Toast Payroll: Manage Federal Bank Holidays

In this Article:

Federal Banking Holiday Basics
Federal Banking Holiday Schedule
Federal Banking Holidays and Payroll Processing
Federal Banking Holidays and Weekends
Payroll Not Submitted in Time
Additional Resources

Federal Banking Holiday Basics

A federal banking holiday is a specific date that the US federal government has designated as a holiday. On these dates, banks are generally closed and do not process transactions, including payments to employees or tax agencies.

Keep in mind that a check date scheduled on a federal banking holiday will be automatically moved to a non-federal banking holiday by Toast. What day the check date is moved to depends on your selection in onboarding (see Milestone 3, step 2 in Toast Payroll: Get Started With Onboarding and Implementation). For example:

Thanksgiving is a banking holiday that occurs on a Thursday. If a check date falls on that Thursday, Toast will either move the check date to the prior business day (Wednesday, submit payroll by Monday at 4 p.m. CST) or the next business day (Friday, submit payroll by Tuesday at 4 p.m. CST to account for the holiday) to help avoid processing delays.
Memorial Day is a banking holiday that occurs on a Monday. If a check date normally falls on a Monday, Toast will either move the check date to the prior business day (Friday, submit payroll by Wednesday at 4 p.m. CST) or the next business day (Tuesday, submit payroll by Thursday at 4 p.m. CST to account for the holiday) to help avoid processing delays.

Check your payroll dashboard to confirm payroll due dates. This one was adjusted to the Friday prior to account for the Labor Day holiday:

To review your scheduled check dates throughout the year, navigate to Reports > Standard and search for the Payroll Calendar Report.

Federal Banking Holiday Schedule

This holiday schedule is pulled directly from .

Holiday	2025	2026	2027	2028
New Years Day	January 1	January 1	January 1	January 1
Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.	January 20	January 19	January 18	January 17
George Washington's Birthday	February 17	February 16	February 15	February 21
Memorial Day	May 26	May 25	May 31	May 29
Juneteenth National Independence Day

Federal Banking Holidays and Payroll Processing

It's vital to process and submit payroll by the deadline seen in the system. If payroll is submitted late, even by a few minutes or hours, your company's check date may automatically be pushed to the next business day after the holiday. Toast is unable to "speed up" a payroll that was submitted late.

Federal banking holidays are generally not considered business days and should not be considered when determining when to process payroll. For example:

Thanksgiving is a federal banking holiday that falls on a Thursday. If a payroll check date is scheduled for Friday after Thanksgiving, submitting payroll by 4 p.m. CST on the Tuesday prior can assist in avoiding processing delays.

If payroll is submitted on Thanksgiving, this will automatically push the check date out to the upcoming Monday. Toast Payroll always requires a day to process each payroll, which in this case would be the Friday after Thanksgiving.

If a payroll check date is scheduled on Thanksgiving according to your normal pay frequency, Toast Payroll will automatically move it to the business day you indicated in onboarding, which would be either Wednesday or Friday in this example.

Federal Banking Holidays and Weekends

When anticipating an upcoming federal banking holiday, it is also important to remember that most banks do not process transactions on the weekend. For example, let's say that Independence Day falls on a Monday. If a payroll check date is also scheduled for Monday, submitting payroll before 4 pm CST on the Thursday before Independence Day can account for both the weekend and the holiday.

Pay close attention to payroll Due Dates on the Pay Cycle Dashboard as they will be adjusted accordingly for the banking holidays.

Payroll Not Submitted in Time

If you were unable to submit a payroll intended for a pre-federal holiday check date, we have two resources to help you decide on your next steps. If you decide to submit the payroll anyways, check out Toast Payroll: Get Help With When Employees Are Paid to learn when your payroll will be distributed based on the time and scenario you submit it in. If you'd like to get your employees paid before the holiday, read the Pay In-Person Using a Quick Calc section of as this is the fastest and only method to pay employees when a federal holiday processing deadline has been missed.

Toast Payroll: Manage Federal Bank Holidays

Federal Banking Holiday Basics

Federal Banking Holiday Schedule

Federal Banking Holidays and Payroll Processing

Federal Banking Holidays and Weekends

Payroll Not Submitted in Time

Additional Resources