Add your independent U.S.-based contractors' basic information, invite them to self-onboard, send new hire documents (like contracts) for them to sign, and get ready to pay your team with ease. If you're not already using Gusto for payroll, get started paying your contractors with Gusto.
Once your domestic contractors have been added to Gusto, pay them by check or direct deposit to a bank account using the steps under the Pay a domestic contractor dropdown (there is no difference in cost between the two).
If there are any issues with receiving a payment, click the Troubleshoot payment problems dropdown below.
You'll only be charged for contractors in the month(s) you pay them–the per contractor price will either be $6 per contractor or $12 per contractor depending on your Gusto plan type.
For information about international contractor payments that Gusto supports, check out this article.
Your contractor will receive an email requesting them to add their SSN/TIN (for an individual) or EIN (for a business), home address, and payment information for a direct deposit or check. Once completed, you'll be notified and can start paying them through Gusto.
To view the contractor's checklist later, follow these steps. If you're on the Plus or Premium plan you can add custom tasks to your onboarding checklists.
If your contractor does not sign the electronic W-9 provided by Gusto after onboarding, you're required to keep a copy of the W-9 that the contractor provided to you before they were hired.
Once Gusto's version of the W-9 has been signed by the contractor, it cannot be edited in Gusto. You can have the contractor fill out a new Form W-9 outside of Gusto, and then upload the new version to their Gusto profile.
To view the Form W-9 that was created when the contractor was originally onboarded:
Gusto will provide electronic copies of 1099-NEC to your domestic contractors, and will file your 1099-NEC forms to federal and state agencies (if applicable) at the end of the year.
If you'd like to make contractor payments using Gusto, but don't want Gusto to produce a 1099-NEC for one or more contractors at the end of the year, contact our team from the Help section of your account to let us know—customers on a Priority support plan should contact us from the Priority support section.
Reminders
More information about 1099 reporting requirements can be found here.
We do not currently support:
If you're using Gusto Time Tracking for contractors, learn how to sync their hours here. If you're looking to pay international contractors, follow these steps.
Pay your domestic contractor
Click here to edit or cancel the payment after you've run it.
If you've already paid a domestic contractor outside of Gusto, you can still add the payment to Gusto for reporting purposes—this helps ensure the total amount on the contractor's Form 1099 is accurate.
To adjust or cancel a previously processed-in-Gusto contractor payment, click the Cancel or adjust a contractor payment processed by Gusto dropdown below. To process a new payment, check out the information in the Pay a domestic contractor dropdown.
For each month a historical payment is entered in, you'll be charged your standard monthly contractor fee.
The deadline to enter historical contractor payments for the previous year is in early January—we'll send notifications to admins as the end of the calendar year approaches letting you know what the final deadline is to run any and all previous payrolls (this includes historical contractor payments).
First, add the domestic contractor in Gusto, then follow the steps below—if the contractor has been dismissed you'll need to rehire them first. The payment(s) will be added for reporting purposes only.
If you need to cancel or adjust a payment, click View details.
Certain contractor payments can be canceled or adjusted in Gusto without having to contact us for help. If you only see the option to cancel a contractor payment, this means the payment has not fully processed and you will need to cancel and rerun the payment to make any changes.
If you’re looking to adjust an employee payroll instead, click here.
Bank error received
Have your contractor update their bank account information– you can also do this on their behalf in their contractor profile found in the People section. Once updated, they should receive their funds within 1-3 business days.
No bank error
If the transaction went through and you did not receive a bank error, the funds may have landed in the wrong bank account. Because Gusto is unable to retrieve the funds from the incorrect bank account, you’ll need to call the bank with the funds directly to address the issue.
Gusto has a default limit of ten payments per contractor per month—click below to learn how to increase this.
Contractors
The maximum amount you can increase this to is 20 payments per contractor per month. Please contact us to request a contractor payment limit increase.
Employees
You can pay employees as many times as you want.
If you believe there is a delay with one or more employee’s direct deposits, follow the steps below to troubleshoot.
If you’re still unable to determine the payment status and believe there’s an issue, please contact us.