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.
Two-Day Payroll Application with Plaid
In order to use two-day payroll processing, you’ll want to use Plaid to verify your bank account when applying. Though not required, we also encourage you to enable 2-Step Verification on your account. Both measures help secure your account information.
To get started with two-day payroll:
Sign in to Staff > Payroll > Settings in your online Square Dashboard.
Select Pay schedule. Under the Running payroll section, next to Deadline to run payroll, click Change or Choose deadline.
Follow the application prompts to provide the requested information. Ensure you link your bank account via Plaid when prompted to do so during the application process, which lets you quickly and securely connect your bank account. If you already manually verified your bank account without Plaid, please contact us.
Click Submit.
If you update your bank account information or change your bank account login details, relink your bank account with Plaid to avoid potential interruptions to your Square Payroll service. You can follow the instructions from the notification on your Payroll Overview page to relink your bank account with Plaid.
Two-Day Payroll Application with Manual Verification
If you are unable to use Plaid to link your bank account because Plaid does not support your bank, you encountered an error with Plaid, or for another reason, you can manually verify your bank account to apply for two-day payroll processing.
To manually verify your bank account:
Log in to your online Square Dashboard and go to Payroll.
Click Settings > Bank Account and select Add your business’ bank account. If you have a prior bank account linked, select Change bank account.
Follow the steps to verify your bank, which includes two microtransfers you’ll need to confirm on the next business day.
Once your bank account is verified, you can apply for two-day payroll processing. To do so:
Log in to your online Square Dashboard and go to Payroll.
Click Settings > Pay schedule and select Change or Choose deadline next to Deadline to run payroll.
On the next window, select What if I can’t link with Plaid?
Follow the application prompts to provide the requested information and click Submit at the top of the application screen.
Once your request for two-day payroll is submitted, your application will be reviewed. If your application is approved, the deadline to submit payroll will be updated in your online Square Dashboard. Until then, the processing time of four business days for payroll will apply to your account.
Note: At least one regular payroll run must be submitted on your account before you can have a two-day deadline. Once a pay run has been sent, approval times for this method can vary from 1-2 business days.
Learn more about verifying your payroll bank account.
Running Payroll & Updating Your Pay Schedule
Employee pay day is five business days after the end of the pay period. To pay your employees on time with two-day payroll, you must submit payroll by 8 PM PT two business days in advance of the pay date. To pay your employees sooner than five business days after the end of your pay period, you can run payroll before the deadline and choose the Fastest available option.
Two-day payroll processing in two different scenarios:
If your pay period ends on Sunday and your employees are to be paid the following Friday, you must submit payroll by 8 PM PT on Wednesday for your employees to receive their pay on time.
Alternatively, if your pay period ends on Sunday and your employees are to be paid by the following Friday, you can submit payroll by 8 p.m. PT on Monday for your employees to receive their pay Wednesday of that week.
If payroll is processed after 8 PM PT on the third business day after the end of the pay period, employees will receive pay two business days after payroll is processed.
To submit a two-day payroll run:
Log in to your online Square Dashboard and select Payroll.
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Click Run Payroll. On the first page, within the Schedule Payment section, select the preferred speed for payroll processing.
If you’re running payroll ahead of your deadline for submission, you can select the Fastest available option, which will get direct deposit payments to your team two business days from the day you submit payroll for processing.
Select Regular pay day to have direct deposit payments scheduled on your regular cadence.
Select Manual payments to issue physical checks to your team. Square Payroll will not issue checks on your behalf.
Enter your team’s payroll details information or select Import time and wages > Continue.
If applicable, add reimbursements > Continue.
On the final Confirm Withdrawal page, review your payroll run details and ensure that your two-day payroll pay date is accurate. Select Confirm Withdrawal to submit your payroll run for processing. You’ll receive a confirmation of your team’s pay date and that your payroll debits have been initiated.
Additionally, please keep in mind:
If your pay period ends on Sunday and your employees are to be paid the following Friday, you must submit payroll by 8 p.m. PT on Wednesday for your employees to receive their pay on time.
Alternatively, if your pay period ends on Sunday and your employees are to be paid by the following Friday, you can submit payroll on Monday by 8 p.m. PT and choose the Fastest available option for your employees to receive their pay Wednesday of that week.
If needed, you are able to change your pay schedule and payroll deadline from your Payroll account as well:
Sign in to Staff > Payroll in your online Square Dashboard.
Select Settings > Pay schedule.
Fill out your pay period details, such as pay frequency, pay period duration, and payroll deadline.
Click Save once you are done making changes.
If you are currently set up for a four-day payroll schedule, you can update your processing period to two-day payroll or Instant Payments from this section of your Dashboard. If you currently use two-day payroll, you can also update to Instant Payments to process your payroll. Read more about Instant Payments and Square Payroll’s payment schedule in our Support Center.
Off-Cycle and Contractor Payments
For off-cycle and contractor payments, your team members will receive pay two business days after you submit the payment.
Note: If your account is contractor only, two-day payroll is not available at this time. However, if your account is set up to pay both W-2 employees and 1099 contractors, you can apply to use two-day payroll processing.
Square Payroll Holiday Pay Outs
Square Payroll’s pay dates are only affected by bank holidays if the pay date itself is scheduled on a holiday or if the holiday occurs in between the cut off time for processing and the pay date.
If a bank holiday occurs one business day prior to your pay date, payroll must be processed one business day earlier.
If a bank holiday falls on a scheduled pay date, the pay date will be moved one business day earlier and therefore payroll must be processed one business day earlier.
Debit Failures
In the event a debit of your bank account is unsuccessful, we reserve the right to disable two-day payroll, which will result in employees receiving their pay 4 business days after processing payroll.
If you have additional questions on Square Payroll’s pay dates and payout schedule, contact us.
Denied Application
If your application for two-day payroll is denied, you can re-apply to have the feature enabled on your account three months from the initial application date. To re-apply, contact Square Support through live chat or the phone.