Serving Honolulu & All Islands Since 1969
Payroll processing, tax filings, direct deposit, and bookkeeping from a Honolulu team that knows Hawaii.
What We Do
If you run a business in Hawaii, payroll is not plug-and-play. From federal and state tax payments to year-end filings, local details matter. We have handled those details since 1969.
Accurate payroll every pay period. That covers calculations, direct deposit, checks and reports. Enter hours online yourself, or let us take care of data entry.
Accurate, current financial records that give you a real picture of your business. Expense tracking, bank reconciliation, and financial statements, all managed for you.
Federal and Hawaii filings handled end to end: tax deposits, HW-14, UC-B6, W-2s, 1099s, and annual reconciliations. Deadlines stay covered.
See what is included, how Hawaii payroll works, and why local support matters.
Keep your books current, organized, and ready for your CPA or tax preparer.
Read our Hawaii payroll articles, deadlines, and employer guidance.
Use the calculator and W-4 helper to estimate net pay and withholding.
Why This Matters
Hawaii has its own rules, and mainland payroll companies get them wrong. A lot.
Hawaii businesses run on relationships, responsiveness, and local understanding. That’s where mainland providers often miss the mark. We’re a local company that works with local companies in the style Hawaii owners expect: direct, dependable and personal.
Hawaii withholding and UI filings have their own forms and deadlines. We file with the Hawaii Department of Taxation and the Department of Labor every quarter. On time, every time.
Hawaii has more payroll obligations than most states. We handle the complexity so you don’t have to track every deadline, rate, and filing yourself. Your records and reporting stay organized.
Hawaii payroll is more complex than most business owners expect before they hire their first employee. The state stacks five separate layers of tax and compliance on top of each other: federal FICA (7.65%), federal FUTA (net 0.6%), Hawaii state income tax withholding (the 2026 withholding tables run from 1.4% to 7.9%; the income tax itself has 12 brackets from 1.4% to 11%), State Unemployment Insurance, and Temporary Disability Insurance. Each layer has its own agency, its own forms, and its own deadlines. Missing any one of them creates a separate problem with a separate set of penalties.
The withholding side alone requires attention to forms that differ from federal templates. Hawaii employees complete Form HW-4 to set state withholding allowances. Using the federal W-4 in its place is a common error. Employers report withholding on Form HW-14, a quarterly return due by the 15th of the month after each quarter. Payments go in with Form VP-1 on a schedule set by your annual Hawaii withholding: quarterly if it is $5,000 or less, monthly (by the 15th of the following month) if it is more than $5,000 but not more than $40,000, and semi-weekly if it is more than $40,000. Semi-weekly payers follow the federal pattern: Wednesday through Friday paydays are due the following Wednesday; Saturday through Tuesday paydays are due the following Friday. At year end, W-2 or HW-2 copies go to DOTAX by January 31, on paper with the Form HW-30 transmittal or electronically (required for 10 or more forms starting in 2026). Hawaii no longer uses the old HW-3 reconciliation; corrections are made by amending the HW-14 for the affected quarter.
Hawaii's Unemployment Insurance system uses experience ratings, but new employers start at 2.4% on a $64,500 taxable wage base (2026). Once you accumulate enough history, your rate is set by your claims record; under the 2026 rate schedule it can run anywhere from 0.0% to 5.6%, plus a 0.01% Employment and Training assessment. Every termination that results in a UI claim affects your experience rating, which in turn affects your UI cost for the next rate period. UI filings go to DLIR quarterly on Form UC-B6. Workers' compensation is also mandatory in Hawaii for any business with at least one employee — no minimum headcount. DLIR's Disability Compensation Division administers coverage requirements. Operating without coverage carries a penalty of at least $500 or $100 per employee per day, whichever is greater, and after 14 days the state can ask a court to stop you from doing business until you comply (HRS §386-123).
The Prepaid Health Care Act is the Hawaii requirement that surprises mainland employers most. No other state in the U.S. requires it: any employee working 20 or more hours per week who earns at least 86.67 times the minimum wage a month ($1,387 in 2026) must receive employer-provided health insurance after four consecutive weeks of employment. The employer pays at least half the premium, and the employee's share can never exceed 1.5% of their gross wages. There is no small-business exemption based on headcount. DLIR enforces the PHCA: an employer out of compliance owes a penalty of at least $25 or $1 per employee per day, whichever is greater, and after 30 days the state can ask a court to stop the business until it complies (HRS §393-33).
Temporary Disability Insurance adds another layer. TDI covers employees who can't work due to a non-work illness or injury. Employers may withhold up to half the cost from eligible employees, capped at 0.5% of weekly wages, or $7.50 per week in 2026. Employers either buy a TDI policy from an authorized insurance carrier or self-insure with DLIR approval; Hawaii has no state-run TDI plan. Getting TDI coverage wrong (or missing it entirely) creates both civil and administrative exposure. Hawaii's minimum wage stands at $16.00 per hour as of January 1, 2026. Employers may take a tip credit of up to $1.25 per hour (a $14.75 cash wage) only for employees who customarily receive more than $20 a month in tips and whose wages plus tips total at least $7.00 above the minimum wage ($23.00 per hour). Otherwise the full $16.00 is owed.
Key 2026 Hawaii payroll figures at a glance:
For employers who want a deeper look at Hawaii's filing calendar, the how to run payroll in Hawaii guide walks through each step, and the Honolulu small business payroll checklist organizes all the recurring deadlines in one place. Pacific Data Services has handled these filings for Hawaii businesses since 1969. Talk to the local team here.
The Real Story
Public reviews tell the same story about ADP and Paychex. Trustpilot ratings as of October 2026; read them yourself: ADP, Paychex.
Pacific Data Services has served Hawaii businesses since 1969.
You get a real person who knows your business. Not a call center, not a contract you can’t escape, not a different bill every month.
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Hand it off completely. We cover everything so you can focus on running your business.
* Bookkeeping is available as an optional add-on service.
Aloha — We're Your Neighbors
PDS has been part of the Hawaii business community since 1969. We're not a franchise, not a national brand, and not a company that learned Hawaii payroll last year. We know it because we've done it right here on Oahu for over half a century.
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Pacific Data Services was founded in Honolulu by Phil Bennet in 1969. Back then, small Hawaii businesses had little choice but to pay mainland companies that didn't understand island life, Hawaii law, or local business culture.
Phil changed that. He built PDS on aloha spirit: personal service, local expertise, and fair pricing with no mainland runaround. Eric Bennet has carried that torch since 1984. Same values. Same commitment. Same Honolulu address.
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No long holds. No mainland call center. Just a quick conversation with our Honolulu team. We'll get back to you fast with a straight answer and a fair price.
No commitment. No contracts. Just straight answers from people who know Hawaii payroll.