A payroll service withholds tax, pays people, and files returns. This site does none of those things. It is a set of pages that multiply the figures you type by the 2026 employer Social Security and Medicare rates in IRS Publication 15, then add the unemployment tax and extras you enter. The arithmetic stays in the browser.
What Publication 15 is for
Publication 15, also called Circular E, is the IRS Employer’s Tax Guide. The 2026 edition states the employer and employee Social Security rate of 6.2%, the Social Security wage base of $184,500, and the Medicare rate of 1.45% with no wage base. It also points employers to Publication 15-T for federal income-tax withholding methods. The lab uses Publication 15 for the employer FICA model. It does not implement Publication 15-T.
If you need to withhold federal income tax, deposit employment tax, or complete Forms 941 and W-2, you need the publication, software built for filing, or a payroll provider. The lab will not file those forms and will not pretend the estimate is a deposit schedule.
What the calculators refuse to invent
There is no table of all fifty states. There is no automatic FUTA credit engine. There is no cafeteria-plan module, no garnishment math, no multi-state allocation, and no workers’ compensation class code. Additional Medicare Tax is not treated as an employer match. Employee net pay is not estimated. Those limits are written on every numbered page, so a first visit does not look like a full U.S. payroll product.
The employee versus contractor page is a cost comparison only. IRS and Department of Labor worker classification is not computed there. A cheaper column is not advice to hire a contractor.
The name on the door
The domain once pointed at a payroll business. This project is not that company. The front name is Budgeteer Payroll Lab. The site does not claim to process “your payroll,” does not list a revived office address, and does not ask anyone to install a program. It is also not ADP, Gusto, or Paychex.
Read About if you want the short version of the same boundary. Use the tools list when you are ready to type a salary. Keep Publication 15, a CPA, and your state workforce agency for the parts a blotter cannot sign.