Edit, cancel, or reverse an employee payroll or contractor payment

If the check date has passed, you can change or reverse most payrolls in-app. Once reversed, you'll receive a confirmation email.

• Negative payrolls will be created immediately in reporting—this means you do not have to wait until morning maintenance.
• This helps keep the impacted employee's wage base accurate if you decide to process an off-cycle payroll immediately due to a correction.
• Partial reversals cannot be revisited, meaning if one employee was reversed from a payroll, you cannot go back and reverse for other employees.
• Reversals of a payroll in a closed quarter will automatically trigger amendments to be generated and filed.
• This does not work for payrolls that include:
• Guideline 401k (after the check date)
• Gusto Managed HSA or DCFSA

Payrolls fully process at 4pm PT on the day you process payroll. Most payrolls can be canceled in-app, so long as:

• The check date has not yet passed, and;
• We have not debited taxes and net pay.

Payrolls can only be changed once they've fully processed—if you only see the option to cancel a payroll, you'll need to cancel it and rerun it to make changes. 

If you're looking to cancel a contractor payment, head to this article.  

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Pay history.
3. Find the payroll check date. We'll let you know if your payroll can still be canceled, and you can click the red Cancel button. 
   • If the cancel button does not appear, it means the payroll has processed, and you've missed the deadline to cancel, as it's now been sent to your bank for processing. You may still be able to adjust the payroll without contacting us.
4. Read the cancel prompt and click Cancel this payroll.
   • If you canceled a regular payroll, the payroll settings will be saved, so you will not need to re-enter the payroll details again. Click Pay and select Run payroll to reprocess it. 

If you cancel the payroll before it's fully processed, no taxes or wages will be debited from your company's bank account.

Note: If a payroll is canceled accidentally, you'll need to start over and reprocess it.

Payrolls can only be adjusted once they've fully processed—if you only see the option to cancel a payroll, you'll need to cancel it and rerun it to make changes. 

Important reminders

• Direct deposit reversals: These can only occur within 4 business days of the check date, and can only be attempted once.
  • If it’s after 4 business days, you’ll need to work with your employee to recover the funds outside of Gusto.
  • If a reversal is submitted, the bank will attempt to recover the funds within 1-2 business days.
    • If successful: Funds will be returned to your company bank account within 5-7 business days.
    • If unsuccessful: You’ll need to work with your employee to recover the funds outside of Gusto.
  • We'll still reverse the amounts for tax and reporting purposes.
• Staying compliant: Make sure to check your state’s overpayment laws before you reverse the payroll:
  • For customers with Priority support: Submit a ticket to the HR experts—admins can upgrade the plan at any time.
  • For all other customers: Visit your state labor office or locality's website for current employee overpayment laws in your state(s).
• Tax payments: Depending on the check date of the payroll being adjusted, we may have already paid some taxes. When this happens, we cannot recover the funds from the agencies.
  • At the end of each quarter when we submit your quarterly filings, agencies will recognize a tax overpayment, and issue your company a refund or credit.
• Accounting integrations: If you’re using one, you may need to manually reconcile any reversed entries.

Change a payroll that you’ve already run

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Pay history.
3. Click the check date of the payroll you need to adjust.
4. In the gray box on the right side, click Make changes to payroll.
   • If you do not see this option, click Contact us so we can assist with the adjustment or reversal.
5. Let us know what you need to adjust, and follow the prompts that follow. 

Reverse or cancel an individual employee’s payroll

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the People section.
3. Click your employee's name.
4. Select the Pay tab.
5. On the right side of the page under Paystubs, select the desired pay period from the dropdown.
6. Click Make changes.
7. The payroll summary page will open. In the gray box on the right side, click Make changes to payroll.
   • If you do not see this option, contact us from the  section of your account to make an adjustment.
8. Follow the prompts to finalize the reversal or cancellation.

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'll need to cancel and rerun the payment to make any changes.

Important reminders 

• Reversing before the check date
  • We’ll return the funds to your bank account within a few business days. 
• Reversing on or after the check date
  • We’ll correct the reporting, but you’ll need to recover all funds from the contractor directly (direct deposited or issued by check)—banking regulations prevent Gusto from recovering the funds on your behalf.

Cancel or adjust a US contractor payment

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Pay history.
3. Click the Contractor payment history tab.
   • Under the payday, if a payment can still be canceled or adjusted, there will be a tag letting you know. If the tag does not appear, continue with the steps below for us to assist.
4. Click View details under the "Actions" column.
5. Choose the option available—the cancel option is not available once the payment has been processed.
   • Cancel the payment:
     • Scroll down to the contractor name, click x cancel payment, and then click Cancel Payment to confirm.
   • Adjust the payment:
     • Under the “Adjustments” section, click Make an adjustment and tell us what you need to adjust. Based on your selection, we’ll let you know the next steps required to adjust the payment.
     • If you do not see this option, click Contact us so we can assist with the adjustment or reversal.

You can cancel an international payment until 4 PT on the "Processing date" shown in Gusto. After that time, you'll need to contact us from the Help section of your account.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Pay history.
3. Toggle to the Non-US contractors tab.
4. Under the “Actions” column, click Cancel payment.
5. Make sure you understand that this will cancel the payment, and remove the record of it entirely.
6. To confirm the cancellation, click Cancel Payment.