Fix past benefit amounts

If you need to fix past benefit amounts for Gusto-managed health benefits (including the broker integration), QSEHRA, an integrated 401(k), benefits related to a non-Gusto payroll, or fix benefits for a dismissed employee, our team will need to help—contact us through the Help section of your account.

For all other medical, dental, vision, and investment benefits, including shareholder benefits, you can fix past amounts on your own (if you have the required permissions). To fix future benefit amounts, edit the benefit directly.

Depending on what you need to fix, we might need to complete the correction on your behalf—if that’s the case, we’ll let you know (usually takes 5–10 business days to complete).

Steps to fix a past benefit amount

Before you process a benefit correction, make sure:

The benefit is set up and active in Gusto.
The employee who needs the benefit correction is actively enrolled in the benefit.
- If you need to correct a benefit for a dismissed employee, contact us through the Help section of your account so we can assist.
You’ve processed at least one payroll with benefits reported for the impacted employee (employee deductions or employer contributions).

Fix a benefit amount

Sign in to Gusto.
Click the Benefits section.
Under the "Active benefits" section, click request a benefit correction.
Review how benefit corrections work, and then click Get started.
Select the employees who need a benefit correction by clicking the + next to their name.
Click Save & continue.
Select the benefits that need to be fixed.
- You’ll be able to correct amounts for each employee included in the benefits you select.
Click Save & continue.
Select the payrolls that need to have the benefit amounts corrected.
Click Save & continue.
Tell us what the benefit amounts should have been in the “New amount” column.
- You can group the corrections by employee, benefit, or payroll date.
After entering the new employee and/or employer amounts, click Save & continue.
- Heads up: If you click Go back on this page, your work will not be saved. To save your work, click Save & continue first, then click Go back to add additional information.
Review the summary of your benefit correction request. We’ll let you know:
- If you need to recover money from your employees.
- If you owe your employees money back.
- If Gusto needs to debit the company account, we’ll let you know how much and when.
- If any changes are needed, go back and make the necessary changes. The changes entered so far will be saved, so you will not lose your work.
Click the accordions below the “Detailed review” header to review and confirm the benefit correction amounts and understand how taxes may have been impacted (both employee and employer taxes).
- Benefit corrections usually have tax implications. Gusto will need to withhold and pay any associated employee and employer taxes that may have changed, except for state and federal income taxes.
  - By default, we do not withhold or pay State Income Tax (SIT) and Federal Income Tax (FIT) resulting from a benefit correction because it may lead to penalties and interest due to late payments of these taxes.
  - SIT and FIT liabilities are reconciled when the employee files their annual income taxes. They’ll either get a refund if they’ve overpaid, or owe more if they have not paid enough.
  - If you want Gusto to withhold and pay SIT and FIT, click the More accordion and select I want Gusto to withhold and pay SIT and FIT anyway and complete any remaining prompts.
Once all changes have been entered and reviewed, click Submit changes.
Click Benefit correction summary to review any pending action items that may be needed as a result of this correction. You’ll also see these listed as “to-do’s” on your Home page.

From the benefit correction summary page, you can complete and update the status of the required follow-up actions.

Follow-up tasks and benefit correction history

Use the dropdowns below to learn about follow-up tasks after processing a benefit correction.

View tasks and correction history

Sign in to Gusto.
Click the Pay section and select Pay history.
Select the Other tab.
Click View next to the request to see the summary.
If you have tasks that need attention, you can review them here—once completed, click the checkbox to clear the task.

Reimburse employees

You can reimburse each employee individually, or you can upload the CSV that we created for you.

Pay with the CSV

Sign in to Gusto.
Go to the Benefit correction history page.
Select View next to the correction you need to follow up on.
Go to the list of tasks and download the CSV of amounts to pay.
Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
To reimburse employees in:
- The next regular payroll, click Run Regular Payroll.
- A new Off-cycle payroll, scroll to “Other payroll options” and select Off-cycle Payroll.
Click Upload CSV.
Click Select File, and choose the CSV file you downloaded in step 1.
Click Upload and your employees’ reimbursements will be filled out and ready to go—just continue processing payroll.

Recover funds from employees in a lump sum

Warning: Check your state laws to make sure you’re recovering funds compliantly. Each state has its own rules, and it might not be legal to deduct this money from payroll. If you’re unsure, check with your CPA.

Once you’ve confirmed that the deductions are compliant, follow the steps below.

Sign in to Gusto.
Go to the Benefit correction history page.
Select View next to the correction you need to follow up on.
Download the CSV of amounts to recover.
Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
On the first step of payroll, click on the “Actions” menu next to an employee’s name that needs a deduction.
- The CSV will show how much you need to recover (but you cannot automatically make deductions because of the legal implications).
Click Edit deductions.
Click Add one-time deduction.
Name the deduction, select Fixed amount for the amount type, enter the amount to deduct from the CSV file, and click Add.

Recover funds from employees over a period of time

You can set up a recurring deduction in the employee’s profile to disperse payment over multiple payrolls.

Once you’ve confirmed that the deductions are compliant, follow the steps below.

Sign in to Gusto.
Go to the Benefit correction history page.
Select View next to the correction you need to follow up on.
Download the CSV of amounts to recover.
Click the People section and select Team members.
Click on the employee’s name that needs the deduction set up.
Scroll to the bottom and click +Add a Garnishment or Custom Deduction.
Click Custom deduction (Post-Tax).
Under “Frequency,” select Recurring deduction (every payroll).
Under “Percent or fixed,” select Fixed amount.
Under “Amount to withhold,” enter the dollar amount per pay period that you want to withhold.
Under “Annual Maximum,” enter the total amount you must recover from the employee.
Click Save & continue.

Amendments for previous quarters

If you're correcting a payroll in a past quarter, and Gusto has already filed original quarterly forms on your company's behalf, these corrections will cause the need for amended filings. For more information on amended filings, review the amended returns article.