Run your own books and payroll. Skip the monthly bill.
Counting Carrots keeps your books, works out every paycheck, and fills in your tax forms. On your own computer, for $59 per year (plus tax). First 3 months are free.
Counting Carrots is software, not tax, legal, or accounting advice. We don't guarantee what it calculates or fills in: check it with your accountant before you pay or file.
Version 2026.13. Made for very small companies: just you, up to about a dozen employees.
Money to send Example
Payday Friday, June 13 · 2 people · click a circle when it's sent
- Sam RiveraTake-home pay $1,933.40Sent
- Jordan LeeTake-home pay $1,473.30Sent
- IRSFederal tax deposit $950.60by Wed, Jun 18
- State revenue dept.State income tax $164.00by Fri, Jun 20
- Retirement plan401(k) deposits $210.00by Fri, Jun 20
Still to send$1,324.60
Illustration only, not a real payroll
Books from your bank
Bank sync, bank files, or QuickBooks. Profit and loss, cash flow, and your tax-return lines.
Paychecks, worked out
Withholding for all 50 states and DC. Owners too: S corps, partnerships, sole proprietors.
Tax forms, filled in
Forms 941 and 940, W-2s, and 1099s, with one checklist of what's due, federal and state.
Private by design
No account, no cloud. Your books and payroll are a file on your computer.
Doing your own books and payroll is easier than you think.
A payday takes a few minutes, and your books take a few minutes a week.
Say who's getting paid
Hours for hourly people, and anything different this time. Salaries are already filled in.
The app does the arithmetic
Every withholding, deduction, and employer tax, for each person and each agency.
Send the money, check it off
What to pay, to whom, by when. Pay it the way you already do. Pay stubs go out by email.
File the forms when they're due
The app reminds you when each tax form is due, federal and state, fills it in, and says where to mail or upload it.
And it costs far less
Cost of other services
Payroll service
- Monthly plan$50.00
- 2 employees at $7.00 each$14.00
Online bookkeeping software
- Monthly plan$38.00
Each month$102.00
× 12 months
For a year$1,224.00
- Counting
Carrots$59plus tax
Your books, kept like a checkbook.
Bring in your bank and say what each transaction was for. Next time that payee shows up, it already knows.
Money inMoney outA transferNeeds a category
Transactions Example
Business checking · click an amber tag to put it in a category
- Jun 9 Card sales depositSales $1,846.20
- Jun 10 Baking supply storeSupplies −$412.80
- Jun 10 Electric company −$318.60
- Jun 11 Transfer to savingsTransfer → Savings −$1,000.00
- Jun 12 Wedding order deposit $650.00
- Jun 13 Sam RiveraWagesMatched to payday −$1,933.40
Still need a category2
Illustration only, not real books
Just you? Or a small crew?
Counting Carrots is ideal for businesses of 1 to about 12 employees.
Sole proprietor or single-member LLC
No payroll for yourself. Take owner's draws and it keeps track of them, reminds you of each quarter's estimated tax, and sorts your books into the lines of your return.
S corporation of one
Put yourself on payroll and take the rest as distributions. It warns when your pay looks too low to be reasonable, and routes your solo 401(k) deposits. Your accountant has the last word.
You and a partner
Guaranteed payments and distributions for each of you, with the year's totals your accountant needs for the K‑1s.
Your first contractor or hire
A 1099 for the person who helps out. When you hire, add them: their W‑4, the new-hire report, and the first real payday, in minutes.
Your tax forms, filled in. You sign and send.
It doesn't file for you or move money. It fills in Forms 941 and 940, makes your W‑2s and 1099s, and keeps one checklist of what's due, federal and state. You sign, mail or upload, and pay.
Forms to file Example
This year · click a circle when a form is filed
- Form 941January to March Filed Apr 22
- Form 941April to June Filed Jul 21
- Form 941July to September Mailed Oct 20
- State withholding returnJuly to September Time to file
- Form 940The year After Dec 31
- W-2sThe year After Dec 31
Time to file2
Illustration only, not a real company
Pricing
Three months free. Then one license a year.
It's one payment a year, not a bill every month. Your books stay on your computer, readable even if you don't renew.
Start here
Freefor 3 months, with your real books and payroll
Counting Carrots is software, not tax, legal, or accounting advice. We don't guarantee what it calculates or fills in: check it with your accountant before you pay or file.
Version 2026.13. What's new. Older versions.
Then
$59a year, plus tax
- Your books and every payday for a year
- Everyone on your payroll
- Every update released
- Nothing renews by itself
Paid once, through Stripe. Emailed to you right away.
One license covers your books and your payroll. Without one after the free months, your books are still there to look at and their reports still open, but changing them, paydays, and contractor payments need a license.
Straight talk
Know what you're getting.
It's software you run yourself, not someone who does your bookkeeping or payroll for you. You file and pay yourself, and your accountant still checks the numbers. That's why it costs so little.
What it does
- Keeps your books from your bank and card transactions, brought in by bank sync (through SimpleFIN Bridge, a paid service), from your bank's files, or from QuickBooks, for you to put in categories and reconcile
- Shows profit and loss, cash flow, account balances, and income and expenses by tax-return line, and sets money aside in budgets
- Works out each paycheck from what you enter: federal withholding, state income tax withholding for all 50 states and DC, Social Security, Medicare, and the local taxes you set up
- Lists the payments it calculates, to whom, and by when
- Fills in Forms 941 and 940 on the IRS PDFs, for you to check, sign, and mail
- Makes W-2s for your employees, and the totals you need to file them online
- Makes 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC forms for contractors, and the file to upload them to the IRS
- Keeps one checklist of the payments and forms it knows about, federal and state, with new-hire reports, and walks you through filing each one
- Pay stubs, emailed to employees who opt in, and a year-end packet for your accountant
- Backs up your company file by itself, to a folder or cloud drive you choose
What it doesn't do
- File anything, move money, or make tax deposits. You mail or e-file each form, and pay people and agencies yourself. No direct deposit, and a bank connection only reads your transactions.
- Do double-entry or accrual accounting. The books are kept like a checkbook: single entry, on a cash basis. No invoices, bills to pay, or inventory.
- Make K-1s or income tax returns, or register your business.
- Come certified. It isn't a certified payroll product: compare the first paycheck in each state with that state's published withholding tables.
- Look up local tax rates. You enter each employee's local taxes (PA EIT, Ohio and Kentucky cities, Indiana counties, and so on) and keep them current.
- Split wages between states. Each employee has one work state, for unemployment and state programs too.
- Handle tips or tip credits. Garnishments are taken only within the limits it knows.
- Handle railroad employers. A railroad pays Railroad Retirement and railroad unemployment taxes (RRTA and RUIA) in place of Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes, and the app figures only the usual ones.
- Know what the IRS has told you. Your deposit schedule and due dates are worked out from the paydays in your file and what you set in My company; a letter from the IRS or your state overrides them.
- Track workplace posters or other HR requirements. Posters, handbooks and the like are yours to keep up with.
- Check your work. It's software, not a bookkeeping or payroll service.
Always check the numbers with your accountant
Counting Carrots is software, not tax, legal, or accounting advice. We don't guarantee that any amount, form, or due date it gives you is correct, and we aren't responsible if it isn't. Your books, payroll, and tax filings are your responsibility: have your accountant check them before you pay or file.
Questions
Before you try it
Is it really one price a year?
Yes. A license is good for a year from the day you buy it: your books, every payday in that year, everyone on your payroll, and every update. Nothing renews by itself. To keep going, buy another: in your license's last 2 months the app links to next year's, which starts the day your current one runs out, so buying early loses no days.
What happens after the 3 free months?
The months count from the month you first save a payday or a contractor payment, or bring new transactions into your books. When they're up, buy a license to keep going. Everything you entered stays: you can still look at your books and open their reports, and what payroll already worked out stays free.
Do I still need an accountant?
Yes. Counting Carrots is software, not advice. Have your accountant check your setup and the first paycheck in each state before you pay it, each quarter's forms before you file them, and the year-end packet it makes for them. If it gets something wrong, what you owe is still yours to pay.
Does it file or pay anything for me?
No. It fills in the forms and works out the amounts and due dates. You sign and mail (or upload) each form, and send each payment the way you already pay bills. A bank connection only reads your transactions.
How do my bank transactions get in?
Download a file from your bank's website (OFX, QFX, QBO, or CSV) and import it, or type transactions in. To have them come in by themselves, connect your bank through SimpleFIN Bridge, a paid service from the makers of Counting Carrots, which the app asks for new transactions each day it's open.
Can I bring my records over from QuickBooks?
Yes. Export a few reports from QuickBooks Online or Desktop and Counting Carrots reads them: your bank and card accounts with their transactions and categories, and your employees with this year's paychecks. (QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc. Counting Carrots is not affiliated with or endorsed by Intuit.)
How big a company is it for?
Very small ones: just you, up to about a dozen employees. It does one payroll for one business on one computer, with no teams, departments, or approval steps, so past that size it's probably not the right fit.
What if it's just me?
That's a common setup. It handles owner pay for S corporations, C corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietors, including distributions and 401(k) routing. Your accountant decides what counts as reasonable pay for you.
Try it on your next payday.
Free for 3 months. No account, no card, nothing to cancel.
Counting Carrots is software, not tax, legal, or accounting advice. We don't guarantee what it calculates or fills in: check it with your accountant before you pay or file.