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Payroll · Chicago

Best Payroll Software for Chicago Businesses

Trusted by 12500+ growing companies running US payroll

RVCJ Astrotalk Plum Yulu Randstad BYD eBay Grant Thornton OnePlus Cleartax Jupiter Xoxoday RVCJ Astrotalk Plum Yulu Randstad BYD eBay Grant Thornton OnePlus Cleartax Jupiter Xoxoday

PAYROLL COMPLIANCE

Stay compliant with Chicago payroll requirements

Payroll synced with time, leave, and attendance.

Attendance, leave, and timesheets sync directly into payroll. Fewer exports, less reconciliation, and fewer mid-cycle corrections.

Stay ahead of Chicago compliance requirements

Chicago minimum wage, Illinois overtime, FLSA rules, and federal forms like W-2, 1099, and 941 — validated before they reach a paycheck.

Flexible payroll for Chicago businesses

Run payroll for salaried employees, hourly teams, and contractors across different pay schedules — without adding administrative overhead.

WHY CHICAGO PAYROLL IS DIFFERENT

Chicago payroll compliance goes beyond Illinois state rules

Running payroll in Chicago involves means following more than just Illinois state tax rules. Local wage rules, scheduling requirements, and leave obligations add additional compliance requirements for businesses.

1 / 5

Chicago minimum wage

$17.05/hr standard

Higher than Illinois’ statewide $15.00/hr rate

2 / 5

Tipped wage tracking

$12.96/hr tipped

Chicago’s tipped wage requires separate tracking

3 / 5

Fair Workweek coverage

Advance notice required

Covered employers must follow Chicago scheduling rules

4 / 5

Paid leave payout rules

Payout may apply

Some employers must pay unused leave at separation

5 / 5

Chicago-specific rules

Local rules matter

Employees working in Chicago may be subject to different pay requirements

ATTENDANCE AND TIMESHEET SYNC

Sync attendance and approved hours to payroll

Once timesheets and leave requests are approved, those hours sync directly into payroll. Overtime, absences, and payable time are calculated automatically with less manual entry and less pre-run reconciliation.

Approved work hours and leave sync instantly with payroll
Overtime and absences auto-calculated
Manual checks before every cycle reduced significantly

PROACTIVE ERROR DETECTION AND GUIDED FIXES

Catch errors before processing payroll for Chicago employees

Keka surfaces missing data and configuration gaps before processing begins — each flagged item comes with guided next steps, not just an alert.

Missing tax setup and FEIN verification flagged before processing

Non-compliant wage rates are caught before payroll moves forward

Every alert links directly to the step that resolves it

MULTIPLE PAY RATES AND PIECE-RATE COMPENSATION

Handle different pay rates and pay types in one payroll

Set different pay rates by role, shift, or location. Keka applies configured rates across every payroll cycle

Per-hour, per-annum, and per-piece pay types natively supported

Different rates across roles, shifts, and locations in a single employee record

W-2 employees and 1099 contractors handled in the same payroll engine

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. Now, our 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 automated our payroll process, cutting processing time from 3 days to under 4 hours. Employees can now access their payslips themselves, reducing the manual work for HR.

Rahoul Srivastav

HRBP - Noise

Workforce Planning Highest User Adoption

FULL COMPLIANCE COVERAGE

Full compliance coverage for Chicago businesses

Chicago / Illinois requirement	What Keka does	How it helps
Chicago minimum wage$17.05/hr · Employers with 4+ employees	Validates pay rate against employee work location before saving	Flags violations
Illinois statewide minimum wage$15.00/hr · Employees working outside Chicago	Applies state floor for employees working outside Chicago	Flags violations
Illinois state income tax4.95% flat rate · All wages	Withholds at flat rate for every Illinois employee	Auto-withheld
Illinois Paid Leave40 hrs/year · Accrues from day one of employment	Tracks accrual and usage against the annual cap	Accrual-tracked
Illinois overtime1.5x after 40 hrs/week	Synced from approved timesheets; no manual calculation	Timesheet-synced
W-2 / 1099 filing / I-9 filingAnnual federal and state filing	Generates and files W-2s and 1099s for employees and contractors	Auto-filed
Benefits, garnishments, deductions401(k), child support, health premiums	Automatically factored into every pay run	Auto-deducted

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 Illinois and Chicago employment law.

Illinois Overtime Laws Illinois Minimum Wage 2026 Illinois Lunch Break Laws Illinois Leave Laws Employment Laws in Illinois

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Keka handle payroll for both Chicago city employees and employees working outside Chicago in the same account?

Yes. Keka supports location-based pay rates and validates each employee’s wage against the applicable minimum in a single payroll run.

How does Keka handle W-2 employees and 1099 contractors together?

Keka runs both through a unified payroll engine. You can process salaried employees, hourly employees, and contractors in the same cycle, with the correct withholding and filing applied to each.

What happens if an employee's pay rate is below the minimum wage for their location?

Keka flags the violation before the record saves and before payroll processes. The alert includes a direct link to the step where the rate can be corrected.

How does Keka handle benefits deductions in payroll?

Contributions from Guideline (401k), SimplyInsured (health), and NEXT Insurance (workers’ comp) sync automatically into payroll each cycle. Benefits data syncs into payroll to reduce manual exports and duplicate entry.

Can employees manage their own benefits enrollment?

Yes. Keka’s self-serve portal lets employees explore and enroll in benefits independently. Updates reflect in payroll automatically.

What payroll reports does Keka generate?

Keka includes built-in reports covering cash requirement forecasts, pay register, contractor payments, tax liability, and payroll journal — available before and after every run.

Payroll software for every Chicago payroll obligation

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

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