Toast Payroll: Get Help With Your Payroll

In this Article:

Before Running Payroll
- Missing or Incorrect Timesheets
- Quick Calcs
During Payroll
After Running Payroll
Additional Resources

Before Running Payroll

Missing or Incorrect Timesheets

Timesheets must be verified and approved before running payroll (unless the automatically approve timesheets feature is enabled). Any employees who should appear on the Time page, but do not have visible time entries may be unmapped.
If a timesheet or time entry needs edits or a timesheet needs to be unapproved, there are different steps to take depending on if automatic approval of timesheets is turned on or not. Check out Toast Payroll: Manage Timesheets for directions specific to your scenario.
Once payroll has begun, the Preview Payroll step will highlight any unapproved timesheets associated with that specific payroll.
Even if you enabled automatically approved timesheets, you'll still be notified when you have exceptions, such as an employee who forgot to clock out.

Quick Calcs

Quick calcs are typically used when an employee receives wages outside of Toast Payroll. A quick calc allows you to record these wages (without paying the employee) for tax purposes and IRS compliance.

During Payroll

Action Items and Insights

On the Preview Payroll step, you may see some entries listed in the Action Items or Insights tile. Toast Payroll has identified these entries as items you will want to navigate before processing payroll. For example, these may include employees who have not clocked out or timesheets that have not been approved, so it's important that you address each item in order to process payroll successfully.

Import Files

Imported files on the Employee Earnings step of payroll are commonly for tip imports, but can be any sort of earnings, deductions, or benefits. An import template must first be created within the system to allow Toast to "read" your imported file. Then you can use the template to add data to your payroll. Imported files must be in a spreadsheet CSV format.
Once a template has been created by Toast Payroll admins, modifying the column headers (in row 1 of the spreadsheet template) will typically result in an import error. Also, do not include the $ symbol in your spreadsheet.
Many tip import issues stem from not including levels on the spreadsheet or in the template. For example, if your business has multiple locations, Toast Payroll will need the location level listed on the spreadsheet and mapped to its counterpart in Toast POS. Otherwise, it will default to the first location level in the system, even if the employee does not work there.

Wage Information is Incorrect

If an employee's salary or hourly wage is incorrect or not up-to-date, you can make a pay change.

To apply a pay change to only a single payroll, locate the employee on the Employee Earnings step, select the three dots (...) next to the hourly or salary earning, and choose Edit Earning. Select Advanced Options and scroll to the bottom, where you may edit the Earning Rate.
To apply the pay change to all future payrolls, a pay change is required. Navigate to the Employment tab of an employee's profile and select Change pay.
- This must be done before beginning payroll if you wish to apply these changes to the current payroll.

Missing/Incorrect Earnings or Deductions

When a specific payroll has incorrect or missing earnings or deductions, one-time changes can be made directly within the payroll. If this missing/incorrect earning or deduction is recurring, changes should be made to the employee profile. This article can assist with either scenario.

Overtime is Incorrect

When overtime hours or rates are incorrect, this can be a result of a few different factors. Start here if the employee only works one job at one rate.
When an employee's overtime is calculated with different jobs paying at different rates, blended overtime (a.k.a. weighted average overtime) comes into play.

Taxes are Incorrect

Toast Payroll calculates employee taxes using three things: the employee's work tax location, their Form W-4 settings, and tax tables provided by the IRS. When taxes do not appear as expected on payroll, reference each of these items to troubleshoot. Toast Payroll cannot advise any further than this; contact a CPA or tax specialist for more advice.

Missing Employees

When a staff member does not appear on the Employee Earnings step of payroll, you may manually add them to this payroll run. This is only suggested for temporary use since the true reason they didn't appear should be investigated.
However, a specific employee can only be added if they are part of the payroll's pay group. Verify a) the pay group of an employee by checking their Position page, in the left image below, and b) the pay group assigned to a payroll on the Pay Cycle Dashboard, in the right image. These must match in order for the employee to be a part of the payroll run.
The employee also must be active for some portion of the pay period. If the employee was hired after the pay period, terminated before the pay period, or was on leave of absence for the entire period, they will not appear in the list of available employees. Read about status changes here: Toast Payroll: Make an LOA Status Change.

Payroll Out of Balance

It's possible to receive this error while calculating a payroll between the Employee Earnings step and the Review and Submit step. For resolution, contact Customer Care via the blue chat dot in the lower-right corner of your page.

Highlights and Exceptions

This tile appears on the Review and Submit step of payroll. If any of the four categories in this tile are hyperlinked, select the link to display the employees impacted by that category. This is an important audit point that can easily help you catch common errors before posting the payroll. Check out the next item in this article if you have individuals populating with tip makeup.

Tip Makeup

Tip makeup is the added amount of earnings a tipped employee needs to receive in order to make minimum wage based upon their current hours, wages, and tip amounts. This earning is automatically applied by the payroll system for compliance and cannot be removed unless the hours, wages, and/or tip amounts are updated.

Review Payroll Reports

This is not an actual troubleshooting step, but it is best practice to review your payroll reports before you post each payroll. This gives you one last look at every employee and their wage rates, earnings, deductions, and taxes. You may also view employer taxes, vendor checks, and the method in which employees will receive their wages.

After Running Payroll

Reopen or Edit a Submitted Payroll

We are unable to make any changes to a payroll once it has been submitted. This includes payrolls that have not been swept.

If an employee was mistakenly left off of a payroll run, Toast Payroll offers three ways for you to pay this employee.
If a direct deposit was sent to the wrong bank account, a return of funds or an ACH reversal may be possible.

Did I Post?

Verify your payroll was posted and submitted by visiting the Past Payrolls tab on the Pay Cycle Dashboard.

Errors With the QuickBooks Online Integration

Toast Payroll and QuickBooks Online now have a direct integration named Payroll Accounting Sync. Check out Get Started With Payroll Accounting Sync to learn if you're eligible or if you're already using the sync, visit Get Help With Payroll Accounting Sync to get more information on errors you might receive.

Errors with syncing will generally be noted in the follow-up email or on the Accounting Activity page in Toast Web. In many cases, the error revolves around an unmapped GL code. The email, the Accounting Activity page in Toast Web, and the Get Help article mentioned above offer instructions on how to correct this.

When Employees Are Paid

There are different scenarios that define when employees will receive their pay according to when payroll was posted. Take a peek at this page for details.

Payroll Was Incorrect

Sometimes payroll is submitted only to discover an error afterwards. As it turns out, Toast cannot stop or cancel a payroll that has been submitted. You have a couple options to correct an error on a submitted payroll:

The easiest course of action is to account for this on the upcoming payroll. For instance, if an employee was overpaid by $100, you can make a payroll to-do to remind you to manually remove $100 in wages from their next paycheck. This should only be attempted if both payrolls are in the same quarter.
When the error cannot be corrected on a future payroll, there are other options. Depending on the issue at-hand, you may decide to run an off-cycle payroll, create a quick calc, perform a stop payment, or request an ACH reversal. Stop payments and ACH reversals will be completed through your financial institution and not Toast Payroll.

Toast-Printed Paper (Live) Checks Have Not Arrived

When the Toast-Printed paycheck delivery option is selected, the primary payroll user will receive an email once payroll is submitted. This email is typically received the day before checks arrive since Toast utilizes next-day shipping. The email will include a tracking number for online reference to package status. Toast Payroll does not guarantee tracking information or arrival dates/times since we use a third-party to deliver live checks.
Additionally, any packages shipped by UPS will create a tracking number that can be viewed directly within Toast Payroll. This number will appear on the Review step of the payroll around 7 pm CST on the day payroll was posted. Select the tracking number to view more details. Any packages shipped via FedEx or bike courier will not display a tracking number.

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.