Run payroll or pay contractors with CSV upload

A CSV (comma-separated values) file is a text file where information is separated by commas. CSV files are most commonly encountered in spreadsheets.

You can download Gusto's CSV template or upload your own CSV file. Enter payroll details, then upload.

• Gusto's CSV template
  • Your employees' or contractors’ names and any payroll details that have already been entered will pre-populate. This template will be available in the Run payroll flow—see steps in the dropdown above.
• Create your own template
  • You'll need to make sure all required fields are filled out and that the file type is CSV. You can change the name and order of the columns and/or remove any that are not needed.

Heads up: If you've entered information such as hours or reimbursements throughout the week in the payroll and saved it for later, uploading a CSV will overwrite anything previously entered. 

1. Click the Payroll section and select either Run payroll or Pay contractors to start the payroll/payments process. 
2. Click Upload CSV in the upper-right corner of the first page of payroll (or contractor payment).
3. Click download CSV template to get a template to fill out.
4. If you already have your CSV ready to go, click Select File and then click Upload.

Your employees' info will be filled out and ready to go—just continue processing payroll.

Gusto assigns each employee a unique identifier called the "Gusto employee ID." This is a 6-character alphanumeric ID (e.g. 5G9934) that is securely generated and randomly assigned. The ID enables a better distinction of employees for accurate payments and record keeping.

Most of the time, the ID will be a combination of letters and numbers. Some IDs may be all letters or all numbers.

The Gusto employee ID can be found in a few places in your account—under the Personal tab of an employee’s profile, and as an optional field in the CSV template on step 1 while running payroll. Learn more about how CSV uploads work. 

At this time, Gusto employee IDs are not customizable and cannot be disabled.

Use the Employee report builder for a report of all employee IDs.

Find an employee’s Gusto ID

1. Head to the People section and select Team Members.
2. Select the name of an employee.
3. Go to the Personal tab.
4. Under the "Basics" section, you'll find their Gusto employee ID.

Upload a CSV with "Gusto employee ID" while running payroll

1. Click the Payroll sections and select Run payroll.
2. Select the payroll you’d like to run.
3. On step 1, select Upload CSV, then click Download CSV template to use the updated template.
   • In your downloaded template, you'll find that each employee has a Gusto employee ID pre-populated (this is currently an optional field).
4. Edit your payroll data on the CSV, but do not change the Gusto employee ID column.
5. Click Select File and upload your CSV.
6. Continue processing payroll as normal.

Regular payroll Off-cycle payroll Bonus payroll Contractor payments Required fields First name Last name One additional field from the list below Optional fields SSN Title Gusto employee ID Regular hours Overtime hours Bonus Commission Paycheck tips Cash tips Correction payment Reimbursement Custom earning types Personal note Vacation hours PTO Sick time Required fields First name Last name SSN Only required if two employees have the same first and last name. Title Only required if employees have multiple pay rates. Optional fields Gusto employee ID Regular hours Overtime hours Bonus Commission Paycheck tips Cash tips Reimbursement Custom earning types Personal note Vacation hours PTO Sick time Required fields First Name Last Name SSN Only required if two employees have the same first and last name. Title Only required if employees have multiple pay rates. Optional fields Gusto employee ID Regular hours Overtime hours Bonus Commission Paycheck tips Cash tips Correction payment Reimbursement Custom earning types Personal note Vacation hours PTO Sick time Required fields Contractor type First name  Only required for individual contractors. Last name Only required for individual contractors. SSN Only required for individual contractors that have the same first and last name Business name Only required for businesses. EIN Only required for businesses. Invoice number Optional fields Hours worked Wages Bonus Reimbursement Memo Vacation hours PTO Sick time

Follow the formatting guidelines in the table below.

Type	Column title (non-regular payrolls)	Details
Employee name	first_name: last_name	Not case-sensitive, required Example: "Smith", "smith", or "SMITH"
Social Security Number (SSN)	ssn	Last 4 digits, preceded by an asterisk (*), required if there are two employees with the same name Example: *1234
Gusto employee ID	gusto_employee_id	Not case-sensitive; optional
Job title	title	Not case-sensitive, required for employees with multiple pay rates. Learn more about multiple-pay-rate formatting below this chart.
Pay	regular_hours; overtime_hours; double_overtime_hours; bonus; commission; paycheck_tips; cash_tips; correction_payment; reimbursement	Positive numbers, decimals optional Example: 40.00
Personal note	personal_note	Can contain numbers and letters Example: Thanks for giving it 100%
Invoice number	invoice_number	Any alphanumeric combination, up to 25 characters   Examples: N/A, 01234, or ABC123

Gusto's mapping template

Different computer systems use unique naming conventions for similar fields, and mapping is often required when connecting software systems to make sure information is synced correctly.

This CSV mapping template serves to bridge the gap between your source system and what Gusto’s system expects. To use this mapping template, follow the steps below.

1. Make a copy of the provided mapping spreadsheet.
2. Paste data from your source system’s export into the corresponding columns in tab T1.
3. For the first time, you’ll need to:
   
   • Update the company name in tab T1’s title to reflect your company name.
   • Adjust some of the functions in tab T2 to pull data from the correct cells in tab T1:
     • Note: The functions in tab T2 transform source data to match the Gusto CSV import format for importing CSV data.
     • First and last name need to be in separate columns:
       • Your source CSV may already have this in separate columns. If so, you can update columns A and B in tab T2 to simply copy those values over from tab T1.
       • If first and last name are combined in one column in your source CSV, update the function column A in tab T1 (if needed) to have the correct source column from tab T1.
     • For pay-related dollar amount columns in tab T2 (regular_hours, overtime_hours, etc.):
       • If the value is 0, the related cells can be left blank.
       • If some employees have a value while others have 0, you can use and modify a function similar to the one in tab T2 column K to have the relevant source column.
     • See the table above for more information on which columns are required and which can be left blank, along with additional guidelines for each column.
4. Adjust tab T3 to:
   • Look up job names via job codes (if applicable).
   • Map employee names/numbers to last 4 digits of SSN (if applicable).
   • Update named ranges as needed to reflect the areas of data that are now in the lookup cells.
   • If needed, use our example as a way to craft a mapping for other fields that you may need to map.
5. Review our comments in the spreadsheet—primarily tab T2—to see hints for how the sample spreadsheet works.
6. Once you've updated and completed tab T2, export that tab into its own CSV that you can upload to run payroll.
7. Going forward, you'll only have to paste your source data into tab T1 and export tab T2 as a CSV.
   • As long as your source data's format doesn't change, no function changes will need to be made to the mapping spreadsheet.

Useful links for Google Sheets

• Google Sheets function list
• Google Sheets VLOOKUP how-to

If an employee has multiple pay rates:

• Regular payrolls:
  • Each pay rate needs to be on its own row within the CSV. 
• Non-regular payrolls (off-cycle, bonus, contractor payments):
  • Job titles must be included in the CSV file and must match the exact job title(s) listed in the employee’s Gusto profile.
  • Job titles must be entered in separate rows.
  • Any reimbursements, tips, bonuses, commissions, or correction payments must be added to the employee’s primary job. If you're not sure which job that is, download Gusto's CSV template, and it'll show the job title followed by “(Primary)” for the primary pay rate.

If you upload a file that contains zeroes, a zero will be populated in payroll and replace any previously entered or uploaded data.

If you upload a field that contains blank values, nothing will be populated in payroll for that field and any previously entered or uploaded data will remain.