How do I manage my pay schedule and Auto Payroll in FreshBooks Payroll?

With your FreshBooks Payroll powered by Gusto account, you can access your pay schedule settings. This includes reviewing and editing your pay schedule, running a transition payroll, checking your direct deposit speed, and managing automatic payroll with Auto Payroll. 

 

Heads Up: If you need to manage your other FreshBooks Payroll settings like payment history, payroll reports, and tax documents, review How do I manage my FreshBooks Payroll account? instead.

 

 

To access your Pay Schedule settings, use the following steps: 

  1. In the Payroll section, select the More Actions button
  2. Then select Payroll Settings
  3. Under Business Details, select Pay Schedule.

 

Pay Schedule

The pay schedule provides a regular cadence for tracking work and paying employees. Your business’ pay schedule is set during the setup of your FreshBooks Payroll account.

The Pay Schedule section includes the following information for all W-2 employee payroll: 

  • Pay Frequency - How often your employees are paid
  • Next Pay Date - The date your employees get their next pay check
  • Submit By - The date payroll should be submitted by for your employees to get paid on time, either 2 or 4 business days prior to the Next pay date
  • Pay Period - The period the next upcoming payroll run covers
     

Edit Pay Schedule

Edit your existing pay schedule to change the frequency, check dates, and/or pay periods as needed. When the pay schedule is edited, a transition payroll can be submitted to cover any gaps between pay periods. To edit your pay schedule, use these steps:

  1. In the Payroll section, select the More Actions button
  2. Then select Payroll Settings
  3. Under Business Details, select Pay Schedule 
  4. Next to Pay Schedule, select the Edit link
  5. Update the Pay Frequency, the First Pay Period End Date, and/or the First Pay Date as needed
  6. Then select Save to exit your payroll schedule
  7. Next, select Save again to finish. If your updated pay schedule has a gap between the old and new schedule, a transition payroll will need to be run or skipped first before running the next regular payroll.

 

Run Transition Payroll

A transition payroll lets you pay employees for any workdays that fall during the gap between the last day of an old pay schedule and the first day of a new schedule. If you’ve edited your pay schedule and there’s a gap between the old and new schedule, you can run or skip a transition payroll before running the next regular payroll. 

Use these steps to run a transition payroll:

  1. In the Payroll section, next to the Run transition payroll banner, select the Run Transition Payroll button 
  2. For Payroll Type, choose Regular
  3. Next, for Choose Pay Period, select the next available period with (Transition) in the dropdown
  4. If you want to skip the payroll and submit a $0 payroll run, review Skip Payroll instead
  5. Otherwise, to run a transition payroll, select Continue
  6. Next, use the rest of the Run Regular Payroll steps to process the transition payroll. 
     

Direct Deposit Speed

The direct deposit speed refers to the timeline between when an employer runs payroll and when employees actually receive funds in their bank accounts. FreshBooks Payroll provides the following direct deposit speeds:

  • 4 days - Businesses start on 4-day ACH when beginning with FreshBooks Payroll
  • 2 days - Businesses can earn 2-day ACH after meeting 2-day eligibility requirements

If your direct deposit speed is 4 days or 2 days, this means payroll runs must be submitted by this many business days (4 or 2) before the pay date. 
 

2-Day ACH Payment Requirements

2-day speed allows you to process direct debit payroll runs up to 2 business days in advance of the check date instead of 4 business days with 4-day ACH. You’ll automatically be switched to 2-day speed after all the below eligibility is met:

  • You’ve run at least 3 successful payrolls
  • It's been 45 days since you were approved for FreshBooks Payroll

Until then, you can process payroll on 4-day direct deposit speed, or pay your team faster by using wire transfer or check payments.

When using 2-day ACH, review the following:

  • Keep enough money in your account - Check your bank account before making payments, if we’re unable to debit funds, your payments will be blocked and 2-day payroll may be turned off
  • Insufficient funds - If funds are not available when processing 2-day ACH payroll, the following will occur:
    1. Your direct deposit speed will be switched to 4-day ACH moving forward
    2. You'll need to re-submit the failed payroll run as an off-cycle payroll using 4-day ACH or Check as the payment method
    3. Access to 2-day ACH payroll processing will be suspended for a period of time, refer to your email for more details. Multiple instances of insufficient funds could result in the permanent suspension of your FreshBooks Payroll account.

 

Auto Payroll

Auto Payroll allows eligible businesses on 2-day direct deposit speed to run payroll automatically on a set schedule for each pay period, with no manual action required.

 

Important: Auto Payroll works best for regular payroll that doesn’t exceed the maximum amount for 2-day direct deposit. If you regularly run payroll that exceeds the limit for 2-day direct deposit, the payroll run will fail and require manual submission, even with Auto Payroll turned on.

 

Once Auto Payroll is activated: 

  • Payroll runs are processed automatically one day before the payroll deadline
  • To skip a payroll run, review Skip Payroll to submit a $0 payroll run before the next automatic payroll  submission date
  • Auto Payroll can be deactivated anytime
  • Any payroll exceeding the maximum amount for 2-day direct deposit will automatically fail:

 

If eligible, Auto Payroll can be turned on with these steps: 

  1. In the Payroll section, select the More Actions button
  2. Then select Payroll Settings
  3. Under Business Details, select Pay Schedule
  4. In the Auto Payroll section, slide the toggle to On
  5. Then select the Save button. Your Payroll section will reflect that Auto Payroll is currently enabled.Payroll section with Auto Payroll enabled banner visible next to upcoming payroll.

 

Auto Payroll Eligibility

Auto Payroll is only available to businesses that have earned 2-day direct deposit speed. Once eligible, Auto Payroll also requires the following:

  • All active employees are salaried
  • All active employees are paid by direct deposit
  • State tax details are on file for all employees
  • The business bank account is connected
  • The FreshBooks Payroll account is in good standing
     

Auto Payroll Conditions

Auto Payroll will automatically deactivate if any of the following occurs: 

  • Employee switches from direct deposit to check payments - Move the employee back to direct deposit
  • A new hourly employee is added - Remove the employee or update the employee’s pay type to salary
  • Bank account is removed or incorrect - Update your bank checking account and complete the deposit verification process
  • Direct deposit speed change - Auto Payroll can be run on future pay periods instead

To turn Auto Payroll back on, resolve the issue and re-activate Auto Payroll in your payroll settings.

 

Auto Payroll may be skipped for the next pay period if any of the following occurs: 

  • A $0 payroll run is submitted
  • An error in a payroll run occurred 
  • Duplicate pay schedules

If Auto Payroll was skipped for the next pay period, this will result in Auto Payroll running on the next scheduled date instead. Any payroll that was skipped will need to be run manually.

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