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Home>Payroll for Team Members

Square Payroll Payment Schedule

We know payroll predictability is important to you and your employees. Read below for more information on Square Payroll’s payment schedule, including tips to ensure your employees receive their pay on time, every time.

Square Payroll Pay Dates

Square Payroll offers four pay period schedules: monthly, weekly, semi-monthly (2 pay periods per month), and bi-weekly (every two weeks). To edit your pay period:

  1. Sign in to Staff > Payroll in your online Square Dashboard.

  2. Select  Settings > Pay schedule

  3. Fill out your pay period details, such as pay frequency, pay period duration, and a payroll deadline. 

  4. Click Save once you are done making changes. Your updated pay period settings will be reflected.

Pay dates with a traditional bank account

Employee pay day is five business days after the end of the pay period. Employees who are paid by direct deposit will receive their pay on this date, provided payroll is processed on time. You can find the pay date for the current pay run in the top left corner of the Run Payroll screen of your online Square Dashboard.

You can also set up Automatic Payroll to ensure your employees get paid on time, with minimal effort on your part.

Pay dates with Instant Payments

If you use a Square Checking account to store and access your funds from processing payments, you can choose to have your team member’s direct deposit debits come directly from your stored card balance.

Your team member’s pay date will be 5 business days after the end of your pay period. However, if using your Square balance to pay your team, you can wait until the business day before pay day to process payroll. If your team members have a traditional bank account linked, they will receive their pay by the next business day, or instantly if they use Cash App.

Learn more about Instant Payments with Square Payroll in our Support Center.

Pay dates with Instant Deposit 

Eligible team members that use Cash App can use the Instant Deposit feature to access their pay two calendar days before the original pay date. So, if you submit payroll on Monday for a Friday pay date, your team can access their funds on Wednesday for free. Team members can access their paycheck early by clicking the Transfer Instantly button in the "Your pay is on the way" email sent out two calendar days before the original pay date. They can also access Instant Deposit through the Team App. 

The Instant Deposit feature is available in all states except CA, MA, NJ, NM, NY, PA, VT, and WV. If your team members do not have Cash App, they can link a supported debit card and pay a fee of 1.75% of their net pay to access their funds early in a traditional bank account.

Two-Day Payroll

Two-day payroll helps you get your team paid faster. This feature allows you to either submit payroll up to two business days from your team’s pay date or get your team paid up to two days early, depending on when you want to submit payroll for processing. With this flexibility, two-day payroll gives you more time to run payroll and off-cycle payments.

You can apply for two-day payroll or review existing two-day payroll settings by going to Settings > Pay schedule from the Payroll section of your online Square Dashboard.

Learn more about two-day payroll and the application process.

Pay dates with manual check

Manual check employees can be paid as soon as you process payroll. We provide you with the net pay amount, and you are responsible for writing the checks and providing them to your employees. Learn more about changing employee payment methods.

Send Pay Through Square Payroll

You must submit payroll by 8 PM Pacific Time on the business day following the end of your pay period (4 business days in advance of pay day) to pay employees on time

For example, if your employees are to be paid on Friday and your pay period ends on the Sunday prior you must submit payroll by 8 PM PDT on Monday for your employees to receive their funds on pay day. If you do not process payroll on time, your employees’ pay will be delayed.

Note: These requirements do not apply to employers that use the Instant Payments feature to process payroll.

Diagram displaying Square Payroll's debit and deposit schedule.

Late Pay Runs

If you run your payroll after 8 PM PT on the first business day after the end of the pay period, employees will receive pay four business days after you process payroll.

If you send payroll on the first business day after the end of your pay period after 8 PM PT, employees will receive their pay on the next business day after their pay date. 

Off-Cycle Payments

For off-cycle payments, employees will receive pay four business days after you submit the off-cycle payment.

Square Payroll Holiday Pay Outs

Direct deposits do not process on federal banking holidays.

Pay dates through Square Payroll are only affected by federal banking holidays if you are paying contractors or using two-day payroll. If a holiday occurs on the pay date or between the day payroll is run and the pay date, you will need to submit the contractor payment or runs processed using two-day payroll one day early (except Saturday) to avoid pay delays. For example, if the intended pay date is Friday, you will need to submit the contractor payment before Sunday at 8 PM PT, instead of Monday. We’ll send you a reminder to do so.

If you are paying employees using four-day payroll or Instant Payments, your due dates for submitting payroll will not be impacted by holidays and there is no need to process payroll early. Your employees will be paid on their expected pay date or the pay date will be moved one business day earlier if the pay date itself is scheduled on a holiday.