Toast Payroll: Get Help With Your Payroll

In this Article:

• Before Running Payroll
  • Missing or Incorrect Timesheets
  • Quick Calcs
• During Payroll
  • Action Items and Insights
  • Import Files
  • Wage Information is Incorrect
  • Missing/Incorrect Earnings or Deductions
  • Overtime is Incorrect
  • Taxes are Incorrect
  • Missing Employees
  • Payroll Out of Balance
  • Highlights & Exceptions
  • Tip Makeup
  • Review Payroll Reports
• After Running Payroll
  • Reopen or Edit a Submitted Payroll
  • Did I Post?
  • Errors With the QuickBooks Online Integration
  • When Employees Are Paid
  • Payroll Was Incorrect
  • Toast-Printed Paper (Live) Check Have Not Arrived
• 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 call out 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

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 , 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

• on the 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 , 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 is required. Navigate to the Employment tab of an employee's profile and choose Change pay in the Jobs & Pay tile.
  • 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. 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 if the employee only works one job at one rate.
• When an employee's overtime is calculated with different jobs paying at different rates, (a.k.a. weighted average overtime) comes into play.

Taxes are Incorrect

Toast Payroll calculates employee taxes using three things: the employee's , their , and . 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 of payroll, you may 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 . Verify a) the pay group of an employee by checking their , 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: .

Payroll Out of Balance

It's possible to receive this error while calculating a payroll between the and the . 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 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

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 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 for you to pay this employee.
• If a direct deposit was sent to the wrong bank account, a may be possible.

Did I Post?

and submitted by visiting the Past Payrolls tab on the Pay Cycle Dashboard.

Errors With the QuickBooks Online Integration

Note: We're in the beta stage of . If you're looking for how to integrate these two systems without xtraCHEF, select the link to discover the feature and check if you’re eligible to join the beta. Keep in mind that this integration only includes payroll data syncing.

Errors with the Toast Payroll and QuickBooks Online Integration will generally be noted in the follow-up email or in the Sync Monitor itself. In many cases, the error revolves around an unmapped GL code and both the email and the Sync Monitor 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 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 to remind you to manually 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 , create a , 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  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 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.