Toast Payroll: Optimize the Report Library

About the Toast Payroll Report Library
Who Can Use the Report Library
Report Library Tabs at a Glance
Management Reports
Standard Reports
Custom Reports
- Create a Custom Report
- Payroll Report Template
Tax Filing Reports
- Quarterly Tax Packages
- Form W-2 Files and Year End Documents
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About the Toast Payroll Report Library

The Toast Payroll Report Library is the central hub for all payroll reporting. In Toast Payroll, navigate to Reports to access five tabs: Management (hand-selected popular reports), Standard (full library of real-time reports), Custom (reports you build field by field), Favorite (reports you've flagged for regular use), and Tax Filing (quarterly tax packages, Form W-2 files, and year-end documents). Queued reports — including custom reports — are delivered through the Document Courier once processed.

Who Can Use the Report Library

HR+ users have full access to all five tabs and can view data for all employees.
Manager users navigate directly to the Standard reports list when they select Reports. Managers can only pull data for employees who report to them.
Employee users cannot access the Report Library.

Report Library Tabs at a Glance

In Toast Payroll, navigate to Reports to see the following tabs:

Tab	What it contains	When to use it
Management	Hand-selected popular reports covering TAFW, payroll preparation, and employee demographics	Start here for day-to-day management tasks
Standard	Full library of real-time reports covering the employee lifecycle, HR, payroll history, taxes, and finance	Use when you need a specific report not shown under Management
Custom	Reports you build by selecting specific data fields and filters	Use when no Standard report covers your exact data need (e.g., earnings breakdown by employee, 401(k) census)
Favorite	Reports you've flagged from the Management, Custom, and Standard tabs	Use to quickly rerun reports you use regularly
Tax Filing	Quarterly tax packages, Form W-2 files, W2 Audit Report, W3 Report, and Year End Documents	Use to access tax documents and manage employee W-2 delivery preferences

Management Reports

The Management tab is the default view when you navigate to Reports in Toast Payroll. It surfaces hand-selected reports for day-to-day restaurant management, including:

Time away from work (TAFW) reports
Payroll preparation data
Employee demographic and emergency contact information

Each report under Management also lives in the Standard tab — the Management tab is a curated shortcut. If you don't find what you need here, check the Standard tab or build a custom report.

Standard Reports

Toast Payroll's Standard reports cover all aspects of the employee lifecycle: HR topics, historical payroll data, taxes, payroll finances, and timekeeping. Standard reports pull real-time data.

To find and run a Standard report:

Navigate to Reports > Standard.
Search for keywords in the search box at the top, or select one of the gray category filter tabs to narrow the list by report type.
Select the arrow icon to queue the report for download, or select the view or eye icon to read a description of the report before running it.

Expected outcome: The report is either immediately downloaded or it is sent to the Document Courier under the My Reports tab. The page refreshes every 30 seconds. Once the status shows Download, select it to receive your report.

Note: For descriptions and use cases for the most commonly run Standard reports, including the Quarterly Employee Payroll Audit Report (QEPAR), Payroll Employee Payroll Audit Report (PEPAR), and Hours / Earnings by Date Range Report, see Toast Payroll: Review Common Payroll Reports.

Custom Reports

Custom reports let you select specific data fields and apply filters to build a report tailored to your business needs. Common use cases include:

Managing benefit deductions
Overtime analysis
Validating employee email addresses
401(k) census reporting
Year-to-date (YTD) gross wage reporting
Earnings breakdown by employee or earning category

To run or edit an existing custom report: Select the name of the report to edit its settings, or select the arrow icon to run it immediately.

Create a Custom Report

Navigate to Reports > Custom.
Select the Add+ button to begin.
Enter a Name for your report, add a Description (optional), and choose one of the following Templates before selecting Save:
- Employee Attributes — all employee information, including personal data, hire date, employment status, hourly rate, termination date, and more
- Employee Deductions — summary of employee deductions
- Employee Earnings — summary of employee earnings
- Payroll — pulls data from submitted payrolls within the calendar year; see Payroll Report Template for how this template works
In the Report Creator, review and configure the data boxes at the top of the page:
- Report Name — edit the report name
- Security Level — set to HR+ to restrict access; it is not possible to make a report accessible to users with an Employee security level
- Description — add or edit a description so the purpose of the report is easy to identify in the future
Select the + icon next to any field name to add that field to your report.
The fields appear on the report in the order they are added. Select and hold a field to drag it up or down. For each field, you can:
- Assign a header — the label that appears in row 1 of the generated report. If no header is assigned, the field caption is used.
- Apply a filter — sorts the report data by criteria you define in step 8 below.
- Remove the field — select the – icon to remove it.
When the report is configured, select Save to save it to your Custom Reports list, or select Queue to save and immediately run the report.
If you selected Queue and have a filter applied to one or more fields: select the data values to include in the report, then select Queue up to generate it. For example, if you applied a filter to the Earning Name field and select SALARY and REGULAR, the report will include only those earning codes.
You are taken to the Document Courier where your report will be available for download once processed. The page refreshes automatically every 30 seconds. Once the status shows Download, select it to receive your report.

Expected outcome: Your custom report is saved and available under Reports > Custom. If you selected Queue, the report downloads from the Document Courier once processing is complete.

Payroll Report Template

The Payroll template is more complex than the other custom report templates. Key details:

Data source: Pulls from submitted pay periods — not a point-in-time snapshot. The numbers, employees, and totals shown match what appears on the Payroll Summary Report and the Per Pay Period Employee Payroll Audit Report (PEPAR).
Headers and trailers: You can build a header row (first row of your spreadsheet) and a trailer row (last row) into the report format. This may be required if you upload the report to a third-party vendor. To add a header or trailer, select the appropriate fields from the Headers and Trailers section under Fields.
Grouping options: Group the report output using one of the following settings:
- Employee — one line per employee, summing all totals across all pay periods in the report date range
- Payroll — one line summing all totals across all pay periods, with no employee-specific information
If neither is selected, the report defaults to one row per employee per pay period.
Fixed Fields: Run the report as Fixed Fields if required for a third-party upload. Fixed Fields lets you edit the length, direction, and character of each field. If using Fixed Fields, change the File Extension type to txt.

Tax Filing Reports

To view tax filing reports, navigate to Reports > Tax Filing in Toast Payroll. Select the correct Year and FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) to locate your documents, then select the arrow icon to run or download a report.

Two reports are always available in Tax Filing, regardless of year:

Report	Description
W2 Audit Report	Summary of all Form W-2s for all employees for the selected year
W3 Report	Sum of all Form W-2s within a FEIN

Quarterly Tax Packages

Approximately three to four weeks after each quarter in which you processed payroll with Toast, your quarterly tax package appears under Reports > Tax Filing. Quarterly tax packages contain payroll tax information including any tax variances specific to your FEIN.

Note: For a walkthrough of how to read your quarterly tax package — including the Reconciliation Recap and Variances section — see Toast Payroll: Read Your Quarterly Tax Package.

Form W-2 Files and Year End Documents

Once available, Form W-2 files for your employees for the selected year and FEIN appear in Tax Filing. Files are labeled:

employees_OptedElectronic — employees who opted in to electronic Form W-2 delivery
employees_OptedPaper — employees who elected to receive a paper Form W-2

Employees who request a paper Form W-2 must have them printed and distributed by the SSA deadline of January 31st each year. For printing instructions, see Toast Payroll: Download and Print Form W-2s (For Employers).

To view and manage employee W-2 delivery preferences:

Select the Year End Documents button to see which employees are opted in to electronic delivery and which have elected paper delivery. Check the Electronic forms? column.
To change an employee's W-2 delivery setting: select the checkbox next to their name and choose Edit.
This must happen before the last payroll of the year has been submitted.

Expected outcome: The employee's W-2 delivery preference is updated. The change applies to the current and future tax years.

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.