Edit an employee's personal details (as an admin)

As an employer, you'll always need to edit the following information on an employee's behalf—the information may appear on federal and state tax documents so it's important to verify the information before making updates:

Legal name
Social Security number (SSN)
Birthday

If you're an employee, see what information you can update on your own in this article.

Admins can head to the articles below to learn more about how to:

Edit a work address, job title, or job (pay) type.
Edit pay information for salaried employees—compensation changes, default hours, custom earning types, recurring payments, prorations and more.
Edit pay information for hourly employees—hourly pay changes, default hours, multiple pay rates, custom earning, recurring payments, prorations, and more.
Add or assign a manager

Correct an employee's SSN

When entering an employee's SSN in Gusto, we'll let you know if the format in incorrect, but are unable to validate, or invalidate SSNs—this must be done by an employer. You can use the Social Security Number Verification Service to verify your employee's SSNs.

If you want to see the full SSN listed in Gusto for an employee, you'll need to run an employee information report.

Troubleshooting SSN issues or errors

If you notice an SSN error (or mismatch):

Notify your employee—you can use this sample template letter from the SSA.
Confirm with the individual that they've applied for an SSN or have had one historically—to apply for a new SSN, point them here.
Check if the SSN entered starts with a "9"—if it does, this is actually not an SSN, but instead an ITIN.
- ITINs are not valid to use for employees working in the US, and your employee needs to apply for and provide an SSN for reporting wages on their W-2.
- ITINs are more commonly used by business contractors.

Correct an SSN

If you're a Gusto admin with the required permissions, you can edit an employee's Social Security number (SSN) by following the instructions below.

If you do not have the option to update an employee's SSN, reach out to the primary admin of your company's Gusto account.

If you're an employee, reach out to your employer who can assist with the change.

Click the People tab and select Team members.
Select an employee.
Click the Personal tab.
Next to the "Basics" headline, click edit
Edit the employee's Social Security number.
Click Save.

If you offer health insurance with Gusto (including the broker integration) and the employee is enrolled in coverage, their SSN update will also be sent to their insurance carriers.

Previous year W-2 corrections

If a previous years' Form W-2 was filed with an incorrect SSN, please contact us from the Help section of your account to report the issue.

Past unemployment filings

In required states, Gusto files quarterly unemployment reports that contain an employee's name and social security number. If past unemployment filings have been sent with an incorrect SSN, contact the agency directly to inform them of the error. Gusto is unable to amend unemployment returns for an SSN update.

Change an employee's home address

If you're an employee or contractor and need to update your home address, follow the steps in this article.

Admins can update an employee’s home address, and view home address history from the Personal tab of their employee profile in Gusto.

Important reminders

The home address of an employee can impact their tax liability and health premiums (if you have benefits with Gusto)—learn how to update their address below.
- If you offer health insurance with Gusto (including the broker integration) and the employee is enrolled in coverage, their home address update will also be sent to their insurance carriers.
Do not delete a home address unless the employee never actually lived there. Gusto needs historical home addresses for tax purposes.
Do not use an employee's PO Box for their home address.

Change the current home address—the physical address is wrong

Head to the People section and select Team members.
Click the name of the employee to visit their profile.
Toggle to the Personal tab.
Scroll to the “Home Address” headline and click Manage Home Address.
Click Change address.
Click I need to correct an error in [employee’s] current home address.
Enter the correct home address for the employee.
- If you’ve indicated in Gusto that your employee works from home, and you’ve changed the home address to a location which requires different taxation than the original, this may have implications on tax calculations and withholding. We’ll reach out to you if tax corrections are needed.
  - Ex. You changed the location to a different state, or different locale with different applicable taxes.
Select whether you’d like to pay home taxes on behalf of the employee and read any related alerts.
Click Submit.
Based on the address change, tax corrections may be needed—contact us from the Help or Priority support section of your account so we can assist. Let us know which employee you made the home address change for so our team can determine if tax corrections are needed.

Change the "Working here since" date for the current home address

When a new employee is hired, the home address entered during onboarding becomes their current work address (unless changed), and their hire date will be the date shown as the “working here since…” timeframe in their profile.

To change the “working here since date”, you’ll want to:

Make sure the first address is correct or updated as needed
Add any secondary addresses that the employee lived at after the first

Next steps

Head to the People section and select Team members.
Click the name of the employee to visit their profile.
Toggle to the Personal tab.
Scroll to the “Home Address” headline and click Manage Home Address.
Click Change address.
If needed, first click I need to correct an error in [employee’s] current home address.
Edit the start date to the correct start date for the address.
Click Submit.
Click Change address again to add another address to account for any time gaps.
Click [Employee] moved to a new address.
Enter the move-in date of the address.
Enter the new home address.
- If you’ve indicated in Gusto that your employee works from home, and you’ve changed the home address to a location which requires different taxation than the original, this may have implications on tax calculations and withholding. We’ll reach out to you if tax corrections are needed.
  - Ex. You changed the location to a different state, or different locale with different applicable taxes.
Select whether you’d like to pay home taxes on behalf of the employee and read any related alerts.
Click Save.
Review the “Home address history” section to make sure the timeframes for each location are accurate.
Based on the dates that were updated, tax corrections may be needed—contact us from the Help or Priority support section of your account so we can assist. Let us know which employee you made the home address changes for so our team can determine if tax corrections are needed.

Edit the "Home address history" for an employee

Head to the People section and select Team members.
Click the name of the employee to visit their profile.
Toggle to the Personal tab.
Scroll to the “Home Address” headline, and click Manage Home Address.
Scroll to the “Home address history” headline.
To edit the physical address or start date, click the three-dot menu under the “Actions” column.
- You cannot edit the start date of the first address until another address is added to replace it.
Click edit.
- Choosing to delete a past address may have implications on tax calculations and withholding. We’ll reach out to you if tax corrections are needed.
Edit the home address and/or change the start date of when the employee began working there.
- If you’ve changed the address to a location which requires different taxation than the original, this may have implications on tax calculations and withholding. We’ll reach out to you if tax corrections are needed.
  - Ex. You changed the location to a different state, or different locale with different applicable taxes.
To change the end date of a past work address, you’ll need to add another past work address to account for any date gaps—click Add past address.
Add a past home address.
Add the start date.
Click Submit.
- The start and end dates of the other addresses in the home address history section will adjust to account for the new address information.
Review all home address history to confirm its accuracy.
If historical address information was changed, tax corrections may be needed—contact us from the Help or Priority support section of your account so we can assist. Let us know which employee you made the address changes for so our team can determine if tax corrections are needed.

Schedule a future home address update

Head to the People section and select Team members.
Click the name of the employee to visit their profile.
Toggle to the Personal tab.
Scroll to the “Home Address” headline and click Manage Work Address.
Click Change address.
Select [Employee] has moved to a new home address.
Enter the address the employee will be living at.
Select the future start date at the new work location.
Click Save.

The future home address will appear in the “Home address history” section, where you can edit the address or start date as needed.

Update an employee's legal or preferred name

Click the People section and select Team members.
Click on the name of the employee that you need to update.
- If your employee has been dismissed, toggle to the Dismissed team members tab to find the employee's profile.
From the employee profile, toggle to the Personal tab.
Next to the "Basics" section, click edit.
Update your employee's full legal name or add a preferred name.
- Heads up: We do not support accent marks in names, and it's not a requirement on form filings.
Click Save.

If you offer health insurance with Gusto (including the broker integration) and the employee is enrolled in coverage, their name update will also be sent to their insurance carriers.

Change an employee's email—personal, work, or recovery email

Go to the People section and select Team members.
Click on your employee's name.
From the Job & Pay tab, scroll to the "Email" headline and click Edit.
If you need to change the recovery email: Toggle to the Personal tab and next to the "Basics" headline, click Edit.
Once an email address has been updated, click Save.

Change an employee's cell phone number

Click the People tab and select Team members.
Select an employee.
Click the Personal tab.
Next to the "Basics" headline, click edit.
Edit the employee's phone number.
Click Save.

Correct an employee's birthday

Click the People tab and select Team members.
Select an employee.
Click the Personal tab.
Next to the "Basics" headline, click edit
Edit the employee's birthday.
Click Save.

If you offer health insurance with Gusto (including the broker integration) and the employee is enrolled in coverage, their date of birth update will also be sent to their insurance carriers.

Change an employee to a contractor (or vice versa)

Head to this article for more information on how to convert employees to contractors, or vice versa.