With your FreshBooks Payroll powered by Gusto account set up, you can access your FreshBooks Payroll account to review your payment history, payroll reports, tax documents, and payroll settings as needed.
Payment History
Payroll details, including pay stubs or pay slips, can be accessed by selecting the Payroll section. In the Payroll section, you can access any of the following:
- Pay... - Select the Pay… button to run payroll for your employees or a contractor payment
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Payment History - Each payroll run and contractor payment listed with its Pay Date, Pay Period, Type, Status, and Total
- Year - Select the dropdown to switch years, up to 6 years maximum
- Pay Period Details - Select any Payroll Period to review the details of the payroll, including pay stubs or receipts
- Payroll runs are based on the first day of the pay period, all tax calculations and filings use the payment date instead
- For details on pay periods, go to Review Payroll Runs and Contractor Payments
Payroll Statuses
- Submitted - The payroll run or payment has been submitted to Gusto, business bank debits have not been initiated yet
- Processed - The payroll run or payment has completed and employee or contractor direct deposit payments have been initiated
Payroll Reports
FreshBooks Payroll users can use the Payroll Journal report and Contractor Payment report to review a detailed breakdown of your payment history in FreshBooks Payroll. To quickly access your payroll reports, you can use the below steps:
- In the Payroll section, select the More Actions dropdown
- Then select View Payroll Reports
- Under Payroll Reports, select either Payroll Journal or Contractor Payment.
View Tax Documents
Review and download all tax-related documents for your business, including direct deposit authorizations, Form 941, Form 8655, Form W-2 for employees, and Form 1099 for contractors. Once a tax document has been generated, it can be reviewed and downloaded with these steps:
- In the Payroll section, select the More Actions dropdown
- Then select View Tax Documents
- In the list of tax documents, check off any of the boxes next to each form, then select the Download button. The forms will download as PDF files to your computer.
Tax Documents Notes:
- Some tax documents like employee W-2 forms, will appear as a draft first for review before the final copy is sent to tax agencies
- To confirm successful receipt of tax payments, reach out to your tax agencies directly
- Changes and amendments cannot be made for specific tax documents without updating the data used by the form, reach out to our Support team to request an adjustment
Payroll Settings
Access your payroll settings like your business details for work locations, bank checking account, state tax details, benefits, and documents with these steps:
- In the Payroll section, select the More Actions dropdown
- Then select Payroll Settings.
From your Payroll Settings, you can select any of the following:
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Business Details
- Work Locations - If needed, add additional business and work locations
- Bank Checking Account - If needed, update your bank account and verify your deposits
- State Tax Details - If needed, review, edit, and submit tax requirements for each state
- Benefits - If needed, view, add, and/or manage your team’s benefits including health insurance and retirement plans
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Documents
- Payroll Setup Documents - If needed, review signed documents or sign outstanding documents as requested
Work Locations
A work location can be any address where your employees work, live if they’re working from home, your legal filing address, or your legal mailing address. Before adding an address, review the following:
- If you’ve never registered with the state agencies where you now have employees working, you’ll need to register your business in the new state
- If you don’t enter employee work locations during your payroll setup and only have PO box locations, you will need to add non-PO boxes company work locations later for taxation purposes
- Notify the IRS of your legal or mailing address change
- Notify the states where you've previously registered so they can update your legal or mailing address on file
- If changing the work location for W-2 employees this will impact tax calculations in previously submitted payroll runs
- Reach out to our Support team with the effective date for the change after adding the new work location address to ensure all forms, filings, and tax calculations are adjusted correctly
To add a new work location, use these steps:
- Select the Payroll section on the left
- Then select the More Actions button in the top right corner
- Select Payroll Settings
- Then select Work Locations
- Next to Additional Addresses, select either the + Add An Address or + Add Another link
- Enter the new Address, Town/City, State, Zip Code, and Business Phone Number
- Repeat steps 5-6 to add additional addresses until all are added
- Then select Save to finish.
Bank Checking Account
Update your business’ bank checking account which is used for funding payroll transactions. Before updating your bank checking account, review the following:
- Editing bank information requires verification which takes up to 2 business days
- You will not be able to run payroll until the bank verification is complete
- Ensure you have at least $2 USD in the new bank checking account before you begin
To update your business’ bank checking account, use these steps:
- Select the Payroll section on the left
- Then select the More Actions button in the top right corner
- Select Payroll Settings
- Then select Bank Checking Account
- In the pop-up, select Edit Details to confirm
- In the Bank Account Details section, enter your new Routing Number and Account Number
- Check the box off next to I confirm this is a checking account then select Save and Complete.
In 1-2 business days, 2 test transactions will be withdrawn from and redeposited into your bank account. Once the 2 test transactions appear in your bank account, complete the bank verification with these steps:
- Select the Payroll section on the left
- Then select the More Actions button in the top right corner
- Select Payroll Settings
- Then select Bank Checking Account
- In the Verify Your Bank Account section, enter the amount for Test Deposit #1 and Test Deposit #2
- Select Validate, then select OK to finish updating your bank account details. Once your updated bank checking account is verified, you can then re-run any payroll to pay your team members.
Bank Checking Account Notes:
- If no transactions appear on your bank statement within 2 days of updating the bank account details, select the < Back link on the Verify Your Bank Account section to re-enter the routing and account numbers
- Updating the bank account information will invalidate any existing verification transactions and 2 new transactions will be queued for processing within 1-2 business days
- If you’re still experiencing issues verifying your bank account, reach out to your bank to ensure your account is set up for automated ACH transactions with online payroll solutions
State Tax Details
The State Tax Details section lists all states recorded as an employee home address or work location. If the minimum amount of information to start running payroll is entered in for a particular state, the state’s status will be listed as Complete. This does not mean your account is fully set up for the paying and filing of state taxes.
If a new state has been added and information is not completed, a red exclamation mark (!) will be visible next to the State Tax Details option.
To access your State Tax Details, use these steps:
- Select the Payroll section on the left
- Then select the More Actions button in the top right corner
- Select Payroll Settings
- Then select State Tax Details
- Next to a state, select the View link to review all options used for automated tax settings
- If needed, select any Edit link to update any field or option.
Changes to state tax settings may result in automatic correction and recalculation of previous payroll runs.
Benefits
To add or manage your benefits for your employees on payroll, review How do I add benefits to my FreshBooks Payroll?.
Payroll Setup Documents
Signatory changes or changes in filing address may require that authorization documents be re-signed. If a document needs to be signed, a red exclamation mark (!) will be visible next to the Payroll Setup Documents option. Use these steps to access your payroll setup documents:
- Select the Payroll section on the left
- Then select the More Actions button in the top right corner
- Select Payroll Settings
- Then select Payroll Setup Documents.
FAQs
How do I switch from using FreshBooks Payroll to the Gusto app instead?
If you need additional functionality outside of what FreshBooks Payroll can offer, you can use the Gusto app instead. To migrate your FreshBooks Payroll account to Gusto app directly, please reach out to our support team from your FreshBooks account. This will also transfer your billing subscription for the FreshBooks Payroll add-on to Gusto instead.
What happens to my expenses if I have FreshBooks Payroll powered by Gusto connected and an active bank connection?
Bank accounts used for payroll runs that are also connected via Bank Connections or Bank Reconciliation will handle payroll-related expenses differently. Depending on the payment method you’ve selected for your employees, the following will occur:
- Direct Debit Payments - Any transactions with Gusto as the merchant will not be imported as expenses to avoid duplicate expenses
- Check Payments - Any transaction for payroll runs that are check payments will be imported as expenses
This is dependent on your bank connection partner formatting the merchant information correctly in order to stop duplicate Gusto expenses from occurring. Any expenses created manually or imported via CSV file will not be checked for duplicate Gusto expenses.