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Payroll · Austin

Payroll Software and Services for Austin Businesses.

From The Domain offices to East Austin studios, Texas has fewer payroll rules than most states, but the rules it does have are easy to miss. Keka’s payroll services handle Texas unemployment tax, Payday Law deadlines, and new hire reporting for you, so payroll runs smoothly. Unlike juggling several payroll companies, you get one system that keeps every Austin paycheck accurate and on time.

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Trusted by 12,500+ growing companies running US payroll

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PAYROLL COMPLIANCE

Compliance that stays ahead of every change

Payroll integrated with time and leave

Attendance, leave, and timesheets sync directly into payroll. No exports, no reconciliation, no mid-cycle corrections.

Built-in payroll compliance

Texas Workforce Commission unemployment tax rates and Texas Payday Law pay cadence applied automatically. Federal minimum wage validated against the FLSA floor. Headcount and I-9 data captured at onboarding.

90% less admin for your HR team

Employee self-service, automated C-3 filings, and guided setup reduce the manual work Austin tech, semiconductor, and services teams typically demand.

PAYROLL COMPLIANCE

Why Austin payroll is different: no state income tax, but Texas rules still apply

Texas keeps payroll leaner than most states, but there are still rules you need to know. Keka handles all of these automatically, so you don’t have to track them manually.

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No state income tax

Texas is one of nine states with no personal income tax. Federal taxes still apply, but there’s no state-level withholding on employee wages. That’s one less form, one less calculation every cycle.

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Texas unemployment tax (TUCA)

Every Texas employer pays a quarterly unemployment tax on the first $9,000 per employee. New businesses start at 2.7%. Keka calculates this automatically and keeps you ready for C-3 quarterly filings.

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Texas Payday Law sets the rules on when you pay

Non-exempt employees must be paid at least twice a month. If you terminate someone involuntarily, their final paycheck is due within 6 calendar days. For voluntary resignations, it’s due by the next regular payday. Keka tracks pay frequency and flags final paycheck deadlines so you never miss them.

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Workers' comp is optional, but the decision has consequences

Texas is the only state where private employers can opt out of workers’ compensation. But if you choose not to subscribe, you must file a notice with the Texas Department of Insurance and inform your employees. Keka surfaces this choice during setup so nothing gets missed.

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No local labor rules to track

Texas HB 2127 prevents Austin and every other Texas city from creating their own minimum wage, paid leave, or scheduling rules. You follow state and federal requirements only, which keeps things clean and predictable.

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New hire reporting within 20 days

Texas requires you to report every new hire to the Office of the Attorney General within 20 calendar days of their start date. Keka captures this at onboarding so you’re always ready to file on time.

MULTI-LOCATION PAYROLL

Multi-location payroll across Austin, Round Rock and Cedar Park

Keka maps each employee to their pay group and work location, applying the right tax and wage rules automatically.

Supports location-based pay rates across the Austin metro, including The Domain, Parmer Lane, East Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, and downtown.
Handles multi-state employees common in Austin tech, applying Texas rules for in-state staff and the correct withholding for workers in California, Colorado, Washington, and beyond.
Approved timesheet hours sync directly, with no manual entry across sites.

PROACTIVE COMPLIANCE

Issues caught before they reach your employees.

Keka surfaces missing tax setup, non-compliant wage rates, and configuration gaps before every run.

Missing tax setup and FEIN verification flagged before processing.
Pay below the $7.25 federal floor surfaces a real-time warning before payroll is processed.
Every alert links directly to the step that resolves it.

COMPENSATION MANAGEMENT

Salaries, bonuses, multi-rate pay and 401(k) for Austin tech teams

Austin tech payrolls often combine base salary, bonuses, hourly contractors, and shift-paid hospitality staff in the same cycle. Keka applies the right rate to every record without manual intervention each run.

Per-hour, per-annum, and per-piece pay types natively supported.
Different rates across roles, shifts, and Austin locations in one record.
Bonuses and supplemental wages handled inside the same payroll run; W-2 generation is automated at year-end.
401(k) contributions auto-deducted and synced with providers like Guideline.

BENEFITS

Pre-tax benefits applied to the right bucket, every cycle.

Health, FSA, HSA, and retirement deductions handled inside payroll, with no separate carrier exports or spreadsheet reconciliation.

Health, FSA, and HSA deductions calculated against the correct pre-tax category.
401(k) contributions remitted to Guideline and other plan providers each run.
Year-end W-2 box 12 reporting handled automatically.

SECURITY, SCALE & RELIABILITY

Built for scale. Trusted for security.

Keka stays updated with every federal, state, and local payroll rule – so you never worry about tax changes or compliance gaps.

SOC2

ISO 27001

GDPR

Keka cut our payroll processing time by nearly 50% and eliminated last-minute delays. Employees are more proactive, and payroll runs on schedule every time.

Biren Kumar Dash

Vice President - Varmora

Keka eliminated our payroll errors and cut processing time from 2 days to just 4 hours. Attendance is now 100% accurate, and our HR team finally has time for what matters.

Elizabeth Joseph

Director of People and Culture - Land Sterling

Keka cut our payroll from 3 days to under 4 hours. Everything is automated and transparent, and even our blue-collar workers check their own payslips without calling HR.

Rahoul Srivastav

HRBP - Noise

Workforce Planning Highest User Adoption

FULL COMPLIANCE COVERAGE

Texas payroll requirements for Austin employers, handled and filed.

Texas requirement	What Keka does	How it helps
Texas minimum wage$7.25/hr federal floor · Texas has no higher state rate	Validates pay rate against the federal floor before saving	Real-time alert
Tipped cash wage$2.13/hr cash wage + $5.12 tip credit (federal)	Tracks cash wage plus reported tips against $7.25 each cycle	Auto-validated
Texas Unemployment Tax (TUCA)2026: 0.32% to 6.32% on first $9,000 · New employer rate 2.70%	Applies assigned TWC rate and stops at the $9,000 wage-base ceiling per employee	Auto-calculated
C-3 / C-4 quarterly filingDue Apr 30, Jul 31, Oct 31, Jan 31 via TWC Unemployment Tax Services	Generates quarterly Texas unemployment wage report ready for filing	Filing-ready
New hire reportingRequired within 20 calendar days to the Office of the Attorney General	Captures required new hire data at onboarding so the report can be submitted within Texas’s 20-day window	Onboarding-captured
Texas Payday LawSemi-monthly minimum for nonexempt · Final pay in 6 days (involuntary) or next payday (voluntary)	Tracks pay frequency and final paycheck deadline per separation type	Deadline-tracked
Texas Leave LawsFederal and Texas-specific leave requirements, including FMLA	Centralizes employee leave balances, FMLA eligibility tracking, and leave history alongside payroll records	Leave-tracked
Texas Lunch Break LawsWhat Texas law does and doesn’t require for meal and rest breaks	Break time configured per shift and role. Timesheet data reflects scheduled and actual breaks for compliance records	Shift-configured
FLSA overtime1.5x after 40 hrs/week · Texas has no state overtime statute	Synced from approved timesheets; no manual calculation	Timesheet-synced

INTEGRATIONS

Plugs into the finance and HR stack you already run.

QuickBooks

Sync payroll journal entries to your QuickBooks chart of accounts each cycle.

Xero

Auto-map deductions, taxes, and benefits to your Xero accounts.

NetSuite

Push payroll runs, headcount, and accruals into your NetSuite general ledger.

Sage Intacct

Send each pay cycle's data into Sage Intacct without manual exports.

Guideline

401(k) contributions deducted and remitted to Guideline every pay run.

Slack

Payroll approvals, alerts, and error flags delivered to your Slack channels.

Okta

Single sign-on and SCIM user provisioning across the Keka platform.

Keka Marketplace

50+ more apps across HR, finance, and operations.

Compliance Library

Before You Go — A Few Useful Reads

Stay current on Texas employment law.

Employment Laws in Texas Child Labour Laws in Texas Hiring Laws in Texas Lunch Break Laws in Texas Overtime Laws in Texas

Frequently Asked Questions

What should Austin businesses look for when comparing payroll companies?

Look for a provider that handles Texas-specific rules, not just federal ones. That means Texas unemployment tax on the first $9,000 per employee, Texas Payday Law pay-frequency and final-paycheck deadlines, new hire reporting within 20 days, and withholding for remote employees in other states. Keka applies these automatically and prompts you at setup to decide whether to subscribe to Texas workers’ comp.

Can Keka run payroll for an Austin business with employees at multiple locations?

Yes. Keka supports multiple Austin work locations and pay groups in a single account, so a tech operator with teams at The Domain, on Parmer Lane, in downtown, or near Gigafactory Texas can run them in the same payroll cycle. Federal payroll taxes and Texas Unemployment Tax are applied per employee, per work location.

Texas workers' compensation is optional. How does Keka handle our subscriber or non-subscriber status?

Texas is the only state where private employers can opt out of workers’ comp. Keka surfaces this as a configuration question during setup so your team knows whether you’ve elected subscriber or non-subscriber status. DWC Form-005 filing and the employee no-coverage notice are handled outside Keka.

How does Keka handle multi-state payroll for Austin tech companies with remote workers in other states?

Austin tech teams often span Texas, California, Colorado, Washington, and beyond. Keka maps each employee to their state of work and applies the correct state and local withholding for each. For state programs like SDI in California or PFL in New York, deductions are configured per state rule.

What does Keka do about the Texas Payday Law's 6-day final paycheck deadline?

Texas requires final pay within 6 calendar days for involuntary termination and by the next regular payday for voluntary resignation. Keka’s offboarding flow lets HR initiate the final paycheck inside the standard payroll cycle so the deadline is part of the same workflow you already run.

Can Keka help if my Austin business gets audited by the Texas Workforce Commission?

TWC requires employers to retain wage and unemployment tax records for four years. Keka centralizes payroll and employee records with secure, searchable access, so you can quickly pull C-3 wage reports, employee histories, and tax documentation when needed.

One payroll system for every payroll obligation.

Federal, state, and local payroll requirements, handled automatically from start to finish.

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