Can't I just calculate CPF in a spreadsheet?

For one or two employees, technically yes — but rates vary by age band and residency status, the ordinary wage ceiling moves, self-help group deductions differ by community, and errors compound monthly with real penalties. Payroll tools cost a few dollars per employee precisely because manual CPF is error-prone out of proportion to the money saved.

What is AIS and why does direct submission matter?

The Auto-Inclusion Scheme transmits employees' earnings data straight to IRAS, pre-filling their tax returns — mandatory once you have five or more employees. Software with direct AIS submission files IR8A at a click; without it, you prepare and upload files manually each March.

Is payroll software covered by grants?

Often. Several local payroll and HR products have pre-approved packages under the Productivity Solutions Grant at up to 50% support — but approval is package-specific and lists change, so verify the live listing on GoBusiness and apply before you subscribe.

Payroll software for Singapore SMEs: 2026 buyer's guide

Xero, QuickBooks and Jaz don't do CPF — a local payroll tool fills the gap. The statutory checklist, the price bands, and how Talenox and friends compare.

The awkward gap in every Singapore small-business stack: Xero, QuickBooks and Jaz all stop at the ledger. None of them computes CPF, SDL or IR8A. From your first hire, a local payroll tool — or a payroll bureau running one for you — becomes part of the stack.

The statutory checklist

Whatever you evaluate, four capabilities are non-negotiable for a Singapore employer:

CPF computation and e-submission — correct rates by age band and residency, the S$8,000 ordinary wage ceiling, and output in CPF EZPay format so monthly submission is an upload, not a re-keying exercise;
IR8A with direct AIS submission — employee earnings filed to IRAS each March; direct Auto-Inclusion Scheme integration turns this from an annual project into a click;
Self-help group funds — CDAC, MBMF, SINDA and ECF deductions applied automatically by community;
MOM-compliant itemised payslips — a legal requirement, not a nicety, alongside key employment terms.

Leave tracking, claims and NS make-up pay handling are the usual second tier — valuable, but the four above are where compliance risk lives.

What the market costs

At August 2026 published rates, Singapore payroll software clusters at S$2–9 per employee per month, usually with a minimum. Two patterns to note when comparing:

Minimums bite at small headcounts. Talenox — one of the few with fully published pricing — charges from about S$27 a month covering the first five employees, then ~S$5.50 per additional head; at two staff you are effectively paying S$13+ per person. Others (Payboy, Swingvy, QuickHR) advertise from roughly S$2–5 per employee; HReasily and SimplePay price via quotation.
Modules add up. Payroll, leave, claims and scheduling are often separate line items — compare the bundle you will actually run, not the headline module.

For very small teams, compare against outsourced payroll at roughly S$15–50 per employee per month — the bureau runs the software and carries the process.

Integration: close the loop to your ledger

Payroll must land in your accounts as journal entries. Talenox and SimplePay integrate natively with both Xero and QuickBooks; most rivals cover Xero at minimum. Two flags from our research: no payroll product currently publishes a native Jaz integration (Jaz offers APIs on paid plans, so expect manual journals or custom work), and if your accountant runs your books, ask which payroll tool they already support — their answer usually settles the shortlist.

The grant angle

Several payroll/HR products carry pre-approved packages under the Productivity Solutions Grant at up to 50% support. Two cautions: approval is package-specific and lists change — verify the live GoBusiness listing rather than a vendor's marketing page — and the golden PSG rule applies in full: apply and receive the Letter of Offer before you subscribe, or the support is forfeit.

Choosing in practice

For a typical first-hire situation: shortlist two products that pass the statutory checklist and integrate with your accounting platform, price them at your actual headcount including minimums, check the PSG listing, and run one parallel month against a manual calculation before trusting the output. Payroll is the most repetitive, least forgiving process a small company runs — exactly the profile that rewards buying well once.

Payroll software for Singapore SMEs: what to look for