Run a regular payroll

The "Total earnings" reflected at the top of the spreadsheet is a combination of the total pay + reimbursements. The "Total pay" column on the spreadsheet is a combination of gross wages (from salary or hours worked) + bonus + commission + additional earnings.

Run payroll

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Find the pay period you want to process payroll for, and click Run payroll.
   • Review the “Run by” date and “Payday”. 
4. Edit the columns and data in the spreadsheet as needed—find column descriptions in a dropdown below. 
   
   • Note: If your employee has multiple jobs/pay rates, click the black arrow to the left of their name to view the different jobs to enter data.
5. When everything looks good, click Review summary.
6. Review the withdrawal amount and payroll summary. Open the dropdowns for information on about taxes, wages, and more.
   • Important: You must have the full withdrawal amount available in the bank account at the time of processing payroll—failed debits may result in additional fees on your next invoice. 
7. Click Submit payroll.
8. If applicable, view employees that are being paid by check:
   • If you’ve already paid these employees or want to use your own checks, select Done.
   • If you have not paid them, select a printing format for your checks:
     • Top: Gusto check stock
     • Bottom: Blank check stock
       • If you select Blank check stock, enter the number you want the checks to start at.
   • Click See printable checks.
   • Printable checks will be generated for you to download.
9. From the confirmation page, you can:
   • View a full summary by generating a report.
   • Cancel your payroll.
   • Give feedback about the spreadsheet.  
   • Scroll to the “Payroll summary” and: 
     • Print checks under the Employee hours and earnings section.
     • Export payroll details.
     • Download a cash requirement report.

We’ll email you confirming your payroll has processed. 

To temporarily switch between data entry modes, use the toggle or button in the first step of payroll.

Note: If you toggle away from the spreadsheet view, time off hours will need to be added on the first step of payroll.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll. 
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. To set the default mode of what you'll see in a regular payroll, click Need help? at the top of the page.
5. Click Payroll spreadsheet.
6. Go to the section labeled "Choose your default", and select either new spreadsheet or previous experience.
   • If you make no selection, the new spreadsheet will be your default.

While using the spreadsheet, you can use your keyboard to move across cells and enter data. There are two layers to the spreadsheet, referred to as "active" vs. "edit" states:

• Navigating the cells within the grid (active state)
• Navigating the content within each cell (edit state)

The following key-commands can be used to navigate. If you're not relying on your keyboard to navigate, clicking a cell will enter the active state, and double-clicking a cell will enter the edit state. Additionally, if you're active in a cell, starting to type will also get you to the edit state.

Note: There are some limitations, which will be addressed in future iterations of the spreadsheet. For example:

• You cannot copy and paste cells in bulk
• You can only copy and paste info when the cell is in the edit state

Navigate the grid (active state)

Use the table below to learn how to navigate the grid. If you do not use your keyboard, double-click into a cell to make edits. 

Keyboard navigation / shortcut	Result
Right arrow, left arrow, up arrow, down arrow	Move through the cells of the grid
Tab	Move forwards through cells
Shift + tab	Move backwards through cells
Enter	Enter edit mode (without deleting existing content)
Space bar	Enter edit mode (without deleting existing content)
Any single character	Enter edit mode with character typed (replaces existing content)
Home	Jump to last cell in row
End	Jump to last cell in row
Ctr + home	Jump to first cell in grid
Ctr + end	Jump to last cell in grid
Page up	Moves focus to the top row in the currently visible set of rows
Page down	Moves focus to the bottom row in the currently visible set of rows

Navigate the cells (edit state)

Use the table below to learn how to navigate the cells.

Keyboard navigation / shortcut	Result
Enter	Move down one cell If interactive elements are present, focus will be moved to the first interactive element
Escape	Move focus to the cell for grid navigation
Right arrow, left arrow, up arrow, down arrow	Move cursor through cell content
Tab	Move forwards through cells while remaining in edit mode
Shift + tab	Move backwards through cells (while in edit mode)

You can change the structure of the spreadsheet to fit your needs. We recommend that columns with payroll data stay visible. 

• Hide columns in one of two ways:
  • Click the Columns button above the spreadsheet and deselect the columns you want hidden.
  • Click the down arrow in a column heading and use the Hide menu to hide a column. You can unhide it by clicking Columns and selecting the columns you want visible.
• Reorder columns in one of two ways (does not apply to the checkbox or employee name columns, which cannot be moved):
  • Click and hold a column heading to drag-and-drop them anywhere.
  • Move columns one spot at a time by clicking the down arrow in a column heading, and use the “Move left” or “Move right” options.
• Resize column widths in one of three ways:
  • Hover over the edges of column headings, and drag right or left.
  • Double-click the right edge of column headings to automatically resize to fit the longest content in that column.
  • Click the down arrow in column headings, and use the “Resize” menu item to enter a specific width (in pixels).
• Pin columns to the left edge of the spreadsheet by clicking the down arrow in column headings, and selecting the Pin or Unpin menu item.

Your preferences will be saved going forward.

Click, double-click, or hover over a cell to interact with it. Keep in mind that you can customize how the columns are displayed.

• Total pay: This amount is the combination of gross wages (from salary or hours worked) + bonus + commission + additional earnings.
• Rate: This info is pulled from the employee's profile—you can edit pay rates by clicking their name to go to their profile. 
• Regular hours: This will show any default hours set in the employee’s profile OR time tracked using Gusto Time tracking. 
  • If your company uses Gusto Time tracking, you may see alerts on top of the page for "unapproved" or "unsynced" timesheets. If you have time permissions, click Sync hours from approved timesheet in the alert box to make sure your timesheets are imported to payroll for the current pay period.  
• Overtime hours and Double overtime:
  • For employees eligible for overtime, enter hours.
  • For employees not eligible for overtime, this will show as N/A.
  • For non-exempt employees with a weekly/bi-weekly pay schedule, clicking the OT cell should open out into a Workweek Breakdown drawer. We recommend logging any non-0 OT hours and subsequently any RH and Earnings by the week they were worked or earned.
    • If you choose not to do this, we'll automatically and evenly distribute data across all weeks in a pay period.
• PTO hours: This will show any approved time off requests, or show N/A if the employee is not enrolled in a “Paid Time Off” policy—click to manually add paid time off hours.
  
  • You may see alerts on the top of the page for any pending time off requests. If you have time permissions, click Review time off requests to review pending requests. 
  • Pro-tip: Hover over the cells to see the current policy balance (available hours). 
• Sick hours: This will show any approved sick requests, or show N/A if the employee is not enrolled in a "Sick policy"—click to manually add sick hours.
  • Pro-tip: Hover over the cells to see the current policy balance (available hours). 
• Holiday hours: This will only display when a holiday policy occurs during a given pay period.
  
• Other time off: Enter any additional time off for all other policy types (paid or unpaid)—click to manually add time off hours.
• Bonus: This allows you to add supplemental wages as regular wages—this means the bonus will get taxed at a regular rate, rather than the IRS’ recommended supplemental withholding rate of 22%.
  • Run a specific bonus payroll to apply the IRS' recommended supplemental withholding rate of 22%.
  • Bonuses will show up as a separate line item on the paystub.
• Cash tips: Use cash tips when an employee has already been paid—we’ll calculate the taxes owed on the amount. 
• Paycheck tips: Use paycheck tips when the employee has not been paid yet. They’ll get paid the amount, and we’ll calculate the taxes.
• Commission: This can be used to add one-time commission wages and will show up as a separate line item on the paystub.
  • If you’re using Payroll on Autopilot® and have commission-only employees, you must enter commission before the payroll runs—these employees are set to a $0 salary, so they will not be paid if no commission is entered.  
  • Reminder: We do not support commission draws.
• Correction payment: This can be used to make any other “Additional earnings” that are not captured by the other columns.
• Custom earnings (if set up): This can be used if you created custom earnings.
  
  • If you only have one custom earning set up, this column will be labeled with the name of that custom earning.
• Owner's draw (if applicable): This can be used to pay owner’s wages that are not subject to payroll tax filing and deposits, but are instead taxed on the individual level with annual tax returns.
• Reimbursements: This will show any recurring reimbursements set up for an employee, and you can click to add one-time reimbursements.
  • Reminder: Reimbursements are not taxed.
• Deductions: This will show any recurring deductions set up for an employee, and you can click to add one-time deductions. 
• Personal note: Use this to leave a note on the employee’s pay stub.
• Payment type: This will default to the employee’s designated payment method, but you can change between “Direct Deposit” and “Check” as needed. 
  • If you only see the option to pay by check, your employee has not set up a bank account for direct deposit.
• Actions: This will show additional actions you can take for each employee. Click the three-dots to open a menu with these options:
  • Click Benefits to see deductions and company contributions for each employee.
  • Click Skip on payroll to skip an employee for that payroll.
  • If you’re an accountant, click Tax overrides to manage one-time and recurring tax withholding overrides for each employee

To report cash or paycheck tips in the spreadsheet, follow the steps below. 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll. 
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. Click either the "Cash tips" or "Paycheck tips" cell for the given employee and enter the amount. 
   • Cash tips: This type of tip is for employees that have already been paid the amount. These tips will only be taxed.
   • Paycheck tips: This type of tip is for employees that have not been paid the amount yet. These tips will be paid to the employee in this payroll.
5. Finish running payroll.

Both paycheck and cash tips will be taxed as regular wages. The tips will appear as separate line items on the employee's pay stub. 

If you have an unpaid time off policy set up, enter these hours in the Additional time off column.

If you do not have an unpaid time off policy set up, and need to accommodate unpaid time off taken in a pay period, deduct these hours in your payroll. For salaried employees, you'll want to deduct 8 hours for every work day taken for unpaid time off. 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. Update the hours for your employees.
   • For hourly workers: Only include the actual amount of hours worked. If there are default amount of hours populated here, deduct the amount of hours taken for unpaid time off.
   • For salaried workers: Deduct the amount of hours taken for unpaid time off.
5. Click Personal Note to add a note on the pay stub regarding the adjustment in hours.
6. Finish running payroll.

Administrators with the required permissions can skip an employee on payroll—there's no additional cost to do this. If you need to remove them permanently, dismiss them. Skipped employees will remain on your invoice, while dismissed employees will not.  

Skipping an employee from payroll means the employee will not receive a pay stub. Paying an employee $0 on a payroll will produce a $0 pay stub. 

Skipping a payroll works for regular payrolls and dismissal payrolls. Skipped payrolls cannot be undone—if you need to pay an employee for a skipped payroll, process an off-cycle payroll. 

Skip payroll for one employee

Skipping an employee from payroll will only affect this one instance. If you need to skip them again, follow the same process in your future payrolls.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. In the "Actions" column on the far-right of the spreadsheet, click the three dots.
5. Click Skip on payroll.
6. Finish running payroll.

The employee you skipped will not be paid for this payroll.

Skip payroll for multiple employees

Skipping employees from payroll will only affect this one instance. If you need to skip them again, follow the same process in your future payrolls.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. Click the checkbox next to the employees who need to be skipped. 
5. Click the Actions button at the top of the spreadsheet and select Skip on payroll.
6. Select Yes, skip on this payroll.
7. Finish running payroll.

The employees you skipped will not be paid for this payroll.

Skip an entire payroll

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Find the payroll you need to skip.
4. Click the three dots next to the payroll and select Skip this payroll.
   • If the payroll you’d like to skip is blocked by a transition payroll after a pay schedule change, you'll need to run or skip the transition payroll first.

No employees will be paid for this payroll.

Skip late payrolls in bulk

1. If a payroll is less than three months late:
   • Sign in to Gusto.
   • Click the Pay section and click Run payroll.
   • Locate the payrolls under the “Late payrolls” section.
   • Click Skip all late payrolls to skip the late payrolls listed.
2. If a payroll is over three months late ("archived"):
   • Sign in to Gusto.
   • Click the Pay section and click Pay history.
   • Scroll to the "Archived Payroll” section.
   • Check the box next to the payrolls you want to skip.
   • Use the "Actions" column to skip the selected payrolls.

Regular payrolls are directly linked to your company's pay schedule and pay periods—if you need to change the dates of the pay period you're running payroll for (like processing a payroll early), or run another payroll at the same time as your regular payroll, run an off-cycle payroll instead. If you need to change your pay schedule for the regular payroll, head to this article.

If you'd like payroll to run automatically according to your company's pay schedule, enable Payroll on AutoPilot®.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you need to run and click Run payroll.
4. If you have multiple bank accounts set up, select which bank account you'd like to process payroll from.
5. Adjust salaries or hours worked—if you have more than one employee, use our search, sort, filter, and bulk edit tools to make administrating payroll(s) easier.
   • Click into the regular hours, overtime, bonus, commission, or other earnings fields to make any adjustments.
     • Pay rates are pulled from the employee's People page. 
     • If the pay rate looks different in the Run Payroll flow than in the employee's pay settings, it's likely the pay rate is not set up as hourly, but rather per week, month, or year. The system will prorate, for example, $15/week to $0.37/hr
     • Head to the People section and select Team members, then select the employee's name to change their compensation.
       • Use the "Default hours" field to specify the total hours they're expected to work every pay period. This value will automatically be added into the "Regular hours" field in payroll. 
   • Click Direct Deposit or Check to change your employee's payment method for this payroll.
     • If you only see the option to pay by check, your employee has not set up a bank account for direct deposit.
   • Click Add personal note to leave a small message on your employee's paystub.
   • Click on the "Actions” menu to add or edit one-time deductions (post-tax).
6. Click Continue to move forward.
   • All changes made to payroll will be automatically saved. An indicator at the bottom of the page will show real-time updates of last-saved work, while indicating when something has not saved (due to errors).
7. On the next page, adjust vacation and sick days.
   • Enter vacation or sick hours your employees used during the pay period, if applicable.
   • Click Continue or to move forward or Go back if you need to adjust salaries or hours.
8. Review and submit.
   • Check out the preview of the wage and tax debits for your payroll.
   • If you need to make any adjustments, click Go back.
   • If you're ready to run payroll, click Submit payroll.
9. Confirmation.
   • You did it! You'll receive an email confirming your payroll has processed.
   • If you need to cancel the payroll, click Cancel this payroll.
10. View employees that are being paid via check, if applicable.
    • Confirm your delivery method for checks.
      • Handle it yourself.
      • Have Gusto create and mail the check.
    • Click Confirm.
    • Click View printable checks (if you selected to handle this yourself).
      • Write or print their checks.
    • Click Done.
11. Review your payroll summary and the monetary breakdown for your payroll. From your payroll summary, you can also do the following:
    • Download all employee pay stubs.
    • Export payroll details.
    • Print checks again if needed.

When a pay rate is different in the Run Payroll flow that in their account settings, this occurs when a pay rate is not set up as hourly, but rather per week, month, or year. The system will prorate, for example, $15/week to $0.37/hr. Make sure the correct format (per hour, per week, etc.) is used for the pay rate in the employee's profile. 

You can easily add a one-time commission amount for an employee in regular payroll. If you have commission-only employees and your payroll is on Autopilot®, you'll need to enter a commission before the payroll runs—these employees are set to a $0 salary so they will not be paid if no commission is entered.  

Note: Gusto does not support commission draws.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. If you have multiple bank accounts set up, select which bank account you'd like to process payroll from.
5. Next to your employee, click +Commission.
   • If Commission does not appear, click +Other Earnings.
   • Next to Commission, enter the dollar amount.
   • Click Save.
6. Next to Commission, enter the dollar amount.
   
   • If you'd like to give more than one employee the same commission amount, use the bulk edit tool.
7. Finish running payroll.

This commission amount will be taxed as regular wages and will be shown as a separate line item for commission on the employee's pay stub.

If your employee has received a bonus, run a specific bonus payroll to apply the IRS' recommended supplemental withholding rate of 22%. If you need more information about taxable wages, check out IRS Publication 15 here.

If you'd rather aggregate the bonus amount in regular wages, add this to your next regular payroll. This will combine the bonus and any other taxable wages for the purposes of calculating the Federal Income Tax. Remember that the higher the gross pay, the higher the taxes. Therefore, depending on the amount of the bonus, the employee might up paying more taxes on this payroll because of the bonus. 

To combine the bonus amount with regular wages:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. If you have multiple bank accounts set up, select which bank account you'd like to process payroll from.
5. Next to your employee, click +Bonus.
   • If you'd like to give more than one employee the same bonus, use the bulk edit tool.
6. Enter the dollar amount.
   • More information about net and gross pay can be found here.
7. Finish running payroll.

This bonus amount will be taxed as regular wages and will appear on a separate line item on the employee's pay stub. 

Note: If your employee has an active garnishment, you may need to check with the garnishment authority to see if there are specific requirements for garnishing the bonus payment.

Let your employees know why they're receiving a bonus, adjusted wages, or other special payment by adding a personal note the next time you run payroll. Personal notes cannot be added retroactively, so you'll need to do it while processing the payroll. 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. If you have multiple bank accounts set up, select which bank account you'd like to process payroll from.
5. Under your employee, click Add Personal Note.
   • If you'd like to leave the same note for more than one employee, use the bulk edit tool.
6. Enter a description.
7. Click Save.
8. Finish running the payroll.

Once the payroll is processed, the personal note will appear at the top of your employee's pay stub.

You can enter cash and paycheck tips for employees in your regular payroll. If more than one employee received the same amount of tips, use the bulk edit tool. 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll. 
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. If you have multiple bank accounts set up, select which bank account you'd like to process payroll from.
5. To add Cash Tips, click +Cash Tips.
   • This type of tip is for employees that have already been paid the amount. These tips will only be taxed.
6. To add Paycheck Tips:
   • Click +Other Earnings next to your employee's name.
   • Enter the dollar amount next to Paycheck Tips.
   • Click Save.
     • This type of tip is for employees that have not been paid the amount yet. These tips will be paid to the employee in this payroll.
7. Finish running payroll.

Both paycheck and cash tips will be taxed as regular wages. The tips will appear as separate line items on the employee's pay stub. 

If your employee is set up with multiple pay rates, follow the steps below for how to enter each rate when running payroll. Multiple pay rates for salaried employees is not supported at this time. 

If you're on the Plus or Premium product plan, you can use Gusto Time Tracking to seamlessly sync employee's hours.

Step 1. Enter regular hours

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. If you have multiple bank accounts set up, select which bank account you'd like to process payroll from.
5. Next to your hourly employee, you'll see the total default hours for all job types.
6. Click Enter Hours or the default TH (total hour) amount if you want to update the hours for a job type.
7. Next to Regular Hours, enter the updated amount.

Step 2. Enter overtime hours

1. Under the job type, click +Overtime.
2. Next to Overtime (1.5x) or Double Overtime (2x), enter the overtime amount.
3. Click Save.
4. Click Save & Continue.
5. The pay rate used for overtime depends on if you have a weekly pay schedule or if you have a non-weekly pay schedule.

Note: If you're using your own overtime calculation, you can calculate the overtime wage amount you want entered, and instead add this total as another Additional Earning. We suggest adding a Personal Note to let the employee know what this extra amount is for.

Step 3. Enter paid time off hours

1. Once you're on the Vacation & Sick Days section, enter any paid time off hours for your employee.
2. Click Submit payroll.
3. Paid time off hours will use the first pay rate. If you'd like to use a different rate, you'll need to edit the first pay rate to the desired amount and adjust the additional pay rate(s) before running payroll again.

If you have an unpaid time off policy set up, enter these hours on the second step of payroll.

If you do not have an unpaid time off policy set up, and need to accommodate unpaid time off taken in a pay period, deduct these hours in your payroll. For salaried employees, you'll want to deduct 8 hours for every work day taken for unpaid time off. 

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. If you have multiple bank accounts set up, select which bank account you'd like to process payroll from.
5. Update the hours for your employees.
   • For hourly workers: Only include the actual amount of hours worked. If there are default amount of hours populated here, deduct the amount of hours taken for unpaid time off.
   • For salaried workers: Click the link showing the default regular hours. Deduct the amount of hours taken for unpaid time off.
6. Click Personal Note to add a note on the pays tub regarding the adjustment in hours.
7. Finish running payroll.

If your employee has taken unpaid time off for an entire pay period, you can skip them on that payroll so that no paid working hours are entered for that time period. 

Administrators with the required permissions can skip an employee on payroll—there's no additional cost to do this. If you need to remove them permanently, dismiss them. Skipped employees will remain on your invoice, while dismissed employees will not.  

Skipping an employee from payroll means the employee will not receive a pay stub. Paying an employee $0 on a payroll will produce a $0 pay stub. 

Skipping a payroll works for regular payrolls and dismissal payrolls. Skipped payrolls cannot be undone—if you need to pay an employee for a skipped payroll, process an off-cycle payroll. 

Skip a payroll for one employee

Skipping an employee from payroll will only affect this one instance. If you need to skip them again, follow the same process in your future payrolls.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. Next to your employee's name, click the three dots under the "Actions" menu on the far right.
5. Click Skip payroll.
6. Finish running payroll.

The employee you skipped will not be paid for this payroll.

Skip a payroll for multiple employees

Skipping an employee from payroll will only affect this one instance. If you need to skip them again, follow the same process in your future payrolls.

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
4. Click the checkbox(es) next to the names of the employees you'd like to skip.
   •  To skip all employees on the payroll, click the checkbox next to column titled "Employees" to select all employees.
5. Click Bulk edit.
6. Select Skip payroll from the drop-down.
7. Select Yes - skip payroll.
8. Click Update.
9. Finish running payroll. 

All employees you selected will not be paid for this payroll.

Skip an entire payroll

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click the Pay section and select Run payroll.
3. Select the payroll you'd like to process.
   
   • In the right corner of the tile or payroll line item, click the three dots and select Skip this payroll.
   • If the payroll you’d like to skip is blocked by a transition payroll after a pay schedule change, you'll need to run or skip the transition payroll first.

Bulk skip late payrolls

1. If a payroll is less than three months late:
   • Sign in to Gusto.
   • Click the Pay section and click Run payroll.
   • Locate the payrolls under the “Late payrolls” section.
   • Click Skip all late payrolls to skip the late payrolls listed.
2. If a payroll is over three months late ("archived"):
   • Sign in to Gusto.
   • Click the Pay section and click Pay history.
   • Scroll to the "Archived Payroll” section.
   • Check the box next to the payrolls you want to skip.
   • Use the "Actions" column to skip the selected payrolls.