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Home>Payroll Overview & Getting Started

Square Payroll for Employers

Whether it’s processing payroll, changing your employee’s payment method, or editing your pay periods, you can manage all your payroll needs from your Square Dashboard.

Add Team Members to Square Payroll

Visit our support center articles for detailed instructions on how to add Employees and/or Contractors to Square Payroll. You can also learn how to remove team members from payroll.

Run Payroll

For instructions on running Payroll, visit our Run Payroll support article.

Print Paychecks

With Square Payroll, you can print paychecks on check stock type DLT104. To pay team members with printed paychecks:

  1. Purchase compatible check stock type DLT104. These can be purchased from Staples or Compucheck, among others. Please note: The check stock needs to be customized with your business and bank information. This information will not be included on the PDF generated by Square Payroll.

  2. Insert check stock type DLT104 into your printer.

  3. Go to your History & Reports tab and click on the run you want to print checks for.

  4. Click Print All Checks or click on an individual paystub to print a single check.

  5. A PDF file will download. Open the PDF file and print.

After you finish printing, sign & deliver paychecks to your employees and/or contractors.

Edit the Payment Method

With Square Payroll you have the option to pay your employees via direct deposit or manual check.

Switch to Checks

  1. Visit Staff > Payroll tab of your Payroll dashboard.  

  2. Select a team member.

  3. Click on the Payment Method drop-down menu and select Manual Check.Note: For W-2 employees, Square Payroll calculates and withholds taxes, and shows you the exact amount to pay your employee(s) if you choose to write checks manually. You can then manually write a personal or business check to your employee for the amount due. Each pay period, you’ll receive an email notification from Square with a list of employees requiring payment via check and the net amount for each check.

  4. If you are paying this team member for the first time or if you are switching this team member from Direct Deposit, enter their personal information, and federal (W-4) and state tax withholding information (if applicable).

  5. Click Save and repeat for all team members that you would like to pay with printed or written checks.

Switch to Direct Deposit

  1. Visit Staff > Payroll tab of your Payroll dashboard.

  2. Select a team member.

  3. Click on the Payment Method drop-down menu and select Direct Deposit.

  4. Input an email address for your team member. Your team member will receive an email prompting them to sign up with Square Payroll.

  5. In addition, you have the option to enter your team member’s bank details on their behalf if you have this information. However, this is optional as they can also enter in their bank details if they have been invited to use an online account.

  6. Click Save and repeat for all team members you would like to pay via direct deposit.

Edit Payroll Period and Schedule

Square Payroll offers four pay period schedules: monthly, weekly, semi-monthly (2 pay periods per month), and bi-weekly (every two weeks). You can edit your pay schedule and start date by following these steps:

  1. Log in to Staff > Payroll > Settings from your online Square Dashboard.

  2. Click Pay schedule.

  3. Choose your pay period details, such as the pay frequency, pay period duration, and a payroll deadline. Note: You will not be able to edit your pay schedule if you have a pay run queued up for processing.

  4. Click Save. Details of the changes to your current period and your new pay period will be reflected. It will include payroll due dates and pay dates for your team. 

Square Payroll also provides the option to enable two-day payroll on your account. Two-day payroll allows you to submit payroll up to two business days from your team’s pay date, giving you more time to run payroll and off-cycle payments. Learn more about how to apply for two-day payroll processing in our Support Center.

New Hire Reporting

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 requires employers to report newly hired and re-hired employees to a state directory within 20 days of their hire or rehire date. Square Payroll will report new hires according to the regulations for your state if requested to do so when adding an employee to payroll. For more information on your specific state’s new hire reporting details, visit the Office of Child Support Enforcement’s Directory.

Account Security

You can enable 2-Step Verification to protect your account from unauthorized access and to add an additional layer of protection for your payroll and business information. Learn more about two-step verification and how to enable it for your account.