Payroll transfer automation: Import previous payroll records

If your company is onboarding to Gusto partway through the calendar year, it's important to record any payrolls you’ve run in the current year with your previous provider. This helps make sure your year-to-date filings are accurate. Because an employer can only issue one W-2 to each employee per year, it’s important that we account for all wages earned.

With the payroll transfer automation, employers transferring from QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and ADP RUN can upload past payroll records to Gusto. This saves time, reduces mistakes, and helps with accurate tax calculation.

Note: Reporting past contractor payments is different than reporting past payrolls—learn more.

Click a dropdown below to learn about required documents, instructions for finding payroll reports with your previous provider, and how to upload the reports to Gusto.

Step 1: Download documents from your previous provider

Required documents 

Here’s what information to collect from your previous payroll provider. 

  • For the current quarter: A payroll summary report for each payroll processed, including any off-cycle or bonus payrolls.
  • For each previous quarter in this calendar year: Quarterly payroll summaries by employee. 

Find your provider below for steps to download the required documents from your previous provider.

Download payroll summary reports from QuickBooks Online

For QuickBooks Online, you’ll need to download “Payroll Summary” reports. Here’s how: 

  1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
  2. In the left-hand tab, click Reports.
  3. Click Payroll Summary by Employee.
    • If the Payroll Summary by Employee report is unavailable, click on the Payroll Details report. Check in the upper-right corner for "Looking for Summary by Employee? Look here.” Click Look Here to access the report. 
  4. Set the date range as needed.
  5. On the right-hand side, click Customize.
  6. Make sure All Employees is selected. The report must include terminated employees if they were paid that year.
  7. Run the report.
  8. Download the Excel file.

Next, upload the file to Gusto.

Download payroll summary reports from Quickbooks Desktop

For QuickBooks Desktop, you’ll need to download “Payroll Summary” reports. Here’s how: 

  1. Sign in to QuickBooks Desktop.
  2. In the top menu, click Reports.
  3. Hover over "Employees & Payroll."
  4. Click Payroll Summary.
  5. Set the check date range as needed.
  6. Click the Refresh button.
  7. Click the Excel dropdown.  
  8. Choose Create New Worksheet. 
  9. Continue with Create a new worksheet. Choose In a new workbook.
  10. Select Export.
  11. Download the Excel file.

Next, upload the file to Gusto. We also accept comma-separated values (.csv) files.

Download payroll summary reports from ADP RUN

For ADP RUN, you’ll need to download the “Payroll Detail” reports. Here’s how: 

  1. Sign in to ADP RUN.
  2. Click on the Reports tab.
  3. Select Run single reports.
  4. Search for "Payroll Detail."
  5. Select Edit to set the payroll dates.
  6. Choose View report.
  7. Download as a PDF.

Next, upload the file to Gusto.

Step 2: Upload your payroll records to Gusto

Once you’ve downloaded payroll reports from your previous provider by following the steps above, here’s how to upload them to Gusto: 

  1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
  2. Go to the Pay section.
  3. Under “Import previous payroll records,” click Let’s do it.
  4. Either click Select file or drag and drop your file into the box.
  5. Click Upload.
  6. Once the upload is complete, click Review next to each file you’ve uploaded to confirm the data is accurate. Click Continue to proceed through each category in the review.
    • If you need to edit anything, double-click in any cell and enter the correct number.
  7. When you’ve uploaded and reviewed each file, click Submit.
Don’t have previous payrolls to report?

If you paid employees this year, it's important that you take the time to add your payroll records to Gusto. We need these to accurately calculate your taxes and help you avoid tax notices, penalties, and interest. You should only skip this step if you have not paid any employees in the current year. 

Need more help?

If you need help with the import or if you need to edit a tax that is not editable on Gusto, contact our Sales team at 415-918-2367 or [email protected].