If you paid employees this year before joining Gusto, you need to add those payroll records and employee details to Gusto. We use this info to accurately calculate your taxes and help you avoid tax notices, penalties, and interest.
With payroll transfer automation, employers and accountants moving from QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, ADP Run, or Paychex can upload past payroll records and employee data directly to Gusto. This saves an average of 10 minutes per employee, reduces errors, and supports accurate tax calculation.
Payroll transfer automation handles data migration only. It does not set up deductions, contributions, or other pay items—you need to set those up separately in Gusto.
This upload option is only available during onboarding. After your company is set up, you need to enter past payroll using a non-Gusto payroll.
Reporting past contractor payments is different from reporting past payrolls—learn more.
Note: Paychex payroll history import may not be available to all users transferring from Paychex.
You need two reports from your previous provider—one for employee data and one for payroll history. Each provider uses specific reports that we can accept. If you upload a report type or file format we do not support, the import will fail, and you’ll need to try again.
Note: If you are uploading multiple quarters for year-to-date totals, you will need separate reports for each quarter.
Provider
Employee report
Payroll history report
QuickBooks Online Payroll
Employee Details (PDF)
Payroll Summary by Employee (Excel)
QuickBooks Desktop Payroll
Customize Reports (CSV)
Payroll Report (CSV)
ADP Run
Employee Summary (PDF)
Payroll Details (Excel)
Paychex
Profile (PDF)
Employee Earnings Record (PDF)
From QuickBooks Online, you need to download 2 reports: the Employee Details report and the Payroll Summary by Employee report.
To download the Employee Details report, follow these steps.
Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
Open Reports from the main menu.
Search for Employee Details.
Click Customize.
Select All Employees and All Locations.
Click Run Report.
Click View next to any Social Security number. You may need to complete 2-step verification.
Click Export and save the file as a PDF.
To download the Payroll Summary by Employee report, follow these steps.
Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
In the left tab, click Reports.
Click Payroll Summary by Employee.
If Payroll Summary by Employee is unavailable, click the Payroll Details report. In the right corner, look for “Looking for Summary by Employee? Look here.” Click Look Here.
Set the date range as needed.
On the right side, click Customize.
Make sure All Employees is selected. The report needs to include terminated employees who were paid during that year.
Run the report.
Download the file as a CSV.
Next, upload your files to Gusto using the steps in the “Upload your reports to Gusto” section below.
From QuickBooks Desktop, you need to download 2 reports: the Employee Contact List and the Payroll Report.
Watch the video on how to export the Employee Contact List from QuickBooks Desktop.
To download the Employee Contact List, follow these steps.
Click Reports from the main menu.
Hover over Employees & Payroll.
Select Employee Contact List.
Click Customize Report.
Under the Display tab, select these fields:
First name
Last name
SSN
Date of birth
Street 1
Street 2
City
State
Zip
Hire date
Release date
Salary
Workers’ comp code (Washington only)
Earning rate(s)
Job title
To include active and terminated employees:
Open the Filters tab.
Select Active Status.
Click Remove Selected Filter.
Click OK.
Save the report as a CSV file.
To download the Payroll Report, follow these steps.
Sign in to QuickBooks Desktop.
In the top menu, click Reports.
Hover over Employees & Payroll.
Click Payroll Summary.
Set the check date range as needed.
Click Refresh.
Click the Excel dropdown.
Choose Create New Worksheet.
Continue with Create a new worksheet.
Choose In a new workbook.
Select Export.
Download the file as a CSV or Excel file.
Next, upload your files to Gusto using the steps in the “Upload your reports to Gusto” section below.
From ADP Run, you need to download 2 reports: the Employee Summary report and the Payroll Details report.
Make sure the report is in portrait orientation. The file defaults to landscape, so you need to change it to portrait.
To download the Employee Summary report, follow these steps.
Click Reports and select Run single report.
Search for Employee Summary and select it.
Click Edit in the top-left corner.
Choose:
Current year
Most recent quarter
All employee statuses
All employees
Click View report.
Click Download.
Save the file as a PDF in portrait orientation.
Note: This report may miss employees paid or terminated in earlier quarters. You may need to download and upload multiple Employee Summary reports.
Contractor details
Contractors appear on the Employee Summary report, but the report does not include:
Social Security numbers
Multiple pay rates
Bank account numbers for direct deposit (these are masked)
To download the Payroll Details report, follow these steps.
Sign in to ADP Run.
Click Reports.
Select Run single reports.
Search for Payroll Details.
Select Edit to set the payroll dates.
Choose View report.
Download the file as a PDF.
Next, upload your files to Gusto using the steps in the “Upload your reports to Gusto” section below.
From Paychex, you need to download Employee Profile reports for each employee and the Employee Earnings Record.
Paychex requires a separate Profile PDF for each employee. After you download a profile for each employee, combine all the PDFs into one file before you upload to Gusto.
To download Employee Profile reports, follow these steps.
Click the People List tab in the dark blue toolbar in the top right.
Filter by Workers, then Category, then Employee and Independent Contractor, if applicable.
Below Category, filter by Status, then Active and Terminated.
Scroll to the bottom and click Apply filters.
If you have multiple companies, select the company first.
Select the employee you want to download first.
Click the Profile tab.
In the top right, click Download Profile to save the profile as a PDF. The PDF includes all the basic employee data we need.
Repeat steps 2 – 4 for each employee.
To combine the PDFs into one file on Windows, follow these steps.
Open the first PDF using the Open with system viewer option.
Go to View, then Thumbnails.
Click Edit, then Insert, then Page from File.
If Page from File is dimmed, make sure the file you have open is a PDF.
Repeat step 3 until you combine all PDFs into one document.
To combine the PDFs into one file on a Mac, follow these steps.
Select all the PDFs in Finder.
Right-click and select Quick Actions.
Select Create PDF.
Paychex payroll history import is in Beta and may not be available to you. If you do not see the option to upload payroll history during onboarding, see the Get help with the import section below.
To download the Employee Earnings Record, follow these steps.
Go to Analytics & Reports.
Under Quick Reports, click View All Reports.
Under Payroll Top Reports, select Employee Earnings Record.
Click Create Report.
Select All employees.
Set Date Range to Custom, then choose Employee and Company, and Show Each Earning.
Enter the start and end dates for the period you need. Do not use year-to-date summaries.
Click Run Report, then Download the PDF.
If Paychex asks “Combine PDFs?”, choose Keep Separate.
Next, upload your files to Gusto using the steps in the “Upload your reports to Gusto” section below.
After you download the reports from your previous provider, upload them to Gusto from the payroll setup timeline.
To upload your employee report, follow these steps.
On the payroll setup timeline, find Import team members and click Continue.
Click Select file or drag and drop your file into the upload box.
Click Upload.
Review the imported employee data for accuracy.
Click Submit when you are done.
To upload your payroll history reports, follow these steps.
On the payroll setup timeline, find the payroll history step and click Continue.
Under Import your previous payroll records, click Select file or drag and drop your file into the upload box.
Click Upload.
After the upload is complete, click Review next to each file to confirm the data is accurate.
Click Continue to move through each category in the review.
To edit anything, double-click in any cell and enter the correct number.
In steps 1-3, you’ll review your earnings, deductions, contributions, and reimbursements.
In step 4, you’ll review tax amounts. You’ll have the opportunity to reconcile the discrepancies the system flags. Discrepancies will be flagged in red next to the employee's name. Follow the guidance to resolve.
After you upload and review each file, click Submit.
Pro tip: To switch providers during the upload, click Change Provider in the top right. To find answers to common questions, click FAQs.
We handle your data securely and in accordance with our privacy policy.
If your upload fails, the message you see in Gusto tells you what to fix. Find your error below for next steps.
Your PDF is encrypted, corrupted, or otherwise cannot be opened. To fix this, follow these steps.
Open the file on your computer to make sure it is not password protected.
If the file is password protected, remove the password and save a new copy.
Re-download the report from your previous provider if the file appears corrupted.
Upload the new file to Gusto.
You uploaded the wrong report type. Each provider has one specific report we accept. Check the report title at the top of the file against the list below.
QuickBooks Online—Payroll Summary by Employee
QuickBooks Desktop—Payroll Summary
ADP Run—Payroll Details
Paychex—Employee Earnings Record
If the title does not match, go back to the “Download reports” section above for your provider and download the correct report.
ADP Run and Paychex payroll reports need to be in landscape format.
To fix this, follow these steps.
Re-download the report from your previous provider.
Before you save the file, change the page orientation from portrait to landscape.
Make sure no individual pages are rotated.
Upload the new file to Gusto.
Your file is missing required information—like the company name, check dates, or employee names—or the file is empty.
To fix this, follow these steps.
Go back to the “Download reports” section above for your provider.
Make sure you follow each step exactly, including the date range and filter options.
Re-download the report and upload the new file to Gusto.
After we import your employees, invite them to Gusto so they can review their personal details and complete any federal, state, and local withholding tax info, along with their bank account details.
Q: Why do my imported tax amounts not match my previous provider's records?
A: When you switch to Gusto, we bring over the tax amounts your previous provider reported for each employee. We separately calculate our own estimate of those taxes for comparison. Two payroll systems rarely land on the exact same number — small differences can come from rounding, how each system applies tax brackets, or how W-4 elections are interpreted.
If you see a message asking you to double-check a tax amount, compare it against your previous provider's payroll records. If the imported amount is correct, you do not need to do anything. If it looks wrong, you can edit it directly in the tax review step.
Q: What if a tax amount is missing from my upload?
A: Some tax amounts on your uploaded document may not appear in the review step. This can happen when we're unable to match a line item on your document to a specific tax type in Gusto. If you notice a tax amount is missing, contact us using the information in the Get help with the import section below.
If your previous payroll provider was QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, or ADP Run, you can edit any tax amount directly in the tax review step — select the field and enter the correct amount. If your previous provider was Paychex, or if you need help with the import for another reason, contact our Sales team at 415-918-2367 or [email protected].