yourself and pay any penalties -- then file a complaint with SurePayroll. NannyKeeper can calculate what you owe for any missed quarters.
Does NannyKeeper file taxes for me?
No. NannyKeeper calculates your taxes, generates all the forms (W-2, Schedule H, pay stubs), and sends deadline reminders. You file the forms yourself on the IRS and state websites. Takes about 15 minutes per quarter.
Read our full SurePayroll review →