Mercury has launched Mercury Payroll, combining payroll, benefits, and compliance with its banking accounts in all 50 US states.
The new product covers W-2 employee and 1099 contractor payroll, health benefits, and 401(k) plans. It also handles the tax filings, state registrations, and administrative compliance tasks that come with them. Customers run all these functions from the same Mercury account they use for banking. Companies can hire in all 50 states, with no cap on the number of states.
The product builds on Mercury’s acquisition of Central in April 2026. Central combined an in-house team with AI automation to take compliance work away from company founders. According to Pranav Kashyap, Central’s co-founder, and now Head of Product for Payroll at Mercury, many payroll products calculate withholdings and generate forms but leave employers to manage state registrations, government notices, and coverage requirements themselves. Kashyap also noted that some platforms limit how many states a company can hire in based on its pricing plan.
Payroll connected to account balances
Mercury presents the launch as part of a wider aim for its accounts to manage the lifecycle of a company’s money as it comes in and goes out. For Mercury customers who run payroll, employee pay makes up roughly 20% of outgoing funds. Because the new product sits inside the account, the system reads the current balance before each pay run. This way, users are alerted in advance if an upcoming run is likely to fall short.
The company states that setup takes around 15 minutes. This is possible because the employer identification number (EIN), entity details, and account information are already on file. Banking and payroll share a single login.
Onboarding, benefits, and compliance
New hires enter their own personal details, tax information, and direct deposit instructions. A licensed broker helps employers choose health, dental, and vision plans, available in all 50 states, and enrols each employee as they are added. Employers can offer a 401(k) through a partner or manage it themselves. They can also issue company cards with spending limits during onboarding, and these cards close automatically when an employee leaves.
On compliance, Mercury Payroll files and remits federal and state payroll taxes and issues W-2 and 1099 forms at year end. It also responds to unemployment claims and organises correspondence from state agencies. Mercury’s team tracks obligations employers may not be aware of, such as the local income taxes that apply when hiring in parts of Colorado or Pennsylvania and consequently opens the relevant accounts. Government fees are passed through at cost.
The product also integrates with Command, which accepts typed instructions. For example, a user can request a salary change to USD 120,000. Command then calculates the proration, updated withholdings for benefits, 401(k), and taxes, and the applicable pay run, and drafts the change for approval.
Mercury Payroll is free for eligible Mercury customers until the end of 2026. From 2027, pricing will be applied. According to the company, the fee includes compliance services, including filings, registrations, government notices, and multi-state coverage.
Existing Central customers will be invited to the new Mercury Payroll interface over the coming weeks, and Mercury will manage the migration.
