Integrate with QuickBooks Online

Step 1: Connect to QuickBooks Online from Gusto

You’ll need admin permissions in both Gusto and QuickBooks Online to connect your accounts. Start here: 

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Go to the App directory.
3. Search for QuickBooks Online and select it.
4. Click Connect.
5. Enter your QuickBooks Online credentials.
   • If you're an accounting firm: First, select your firm. Then select the specific company you manage.
6. Click Authorize to allow QuickBooks Online and Gusto to sync.
7. In the Detailed tab, map your chart of accounts.
   • For more help with mapping, check out the “Set up your payroll mappings” section of this article.
   • Important: All Gusto categories must be mapped in order for your sync to work.

Step 2: Automate your mappings (Recommended)

Automating your mappings is optional but recommended to avoid sync errors. This lets you pre-select which QuickBooks Online accounts should be used by default for new payroll categories. This means that when a new item is created in Gusto, you will not need to manually map it—Gusto will automatically apply your default mapping.

You’ll manage automated mappings in the Default tab. Click here for more details and next steps. 

Step 3: Choose your sync settings

In the Settings section of the integration, go to the Manage tab to set up any sync preferences—such as whether the sync runs automatically or manually, or whether certain taxes should be consolidated.

Click here for a description of each setting and how to set them up.

Below is each setting you can customize and how to do so.

Here’s how to get to any of these settings:

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Go to the App directory.
3. Search for QuickBooks Online and select it.
4. Under “Settings,” go to the Manage tab.
5. Find the setting you’d like to review. See below to learn more about each setting.

Contractor payment sync

If you pay contractors through Gusto, decide how those payments should sync:

• Batch payments into a single entry (recommended for 30+ contractor payments): All contractor payments for a pay date will sync as one entry. Syncs (including auto-syncs) occur at 5pm PT on the payment processing date.
• Sync each contractor payment as a separate entry: Each contractor payment will appear as its own journal entry.

Employer tax consolidation

Choose how you want employer taxes to appear in QuickBooks Online:

• Consolidate: Group all employer taxes into a single lump sum (e.g., "Payroll Taxes").
• Don’t Consolidate: List out individual tax amounts (e.g., Federal Unemployment, Social Security, Medicare, State Unemployment, etc.).

Journal entry consolidation

By default, Gusto consolidates entries of the same type into a single journal entry. You can also choose to group entries:

• By employee
• By department
• By job
• By project (if using Gusto Project Tracking)

To learn more about group mappings, check out the “Consolidated mapping” section of this article.

Entry date options

Select when the journal entry should appear in QuickBooks Online:

• Check date: This is the date your employees received their payments.
• Debit date: This is the date Gusto initiated the debit for taxes and net pay from your company’s bank account.
• End of pay period: This is the recorded end of the pay period.

Here’s why mapping your chart of accounts matters:

• For payroll data to sync correctly, each payroll item must be mapped to an account in QuickBooks Online.
• The more accounts you map to, the more detail your journal entries will have.
• Having more detailed journal entries gives you more granular reports in QuickBooks Online (like Profit & Loss, Expense Reports, and Liability Reports).

Map your chart of accounts

1. In your Gusto admin account, head to the App directory.
2. Choose QuickBooks Online.
   • This can be found under the Connected Integrations tab. 
3. Go to the Detailed tab.
4. Click any section (Wages & Salaries, Employer Taxes, etc.) to expand the view.
5. For each Gusto category, click the search box and choose the corresponding QuickBooks Online account.
   • By default, Gusto only shows common account types for each category.
   • If you do not see the account you want, start typing the account name to find it.
   • If you’re still not seeing an account you’d like to use, create the account in QuickBooks Online then click Refresh chart of accounts in Gusto.
   • Note: Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable account types are not supported at this time because these require a Contact to be used with the Account. Asset and Liability accounts are supported without a Contact.
6. Click here to learn more about types of accounts and commonly used pairings.
7. Repeat until you've selected an account for each Gusto category. Your progress is automatically saved as you go.
   • Unmapped categories will move to the top of the list.

Time-saving tips for the Mapping tab:

• If you’d like to map multiple items at once:
  • Check the box next to each item you want to map.
  • Click Actions at the top.
  • Choose Edit account type.
  • Type the account name and select it.
  • Click Submit.
• To show unmapped items only:
  • Next to "Actions," click the filter icon.
  • Select Display unmapped accounts only.
  • Click Apply.

Why default mappings matter

Over time, you may make changes to your Gusto account such as adding a custom deduction, creating a new earnings type, or setting up a new benefit. When this happens, new payroll line items are created in Gusto that need to be mapped to an account in QuickBooks Online. If these items are not mapped, they can cause sync issues. Setting up default mappings can help you with this.

What default mappings do

Default mappings let you pre-select the QuickBooks Online accounts that should be used for new payroll categories. This means that when you create a new line item, you will not have to manually map it to a QuickBooks Online account—Gusto will automatically apply your default mapping to it.

• Example: If a new earnings type is created in Gusto, it will appear under "Wages & Salaries." If you’ve already chosen a default mapping for “Wages & Salaries,” the new line item will automatically map to the default QuickBooks Online account without interrupting the sync.

Setting up default mappings is optional. If you prefer to manually map new Gusto categories, simply leave the default mapping blank.

Set up default mappings

Follow these steps to set up or change default mappings:

1. In your Gusto admin account, head to the App directory.
2. Go to the Connected Integrations tab.
3. Choose QuickBooks Online.
4. Select the Default tab.
5. For each section (Wages & Salaries, Employer Taxes, etc.) you’d like to map, select the QuickBooks Online account you want new categories to map to.
   • If you prefer to manually map new categories as they’re created, simply leave the default mapping blank.
6. Repeat for all sections.
   • Your selections are saved automatically.

Edit default mappings

You can change default mappings at any time in the Default tab. Changes will only apply to new mappings going forward. 

Edit detailed mappings

If a new category has been given a default mapping you’d like to change, you can change it in the Detailed tab. Here's how:

1. In your Gusto admin account, go to the App directory. 
2. Go to the Connected Integrations tab.
3. Choose QuickBooks Online.
4. Select the Detailed tab.
5. Find the category you’d like to change and select the QuickBooks Online account it should map to going forward. 
   • If you also want to change the default mapping for line items in that category going forward, go to the Default tab.

If past payrolls have already been synced to QuickBooks Online with an incorrect mapping, you’ll need to manually re-sync those payrolls.

To provide more granularity, you have the option to map your chart of accounts by employee, job, department, or Gusto Projects (available to companies using Gusto Project Tracking). If you use QuickBooks Classes, you can also assign a class to each of the selected grouping options.

This is optional.

Set up consolidated journal entries

Step 1: Choose your journal entry consolidation method

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Go to the App directory and select QuickBooks Online.
   • You can also find this under the Connected Integrations tab.
3. Under Settings, go to the Manage tab.
4. Next to "Journal entry consolidation," click Edit.
5. Choose how you want to consolidate entries:
   • By employee: 
     • This can offer more detailed reporting. 
     • Ex: You can track each employee’s wages in separate accounts instead of one "Salaries and Wages" account.
   • By department:
     • This can help you track wages, taxes, and benefits separately. 
     • Ex: You can send Design wages to one account and Marketing wages to another, instead of combining everything into "Salaries and Wages." You can also map departments to QuickBooks Classes if needed.
     • Click here to see how you can enable departments.
   • By job:
     • This can split wages, taxes, and benefits by role. 
     • Ex: You can track cashier wages and cook wages in separate accounts instead of sending all wages to "Salaries and Wages." If you use QuickBooks Classes, you can also map jobs to Classes for even more detailed reporting.
     • Click here to see how you can enable multiple job titles for employees.
   • By project:
     • Gusto Project Tracking must be enabled. We do not integrate with QuickBooks Projects.
     • You can track wages, taxes, and benefits by project. 
     • Ex: Instead of all wages going to “Salaries and Wages,” you can split wages into separate accounts for each Gusto Project. 
6. Click Submit.

Step 2: Set up mapping overrides and Quickbooks Classes (optional)

Once you select a consolidation method, a new tab appears on the left. Ex: If you choose to consolidate by employee, the tab will be called Employee. If you choose to consolidate by department, the tab will be called Department.

You can override default mappings for individual employees, departments, jobs, or projects. Overriding a default mapping means assigning different accounts to payroll items at these levels. 

This is optional—if no overrides are applied, journal entries will still be categorized accordingly.

Here's how to set up an override:

1. Find the new tab that corresponds to the consolidation method you chose.
   • Ex: If you chose to consolidate by employee, go to the Employee tab.
2. Click Override.
3. If your company uses QuickBooks Classes, you’ll first have the option to choose a tracking category.
4. Just as you did on the Detailed tab, match each Gusto category to an account in QuickBooks.

Contractor payments

Consolidating journal entries by employee and department is compatible with contractors.

Consolidating by job and project is not compatible with contractors. This is because job titles and Gusto Projects are not currently supported for contractor profiles. If your company pays contractors and uses job or project consolidation, contractor payments will be synced based on the default company mappings.

Once you've connected to QuickBooks Online from Gusto, follow these steps to manually sync any payroll or contractor payment from Gusto to QuickBooks. This also works for any payrolls you need to retroactively sync.

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. To manually sync, or re-sync a payroll after setup, click the Pay section and select Pay history. 
3. Click on the payroll or contractor payment you would like to sync.
4. Click Sync on the payment details page.
   • Note: If you have Autosync enabled, the data will automatically push over when you process payroll.
   • A timestamp will populate, confirming the data was pushed over to QuickBooks Online.
5. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online account..

The Journal Entry will post to your bank register for review and reconciliation. 

Note: If you do not see the Sync button, confirm your integration is still actively set up and is not disconnected.

If a journal entry has failed to sync from your Gusto account to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online will send us an error code. You can use these error codes to troubleshoot the syncing failure.

Because Gusto does not take any money for benefits or deductions, we include a mapping for a benefit or deduction expense and a benefit or deduction liability. This will create accounts within your accounting software that accrue an amount owed for the benefit or deduction over time.

When the benefit or deduction is then paid to the requesting party, you can offset your liability account and zero out the accrued amount owed.

Benefits always have two line items on the journal entry: 

• Employer Benefit Expense: This tracks the cost of employer contributions to benefits.
• Benefit Liabilities: This tracks the amount owed to the benefit provider. It's the total of employee deductions + employer contributions.

Important: When money is pulled for an FSA or commuter benefit, before it is deducted through payroll make sure you don't create an expense but rather establish a receivable. It will be expensed in payroll when the amount is deducted. At that point with the deduction, then reduce the receivable.

Offset benefit liabilities

Option 1: Create an entry from the bank debit (created by paying the benefit or deduction) and assign that entry to the liability account to offset. 

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online Account.
2. Go to Banking and select the applicable bank account.
3. Select on the bank debit created from paying the benefit or deduction.
4. In the middle field, select the liability account from the drop-down menu.
5. Click Add.

Option 2: Create a bill and associate the bill with the liability account.

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online Account.
2. Go to the + in the upper right-hand corner and select Bill under Vendors.
3. Manually enter or select the liability account from the drop-down menu under Accounts.
4. Finishing creating the bill.
5. Click Save.

If you pay employees by check, we recommend you print the checks from Gusto.

If you prefer to print checks from within QuickBooks Online, this can be accomplished by editing the Journal Entry in QuickBooks Online to avoid double reporting.

For any checks that will be printed from QuickBooks Online, we recommend updating the bank account line item on the Journal to a liability account. When you create the check in QuickBooks Online, you should code the line item to the same liability account, which will offset the account balance.

Edit a Gusto QuickBooks Online Journal Entry

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online account.
2. Click Bank Register.
3. Select the bank account currently connected to your Gusto account through your Account Mappings.
4. Locate the debits from your most recent payroll. On the left-hand side of the debit, click on the green Journal Gusto.
5. Open the Journal Entry. Reduce the line entry for "Wages & Salaries" by the amount of the check.
6. Remove the credit line item for the check payment.

Learn more about creating a liability check in QuickBooks Online.

Choose a section below for frequently asked questions about this integration.