Payroll Companies & Payroll Services in Honolulu, HI

Overview

Pacific Data Services, commonly called PDS, is a Honolulu company that provides payroll processing and bookkeeping for local employers. Phil Bennet started the business in 1969, and it has since passed the 55-year mark. Its office is in downtown Honolulu, and it works with businesses across all of the Hawaiian islands, counting more than 450 active clients.

PDS stresses that it was born in Hawaii and is neither a franchise nor a mainland operation with a branch office. It presents its direct, dependable and personal approach as the contrast to large national payroll platforms.

Payroll Services

The central service is full-service payroll. The client supplies hours, and PDS handles what comes after, whether that means a regular pay period, a quarterly deadline or a year-end filing. The work includes:

• Calculating wages, taxes and deductions for every payroll run
• Paying employees by direct deposit or printed check
• Depositing federal and Hawaii state taxes
• Submitting new-hire reports to the state
• Tracking Hawaii-specific deductions such as TDI and Prepaid Health Care Act amounts
• Preparing the federal Form 941, Hawaii HW-14 withholding filings and UC-B6 unemployment reports for DLIR
• Issuing W-2s with the HW-30 transmittal, plus 1099s for contractors and vendors

The firm can also run payroll for employees based in any of the 50 states.

Bookkeeping and Hawaii Expertise

PDS offers bookkeeping as an optional extra, covering bank reconciliation, expense tracking and financial statements. The service also organizes gross receipts, deductions and General Excise Tax liability alongside payroll data. Payroll and GET are filed separately but draw on overlapping records, so an outside CPA or tax preparer can work from orderly figures rather than loose paperwork.

A major theme in the company's messaging is that Hawaii employers face five layers of obligation: state income tax withholding, state unemployment insurance, Temporary Disability Insurance, the Prepaid Health Care Act and workers' compensation. PDS reports that when businesses leave national providers for its service, it most often discovers a missed or late item in these areas.

Who They Serve

PDS is aimed at small and mid-size island employers, roughly 1 to 500 employees, that want payroll handled without building an internal department. Industries it names include:

• Restaurants and food trucks
• Retail businesses and small shops with seasonal staff
• Contractors and trades with crews moving among job sites, including subcontractor 1099 tracking
• Medical and dental practices
• Nonprofits with grant-funded roles
• Professional services firms with a few employees

Onboarding and Support

The process starts with a free 15-minute conversation covering headcount, pay schedule and requirements. PDS says it will be upfront if it is not a good match. After that it collects employee information and sets up direct deposit and the account, and most clients are running in under a week. Hours can then be submitted by phone, email or fax, entered by the client, or imported from time clocks, POS systems and spreadsheets.

Support is meant to be personal. A question raised before 3 PM will typically be answered that day by someone in the Honolulu office who already knows the account. Pricing is month to month, with no setup fees, no exit penalties and no long-term contracts. If a client leaves, the company promises to help with the transition to another service.

Leadership and Resources

Phil Bennet built PDS from scratch, writing software around Hawaii's payroll rules and earning local clients one relationship at a time, when many available services came from mainland firms. Eric Bennet joined in 1984 and now runs the company, maintaining its focus on personal service, fair pricing and knowledge of Hawaii's business environment.

PDS also offers free employer tools, including a payroll guide, a key-dates calendar, a paycheck calculator with a W-4 helper, and a collection of official Hawaii and federal labor law poster sources.

ProService Hawaii is a Honolulu-based professional employer organization (PEO) that bundles payroll with benefits, HR administration, workers' compensation and compliance support for employers across the islands. The firm reports working with roughly 3,000 Hawaii employers, processing more than $2.5 billion in annual payroll for about 50,000 workers, and serving over 375 industries during nearly three decades in the state. Its clients range from single-employee shops to organizations with several hundred staff.

Payroll services

Payroll is at the center of the offering. Clients send in hours, look over a detailed preview prepared by the ProService team, and approve the run; companies using the provider's online timekeeping can have hours transmitted automatically. Payroll specialists apply an internal audit step before funds go out, and tax calculation, withholding and filing are part of the standard package rather than an add-on. Specific capabilities include:

• Direct deposit and printed checks for full-time and part-time W-2 staff
• Weekly, biweekly or semi-monthly pay schedules
• Wages, bonuses, commissions and tips, plus holiday and sick pay tracking
• Deduction, withholding and wage garnishment administration
• Federal 940/941 filings and year-end W-2 processing
• Certified and union payroll reporting for government contracts
• Standard and custom reports and payroll record keeping

Beyond payroll

Because the model is bundled, buyers also receive an HR platform with paperless onboarding, new hire reporting, employee self-service for pay stubs and time-off requests, and help drafting handbooks and policies, along with phone and email access to local HR advisors.

On the benefits side, ProService offers group medical plans through HMSA and Kaiser Permanente, as well as 401(k) plans and FSAs. A distinguishing point is workers' compensation: the company writes policies in-house and handles claims itself, pairing that coverage with safety training and risk management.

Clients also gain access to training for owners, managers and staff on topics such as compliance, safety and leadership, with credits that count toward national certifications. The firm has also helped more than 600 clients pursue the Employee Retention Credit.

Multi-state employers

For Hawaii companies with remote or relocated staff, ProService runs payroll in all 50 states, applying the correct state withholding and filing with each relevant agency. It can arrange workers' compensation in the 46 states that permit private carriers, using pay-as-you-go billing with no upfront deposit, and it can extend coverage through a national health carrier for mainland employees.

The bundle also includes Employment Practices Liability Insurance, state-specific handbook addendums, remittance of paid family and medical leave contributions, and guidance through new-state registration.

Beyond its Oahu headquarters, ProService maintains an office near the Honolulu airport and locations in Wailuku on Maui, Kapaa on Kauai and Kailua-Kona on Hawaii Island. For buyers weighing payroll providers, it suits employers who want payroll handled within a complete outsourced HR arrangement and who value Hawaii-specific tax and labor expertise, in-house workers' compensation, and support for team members on the mainland.