Determine Who Configures Payroll Settings

What This Applies To
Company & Entity Setup
Tax Setup & Management
Employee Data & Profiles
Earnings & Deductions
Benefits
Time (TAFW & Time Entry)
Pay Delivery
Integrations & GL Mapping
Exceptions
Related Articles

What This Applies To

Applies to: Toast Payroll (Employee Cloud)

This article covers configuration and setup responsibilities only, not day-to-day tasks like running payroll or pulling reports, which you always manage yourself.
Configuration ownership can vary by state, by which modules you use, and by choices you made during onboarding. Where an item depends on those factors, this article explains what to check.

Note: Configuration ownership can change as Toast adds new self-service tools. If something in this article doesn't match what you see in Toast Payroll, contact Toast Customer Care to confirm.

Company & Entity Setup

Configuration Item	What To Do
Company or legal entity setup, including your Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN)	You set this up during onboarding, and you can update it yourself until your first payroll runs. After that, contact Toast Customer Care to make changes. Review this information by navigating to Settings > Payroll > Tax Accounts.
Pay groups	You may create pay groups during onboarding. After go-live, contact Toast Customer Care to create, change, or disable a pay group. See your pay groups by navigating to Settings > Company Summary.
Company bank account	You add or update your company bank account yourself in Toast Payroll. Bank account settings are found by navigating to Payroll > Pay group settings.
State-specific company setup (for example, Ohio or Pennsylvania)	Toast completes state-specific company setup for states with unique requirements. Contact Toast Customer Care with questions about your state.
Department levels or hierarchy	Contact Toast Customer Care to request a new level (company, location, or job). See Settings > General Setup > Levels to review your current levels.
Overtime thresholds	You configure most overtime thresholds yourself in Toast Web and Toast Payroll. Review the Support Center or chat with Customer Care to learn all the places these settings live.
Certifications and licenses	You configure certification and license tracking yourself. See the linked article for more details.
Security roles and page access	You assign security roles and manage who has access yourself. Run the Employee Access List report for each individual's security role. If you need a custom security role created or updated, contact Toast Customer Care.

Onboarding Setup Tasks

During onboarding, several additional setup tasks are completed for you or alongside you:

Your Onboarding Consultant takes the initial account setup steps during your kickoff call, including reviewing your contract details and preparing your project plan.
Your onboarding consultant sets up items such as time zones, bank account setup, paycheck delivery, earning and deduction codes, payroll calendars, positions, and required documents, based on the configuration instructions you provide.
State-specific setup (for example, California, Washington, and New York) and security roles are also set up by your onboarding consultant, based on your instructions or your state's default settings.
Your Onboarding Consultant completes point-of-sale integration, tip integration setup, and imports of new hires and balances based on the information you provide.
After onboarding, you set up some items yourself, including Toast Pay Card, Mineral (HR Toolkit), and QuickBooks Online syncing, if these weren't addressed already.

Tax Setup & Management

Configuration Item	What To Do
Quarterly and year-end tax filing	Toast files payroll taxes on your behalf provided we have the necessary and accurate tax account information matching each jurisdiction's tax status. The Tax Center assists you in maintaining this information in Toast Payroll. We also file and generate Form W-2s for employees if you've been with us for the full year.
Add or deactivate a tax	Toast initially sets up your taxes during onboarding. However, you can use the Tax Accounts page to update and maintain your taxes.
FEIN and pay-group tax mapping	Toast configures this for you. Navigate to Settings > Company Summary to see the layout.
Power of Attorney (POA) setup (also known as Third-Party Administrator or TPA access)	You may need to fill out and sign a Power of Attorney form, like IRS Form 8655, so Toast can file taxes on your behalf. Use the Tax Center for TPA access when necessary and we will contact you if/when we need additional access.
Register for state tax accounts	You register your business with the state, then provide the account IDs to Toast. Manage your state tax accounts by navigating to Settings > Payroll > Tax Accounts.
Deposit frequency reporting (also known as withholding frequency)	You report your assigned deposit frequency, and any changes to it, to Toast Payroll. This is also managed by navigating to Settings > Payroll > Tax Accounts.
Tax exemptions (business and employee)	You configure tax exemptions yourself in Toast Payroll. Employee tax exemptions are located in their profile under Recurring > Taxes > Settings. Business tax exemptions are located in Settings > Payroll > Tax Accounts.
Tax reciprocity for multi-state employees	Contact Toast Customer Care to set up or update tax reciprocity for employees who work in multiple states. See your setup by running the Consolidated Payroll Summary report.
Workers' compensation codes	Workers' compensation code setup varies by state. Contact Toast Customer Care to confirm how your state's codes are set up.

Employee Data & Profiles

Configuration Item	What To Do
Employee Social Security number management	Employees can do this for themselves and, with the right permissions, other users can also view and update an employee's Social Security number. Navigate to an employee profile and select Profile > Retrieve SSN.
Assign or change employee jobs and locations	You configure this yourself. Employee jobs and locations are updated on the Employment tab of their profile.
Default rates with jobs	You set default pay rates by job yourself. See the linked article to learn more.
New hire or employee import	Customers can hire and confirm their own employee's data. Navigate to Team > + Add employee.
Secondary position enablement	Contact Toast Customer Care to enable secondary positions when an employee will be paid out of more than one pay group. Secondary positions are seen on employee profiles under Employment > Position.
1099 contractors	You manage contractor profiles yourself. Toast does not file 1099 forms on your behalf.
Recruitment and applicants module	You manage this module yourself. Navigate to Recruitment and use the linked article for more details.
Termination processing	You process employee terminations yourself. Toast will issue Form W-2s for any employees with wages in an applicable year, including terminated employee records. Employees can be terminated by opening their profile and selecting the > icon in the Status tile.

Earnings & Deductions

Configuration Item	What To Do
Create or edit earning codes	Toast Payroll includes standard earning codes to start. You can work with Toast during onboarding to configure the ones you need. After that, contact Toast Customer Care to create or edit an earning code. Run the Earning Code Setup report to inspect your current earning code setup.
Create or edit deduction codes	Toast Payroll includes standard deduction codes to start. You can work with Toast during onboarding to configure the ones you need. After that, contact Toast Customer Care to create or edit a deduction code. Run the Deduction Code Setup report to inspect your current earning code setup.
Deduction-code tax settings	Contact Toast Customer Care to correct the tax treatment of a deduction code.
Garnishments	Contact Toast Customer Care to set up a garnishment once you receive an order. View garnishment details on an employee's profile by navigating to Recurring > Deductions.
Spread of Hours (New York state)	Toast configures the Spread of Hours earning for eligible New York employees. Contact Toast Customer Care with questions about your setup.
Tips setup and Tips Manager integration	You map tip profiles and select your settings in Tips Manager yourself. In Toast Web, navigate to Contact Toast Customer Care if you need an additional earning code configured. Read the linked articles to learn where you can confirm your tips setup with Toast Payroll alone or in Tips Manager.
Deductions-only benefits	You configure and track employee and employer contributions yourself. Benefit deductions are listed individually on employee pay stubs and in bulk on the Pay History report.
Deduction arrears	You manage deduction arrears yourself. Toast Payroll also automatically deducts any remaining arrears balance from future paychecks. Arrears can be found via the Employee Detail report or the Pay History report of each payroll.
Quick Calcs (manual earnings)	You add or delete Quick Calcs yourself in an open payroll or off-cycle payroll. Navigate to Payroll > More actions > Manual checks to see the quick calcs you've created per payroll.

Benefits

Configuration Item	What To Do
Mineral HR	Toast creates your Mineral HR account and adds your first admin user. After that, you manage user access yourself. Log into trustmineral.com.
401(k) employer match setup	Contact Toast Customer Care to configure your 401(k) employer match calculation. Navigate to Recurring > Deductions on an employee's profile.
Health, vision, and dental benefits (Deductions-Only benefits)	You configure and maintain deductions-only medical benefit plans yourself. Navigate to Recurring > Deductions on an employee's profile.
Classic Benefits module	Toast adds the benefit plan rates. You record employee elections and communicate elections to carriers. Navigate to Benefits > Benefit Plans to see the benefit plan rates.
Dependents and beneficiaries setup for the Classic Benefits module	Qualifying life events, dependents, and beneficiaries can be added to an individual's benefits by navigating to My profile > Benefits.
SimplyInsured benefits	Get health coverage for you and your employees using Simply Insured, Toast's benefits broker. You can sign up with SimplyInsured whether you have an existing plan/broker or not. Contact SimplyInsured with questions regarding these benefits.
Retirement plan setup and maintenance	You configure and maintain your retirement plan with Vestwell. As the plan sponsor, you're responsible for the retirement plan; Vestwell administers it.
Taxable fringe benefits, group-term life insurance, third-party sick pay, and S-corporation health insurance	You record these special earnings yourself. Toast can't advise on the tax treatment, so talk to your accountant or tax professional. See each linked article for more details.

Time (TAFW & Time Entry)

Configuration Item	What To Do
Time Away From Work (TAFW) policy or tier setup	Contact Toast Customer Care to configure a TAFW policy or tier.
Multiple TAFW types under one tier	Contact Toast Customer Care to configure this.
Adding an earning code directly to a timesheet	Contact Toast Customer Care to add an earning code directly to a timesheet.
Assign an employee to a TAFW tier	You assign employees to a TAFW tier yourself.
Assign a default TAFW tier to a position	You configure this yourself.
Default paid sick leave configuration	Toast sets your initial paid sick leave configuration. Contact Toast Customer Care for changes.
Company holidays	You add company holidays yourself.
Overtime rules	You assign overtime rules to employees yourself, following your state's requirements.

Pay Delivery

Configuration Item	What To Do
Employee direct deposit setup	You or your employees set up direct deposit yourselves. On an employee's profile, select Payment Method.
Vendors as direct deposit	Contact Toast Customer Care to set up a vendor for direct deposit. See each listed vendor under Settings > Payroll > Vendors.
Toast Pay Card enablement	Toast enables the Toast Pay Card program. You administer it after that. Open the linked article to find what you're looking for.
Self-written paycheck delivery	You handle self-written check delivery on your own. This option is found via Settings > Payroll > Paycheck Delivery.
Form W-2 print or delivery preference	Starting in November each year, you choose your Form W-2 delivery method yourself. Check your setting by navigating to Taxes.

Integrations & GL Mapping

Configuration Item	What To Do
Syncing information between Toast Payroll and Toast Web	Much of this is automated by Toast, but we rely on customers to use best practices. Several scenarios can be maintained by customers themselves.
Payroll Accounting Sync and QuickBooks Online enablement	You manage your day-to-day payroll accounting sync. Contact Toast Customer Care to enable QuickBooks Online for a location. Configure the module from Toast Payroll via Accounting.
Employee mapping for syncing to Toast Web	You configure employee mapping for the syncing yourself. Mapping is located in Toast Payroll via Settings > Toast > Employees.
QuickBooks class or location tracking	You configure this yourself. In Toast Web, navigate to Finance > Accounting > Connections.
General ledger (GL) or custom imports	You configure custom payroll imports yourself. For customers who use the legacy GL module in Toast Payroll, check the GL Report - Detail by Level.

Exceptions

Some items in this article, including state-specific company setup, tax reciprocity, and workers' compensation codes, depend on the state or states where you operate. Contact Toast Customer Care to confirm how these apply to your account.
Some items, including GL codes and benefits setup, depend on which module or plan type you use (for example, the classic GL module versus the Payroll Accounting Sync, or the Classic Benefits module versus benefits managed by SimplyInsured). Check which version applies to you before following the guidance above.
This article doesn't cover recurring operational tasks, like running payroll or pulling reports. Those are always yours to manage.

This content is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, HR, or any other professional advice. Please contact an attorney or other professional for advice.