Payroll year-end has deadlines nobody can move. US employees must get their W-2, the yearly wage and tax form, by January 31. Canadian employees must get their T4 slip, the Canadian version, by the last day of February. Whatever is wrong in your Workday system by then goes out on the form.
A mistake found in October is a quick setup fix. The same mistake found in late January means a corrected filing, confused employees and a paper trail for auditors.
Most payroll teams can run a normal pay period without help. Year-end is different. It packs a year of back pay, extra pay runs, address changes and tax updates into a few weeks, while regular payrolls keep running.
The figures below come from vetted Payroll consultants on Turbin who work on US or Canadian payroll. They are the hourly rates consultants set themselves. The median is the middle rate: half of consultants charge more, half less.
When should you book Payroll year-end support?
Book in October or November. A November start leaves time to check the numbers and clean up data before the last payrolls of the year, not during them.
Payroll demand peaks before year-end, so an autumn request finds more consultants free than one in December. A consultant who starts early also learns your pay groups, the sets of employees paid on the same schedule, before the pressure arrives.
On Turbin, you describe the project: the country, how often you pay, your pay groups, and whether this is your first year-end on Workday. The matching engine returns a ranked shortlist in about two minutes, usually three names. Each matched consultant approves or rejects the match, which confirms they are free for your dates.
You interview for fit and payroll depth. Then you sign one master services agreement (MSA) with Turbin and a rate confirmation. If you have worked with Turbin before, only the rate confirmation is new.
The median is 48 hours from request to hire on Turbin, because the vetting happened when the consultant joined. Through a staffing agency, expect 3–6 weeks. Most agencies start looking only after you ask, with cold outreach, screening and reference checks. In the autumn that search runs while many other payroll teams are asking too. It can turn a November request into a December start, after the work should have begun. Rates for Payroll consultants, and what to ask in an interview, are in the Payroll rates guide.
What does the year-end timeline look like?
Payroll year-end runs from October to February. October is for booking the consultant, agreeing the scope and pulling last year's list of issues. Then the year-to-date check starts. You compare earnings, deductions and taxes for each pay group against your accounts and against what you paid to tax agencies.
November is for cleaning up data. Check worker addresses and tax ID numbers. Confirm imputed income is set up and flowing into pay. Imputed income is the taxable value of a benefit not paid in cash, such as employer-paid life insurance.
Also clear up leftovers from back pay and extra pay runs. Open enrollment, when employees pick next year's benefits, closes in this window. The new benefit deductions are then set up for the first January payroll.
December brings the yearly tax updates from Workday. The consultant checks them against your own pay groups. The last payrolls of the year run too, including bonuses and manual adjustments.
The W-2 and T4 audit reports run before the last payroll and again after it. Every problem they flag is worked through before the year closes.
January opens with the riskiest payroll of the year. New tax rates start, and open-enrollment deduction changes take effect. Check this payroll before it pays.
Yearly earnings caps reset too. Examples are the Social Security wage base in the US, and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI) maximums in Canada.
In the US, W-2s go to employees and to the Social Security Administration by January 31. In Canada, T4 slips go out and are filed by the last day of February. Québec employees also get an RL-1 slip, Québec's own version. Any US fixes after filing go out on a W-2c, the corrected W-2.
UK payroll year-end is a separate project on a different calendar. The UK tax year ends on April 5, and P60s (the UK yearly pay summary) are due to employees by May 31. The UK group on Turbin is one of the smallest we report, with a median of $80. So book it well before the tax year closes.
What belongs in a year-end scope checklist?
A complete year-end scope has seven items, and the first five belong in October and November. Agree them in writing at the start, with the hours you expect each to take. Then the project is measured against a list, not a feeling.
- Check the year's totals. Match earnings, deductions and taxes for each pay group and tax authority to your accounts and to what you paid in.
- Confirm imputed income is in wages before the last payroll. An example is US life insurance coverage over $50,000. It must land in the right boxes on the W-2 or T4.
- Check addresses and tax IDs. Look for missing or invalid Social Security numbers (SSNs) and Canadian Social Insurance Numbers (SINs), incomplete addresses, and workers who moved during the year.
- Review people who left during the year. They still get a W-2 or T4, and their addresses go out of date first. Severance and final payouts often throw the totals off.
- Clean up back pay that crossed pay periods, manual payments and extra pay runs. Make sure each landed in the right tax year and quarter.
- Build and run W-2 and T4 audit reports. They compare form data with payroll results and flag problems, such as negative amounts, missing tax IDs and boxes that don't add up. Run them in early December and again after the last payroll.
- Double-check the first January payroll. Work out a few employees' pay outside Workday and compare before it pays.
The last item is the one teams skip and regret. A mistake in the first January payroll repeats every pay period until someone finds it. Think of a wrong tax rate, a cap that failed to reset, or a missing benefit deduction. Checking a few employees before it pays is the cheapest hour in the project.
Who does what: your team or the consultant?
Your payroll lead owns the data and the sign-off: pay results, employee questions, and final approval of every payroll and filing. The consultant owns the Workday side. That means setup fixes, testing tax updates against your pay groups, building and reading audit reports, and tracing mismatches to their cause.
Neither role replaces the other. Agree on the split below on the first day.
| Task | In-house payroll lead | Consultant |
|---|---|---|
| Year-to-date reconciliation | Supplies ledger and remittance figures, signs off differences | Traces each difference to pay results or configuration |
| Imputed income | Confirms benefit values with HR and vendors | Sets up and tests the earnings and calculations |
| Addresses and tax IDs | Contacts workers, corrects records | Builds the validation reports |
| Tax updates | Reviews the impact on pay | Tests against your pay groups, explains the changes |
| Audit reports | Works exceptions with workers | Builds, runs and interprets the reports |
| First January payroll | Approves the run | Runs the parallel check |
| Forms and corrections | Approves and distributes | Prepares corrected data, fixes the cause |
Without an in-house payroll lead, plan for more consultant hours. But keep approvals with someone on your side, because sign-off on pay and filings stays with the employer. A consultant can prepare everything up to the approval. They should not be the person who releases a payroll or files a return for you.
How much does year-end support cost?
A standard three-month year-end at 15 hours a week costs about $21k at the $90 Payroll median. That includes Turbin's flat 20% fee, for a bill rate of $108 an hour. It covers the full seven-item checklist alongside an in-house payroll lead, from November to January.
Through a staffing agency, the same consultant typically bills at $126–$180 an hour. Most agencies add 40–100% on top of the consultant's rate and fold it into one number. Ask the agency what the consultant is paid. Most won't say, because the gap is their margin.
With a certified consultant at $120 (a $144 bill rate), the same project is about $28k. Certified Payroll consultants cost about a third more.
A lighter audit-and-check project runs 2 months at 10 hours a week, across December and January. It covers the audit reports, the problems they flag and the check of the first January payroll. It comes to about $9k at the median, or $12k certified.
A first year-end on Workday is the heavy option. Balances moved over from your old payroll system need checking, and the form setup has never run. Budget 4 months from October at 25 hours a week. That is about $47k at the median or $62k certified, plus February if you have Canadian employees.
You see the consultant's rate on their profile before you talk. Turbin's fee is its own line on the invoice, and the consultant receives their full rate. There is no minimum length, and 30 days' notice ends a project. If the first week's work is not good enough to bill, you get a free replacement within 72 hours.
Your payroll lead approves weekly timesheets, which roll into one monthly invoice on Net-30 terms. On Turbin, 68% of Payroll consultants take part-time work, the usual shape here. If you would rather pay one number for a set result, the engagement models guide compares hourly and fixed-scope.
Questions we get asked.
Yes. It is the year that needs it most. A first year-end on Workday has to match balances carried over from your old payroll system. It tests tax and form setup that has never produced a W-2 or T4. And it often comes after the team that set up Workday has left. Budget the larger option: 4 months at about 25 hours a week. With the fee, that is about $47k at the $90 median.
Yes. It costs more than catching them in December, though. In the US, fixes go out on a W-2c, the corrected W-2, with a matching filing to the Social Security Administration. In Canada, you file amended T4 slips with the Canada Revenue Agency. The consultant traces each error to its cause in Workday and fixes the setup so it does not happen again. They prepare the corrected data. Your payroll lead approves and sends it.
Part-time, in most cases. The options in this guide run 10 to 25 hours a week. Across projects run through Turbin, the median is 15 hours a week. Year-end hours are uneven. They are steady in November, peak around the last December payroll and the first January one, then drop once forms are out. On Turbin, 68% of Payroll consultants take part-time work.