Toast Payroll: Employee Earnings Step

Last updated: Apr 8, 2026, 10:00 AM

The Employee Earnings step is where you view your payroll figures and make one time changes to payroll.
In this Article:

 

Access the Employee Earnings Step

  1. Navigate to Payroll and select Preview. If you're about to run a payroll, make sure you have approved timesheets and tips first (if applicable). Toast Payroll: Prepare to Run Payroll can guide you through the steps to take before selecting Preview.


     
  2. Review the Preview Payroll step. When you're ready, select Run payroll to advance to the Employee Earnings step.

 

Press Run payroll from Preview Payroll step

  

One-Time Changes to Payroll

When processing payroll, one-time changes to payroll can be made from the Employee Earnings step. Changes made on the Employee Earnings step will not carry over to the employee's record going forward; the changes will only affect the current payroll. 

 

Skip to 1:24 to begin learning about these one-time changes to payroll.

 

Examples of one-time changes include:

 

  • Adding or editing an earning or deduction to a specific employee or multiple employees, such as adding missed hours on a previous payroll
  • Adding a one-time bonus
  • Adding or deleting an employee from the payroll
  • Deducting wages for meals or uniforms
  • Adding tips as income that have already been paid
  • Forcing a live paper check vs direct deposit
  • Adjusting hours for training sessions
  • Applying hours for company events or meetings


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Detailed vs. Condensed View of Employee Earnings

There are two views on the Employee Earnings step: Detailed and Condensed.

 

  • Detailed: This is the default. The detailed view displays all employees and their individual earnings and deductions. This can be useful, but also can be more information than necessary. It may load and navigate slower than the Condensed view.
  • Condensed: When enabled, this view will display Employee, Hours, and Total Earnings in a cluster with the ability to expand a selected employee. You may view details and make one-time adjustments for the selected employee only.

 

Condensed view of Employee Earnings step

Add an Earning or Deduction

  1. Select the + Add earning or + Add deduction button for the appropriate employee. The detailed and condensed views are both shown below.
    1. Note: If you're adding or editing a deduction to compensate for an overpayment, it might be best to use a void and re-record instead. Visit Toast Payroll: Request a Void to learn more.

 

Add earning/deduction to detailed view
Detailed view

 

Add earning/deduction to condensed view
Condensed view


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Edit an Earning or Deduction

  1. To edit, change, adjust, or update an earning or deduction, select the three dots (overflow menu) next to the earning or deduction. Then select Edit earning or Edit deduction. The detailed and condensed views are both shown below.
    1. Note: If you're adding or editing a deduction to compensate for an overpayment, it might be best to use a void and re-record instead. Visit Toast Payroll: Request a Void to learn more.

      Edit earning in detailed view
      Detailed view


      Edit earning in condensed view
      Condensed view

       
  2. During editing, you can update the Hours/Amount field or use the Advanced Options drop-down menu to make adjustments to things like location and rate.

    Advanced Options in the Edit Earnings pop-up

  3. Select Change earning/deduction to save this edit to the payroll. Remember, this edit will only apply to this payroll and will not update anything in the employee's profile.

Add an Employee to Payroll

If an employee is missing from the payroll, select the blue + Add button and select Add employee. The employee will appear at the top of your payroll for accessibility, but otherwise, employees are listed in alphabetical order by last name. Employees may only be added to a payroll if they are a part of the pay group which this payroll belongs to.

 

Add employees to Employee Earning step

Delete an Employee from Payroll

To remove an employee from this payroll, select the three dots (overflow menu) from the row containing the employee's name and choose Delete employee. This will not affect the employee's profile or future payrolls; it will only remove the employee from the current payroll.

 

Delete employee from a single payroll


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Pay via Check vs. Direct Deposit 

If you would like to make a change from direct deposit to a live (paper) check, select the three dots (overflow menu) from the row containing the employee's name and select Pay via Check. Read the terms, choose Yes, and select Submit.

 

Pay via check

 

You can also force live (paper) checks for all employees on this payroll. Select the Advanced actions menu and choose Pay all via check. This is most common for bonus off-cycle payrolls.

 

Pay All via check

 

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Custom Imports for Payroll

If your restaurant is looking to bring in tips, time entries, or other earnings/deductions data via a spreadsheet import, find this feature under the Advanced actions menu. Before using custom payroll imports, Toast Payroll requires an import template set up by our Customer Care team. To begin this process, reach out to us via the blue chat button in the lower-right corner of any Toast Payroll page.


Upon selecting +Add Custom Import, you will see steps to import a spreadsheet. Learn more about custom imports by viewing Toast Payroll: Configure Custom Payroll Imports.

 

 

Additional Resources

 
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.