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:
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:
When entering an employee's SSN in Gusto, we'll let you know if the format is incorrect, but we cannot 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.
To see the full SSN listed in Gusto for an employee, run an employee information report.
Troubleshooting SSN issues or errors
If you notice an SSN error (or mismatch):
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're an employee, reach out to your employer who can assist with the change.
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 year's Form W-2 was filed with an incorrect SSN, and you edit the SSN for the employee in Gusto, we'll automatically create a federal W-2c (corrected W-2) that'll be available in the employee’s profile within the next week. A few reminders:
Gusto does not amend state W-2s for SSN changes—if you need to amend a state-specific W-2 to correct for a SSN error, you'll need to do so outside Gusto.
Past unemployment filings
In some states, unemployment reports have an employee's name and social security number. If past unemployment filings have been sent with an incorrect SSN, contact the agency to let them know and fix the issue. Gusto does not amend unemployment returns for SSN updates.
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
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:
Next steps
If historical address information was changed, tax corrections may be needed. Contact us from the 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.
The future home address will appear in the “Home address history” section, where you can edit the address or start date as needed.
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.
Sometimes, you won’t be able to change a teammate's email address for them. If that happens, they’ll need to update it themselves or contact Gusto if they cannot (there might be implications related to the email change).
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.
Go to our article on how to change employment types.
If a team member becomes deceased, and a direct family member is trying to take ownership of their account, contact us from the Support section of your account. Include:
Once our Assurance team reviews the documentation and approves, we can help with the change of account ownership.