Icon Systems Payroll review

Icon Systems sells payroll as an add-on to its church fund accounting, so it suits churches that care most about every payroll entry landing in the right fund. Its church payroll page says pastors' salaries are handled, notes that housing allowances are excluded from income tax but not self-employment tax, and lets the church customize withholdings for pastor salaries on top of automatic withholding. Each employee can use the built-in federal, state and local tax tables or a custom tax formula. The system keeps payroll liability accounts, prints checks to tax agencies and e-files W-2s. Icon Payroll starts at $40 a month and must be added to an accounting package, the cheapest of which is Standard at $35 a month, so expect about $75 a month in total. It scores below CDM+ because the public pages give less detail on clergy settings, and like CDM+ it leaves tax payments to the church.

Who it is for

Churches that want payroll inside a fund accounting system

Price

Payroll add-on from $40 a month on top of Icon accounting from $35 a month.

Icon Payroll Starting at $40 / mo.
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 11, 2026.

Key features

• Custom withholdings for pastor salaries on top of automatic tax withholding
• Federal, state and local tax tables included, or enter your own tax formulas per employee
• Payroll entries post to the correct fund for each employee
• Prints checks to tax agencies from a tax payment form
• Electronic W-2 filing

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Unlimited employees and deductions
• Strength: Tax tables included, with no add-on tax service subscription
• Strength: Free trial with no credit card required
• Weakness: Requires an Icon accounting package, which starts at $35 a month
• Weakness: Not full-service; the church prints and sends tax payments
• Weakness: Public pages describe housing allowance handling in general terms, without a named pay type

Key facts

• Payroll add-on: From $40 a month
• Accounting packages: Standard $35 a month, Premium $45 a month
• Employees: Unlimited
• W-2s: Electronic filing

Where it ranks

Icon Systems Payroll is No. 7 in our Best Payroll Software for Churches verdict.