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Run a payroll

Run Payroll is two screens: hours, then a preview of every paycheck. Nothing is saved until you approve it, and each run opens on the pay period after the last one.

1. Open Run PayrollIn Books & Payroll, click Employees in the left rail, then "Run Payroll." The run opens right there. If you started one earlier and left it, it offers "Resume" or "Start new."
2. Pick the schedule and who is paidLeave Run type on "Regular payroll." Pay frequency lists each schedule you have people on, and only the employees on the one you pick show in the grid. Untick anyone who is not being paid this time, or use "Check all" and "Clear all."
3. Check the datesPeriod start, Period end, and Check date come filled in: the period after your last run, or on your first run one period of that schedule ending today. Change them if this run is different.
4. Choose how they are paidPay by is "Direct deposit (ACH)," "Paper checks," or "Bank transfer (sent by hand)." With paper checks, "Next check #" shows the number the first check in this run will get. Paid from is the bank account the money comes out of.
5. Enter hoursFill in Regular, OT, Holiday, and Vacation hours for each hourly employee. A salaried employee's row says the paycheck is computed automatically and needs no hours. Bonus ($) adds a bonus to this check, and a Billable column appears for anyone with a commission rate. "Pull hours from the time clock" fills the grid from the Time Clock.
6. Split overtime yourselfHours over 40 in a workweek go in the OT column; the grid does not move them for you. Overtime is figured per workweek, not per pay period.
7. Preview before anything savesClick "Preview paychecks →." Nothing is saved yet. Each employee shows hours, gross, taxes withheld, and net pay, with a total row, and under it anything the run needs first: an unemployment rate that is blank, a direct deposit with no bank account, a deposit schedule not picked.
8. Fix anything firstClick "← Back to hours" and the first screen comes back with everything you typed still in place. "Finish later" keeps the run to pick up another time.
9. Approve the runClick "Approve & run payroll" and confirm. This is the moment the run is saved: check numbers are assigned, the paychecks go in the bank register, and the taxes are recorded.
10. Read the runYou land on the Paychecks tab with the run open: each employee's Gross, Taxes, and Net, how they were paid, and "print check," "paystub," and "email" beside each. Click the run's row any time to open it again. "Void this run" undoes the whole run.
11. Watch the year-to-date tilesAt the top of the Employees screen, the tiles show gross pay, taxes withheld, net pay, and paychecks for the year to date, including the run you just made.