Live Q&A: Ask us anything about Square Payroll

[katieand]

On Tuesday, December 4th at 11am PST, we will host a Live Q&A about Square Payroll. If you’ve been thinking about switching payroll providers, or you’re just curious to learn more about Square’s full-service payroll product, you should check this out. The best time of year for changes in how you run payroll is now! This is because you can start fresh with a new provider at the beginning of 2019, simplifying your setup and tax filing process.

In this Q&A we’ll explain how our product works and introduce our newest features, including benefits like health insurance and retirement savings for your and your team, automatic tip splitting, integrated timecard importing, employer and employee mobile apps, and our nationwide availability. We’ll have Square Payroll General Manager, Caroline Hollis, here to answer all your questions and help you get the most out of Square Payroll for your business.

@caroline has been part of the Square Payroll team since its inception in 2014. In her time on the Payroll team she has been an integral part in building the product from the ground up. She understands that Payroll is critical for both small business owners and their employees. For employers, payroll is often the business’ largest recurring expense. For employees, a paycheck makes up most or all of their income.

A few example questions:

• What does ‘full-service’ payroll mean, and what is included with my subscription?
• Do you really do all my payroll tax calculations and filings?
• What are my benefits options with Square Payroll?
• How does payroll work with the rest of my Square account?
• What can my employees do with the Square Team App?
• Can I run payroll from the Square Payroll mobile app?
• Why did Square build a payroll product?

[pessosices]

Thanks so much @caroline for hopping on here to do the Q&A! So cool!

We’re looking at finally making the jump to Square Payroll this year with all the awesome new features unveiled!

A few questions:

Does tip splitting work across shifts or only across the entire pay period? I have busy shifts where a lot of tips come in and non busy shifts where very few tips come in, and I would prefer my tips to split by shift or by hour rather than by total hours worked across all shifts in the pay period. 

I use homebase to track hours because of the scheduling system - how does creating/importing/editing employees work across these services, especially when my existing employees already have Homebase accounts that they log into?

How does editing & fixing clock in and out times work across these two? Especially with automatic imports to Square Payroll. 

Thanks!

Pesso

[TorpedoCoffee]

I also would like to know when Square Payroll will account for the amount of time that an employee works and the tips that were earned during this time.  We are not concerned about cash tips, but I have a very busy morning shift that receives a lot more tips than the afternoon.  We really need to account for the tips during the time that the employee worked, not an even split across all hours for the employees that worked during that day.

[caroline]

Hi @TorpedoCoffee! Thanks for the feedback. Similar to what we told @pessosices up above, you can currently pool and split tips across the entire pay period or pay the tips directly to the employee who collected the tips. We are looking to build out additional tip splitting options and splitting tips across shifts is one of our top requests as you can see from the multiple comments in this Q&A. We will let you know as soon as this feature is available!

[qrobertson]

If I want to sign up to offer benefits in my company, can the employee use that offering as a life event to leave the benefits at another job?

[qrobertson]

How many employees do you have to have to offer employee benefits? 

[caroline]

Great questions on benefits, @qrobertson!

To offer health benefits to your business, there need to be at least 2 people in the company, and at least one person must be a W-2 employee. You can start group insurance as long as you meet eligibility even if not all your employees need insurance. There are some restrictions if the only two people in the group are husband and wife.

If your employees receive coverage through another job or through the individual market, they can switch to your group health plan. No qualifying life event is needed to make this switch. They will have approximately 1-2 weeks to switch onto your plan from the time they become eligible to enroll.

If you have a unique circumstance, don’t hesitate to reach out to our health insurance partner, SimplyInsured at squaresupport@simplyinsured.com.

In addition to health insurance, you can also sign up for 401(k), pre-tax benefits and workers’ compensation through the Square Payroll dashboard.

[caroline]

Hi @pessosices!

With Square Payroll, tips can be pooled and split across the entire pay period or paid directly to the employee that collected the tip. We are looking to build out additional tip splitting options in the future and splitting tips across shifts is one of our top requests as you can see from additional comments below!

Square Payroll integrates with Homebase. Make sure that your Square and Homebase accounts are connected in the Apps section of your online Square dashboard. Your employees can continue to clock in/out directly from Homebase. All timecards will automatically transfer over to Square in the timecards section. Any timesheet adjustments or deletions will automatically update to Square in real-time. When it’s time to run payroll you can then seamlessly import your employees’ timecards with the click of a button. We automatically calculate regular and overtime hours.

Thanks again for these questions! 😀

[pessosices]

@caroline Thanks so much! Huge help!

For Homebase, I already have homebase accounts set up for my employees - can I import my Employees from Homebase into Square so they maintain their homebase accounts?
When I make new employee accounts in the future, do I make them in Square first or in Homebase?

I saw there are 2 places to connect Square and Homebase - as the POS and the Payroll provider.
Can I just connect Square as my Payroll provider and will that work for syncing employees?

Thanks

[katieand]

Jumping in for Caroline! 

She recommends connecting your Square and Homebase accounts from your online Square dashboard. If you navigate to the Apps section, you can find Homebase under the Employee Management Category. Select "Get Started" and you will be prompted to login to your Homebase account. One the setup is complete, your employees, timecards and Payroll will sync.

Your employees will also be able to maintain their existing Homebase accounts. In the future when you add a new employee, add them directly to Square and we will import their information over to Homebase. Any changes made in your Homebase account will update to your Square account.

If you need assistance syncing the two, you can reach out to Homebase support by calling (415) 361-5685 between 7am-7pm Pacific Time, Monday to Friday.

[pessosices]

Thanks @katieand!!! That solves all of my issues! Can’t wait to get started with this! I’m going to have so much more time to make ice cream!

[Twistedhornmead]

I echo the desire for tip splitting across shifts or hours worked as stated about due to different days have different income, and those employees should get the tips from the actual days they bust their behinds.

Also, my business is owned by four equal partners, but Square only allows for one administrator for free.  None of us are getting paid as of yet (employees are, but we are owners), and I need to be able to have any one of us call customer service and/or Payroll services without me having to name them as an employee and pay $5 a month for them to have an individual owner access that isn't "me".  Naming them as an agent or representative doesn't give them full access to make changes either.  So unless they just call and give the correct info on the account without having to say they are "me", I'm not sure what else to do.  There really should be an option on Square for partners to be able to make decisions and have equal access (ie their own four digit log-in codes) without me having to pay for them to do that.  Thank you!

[caroline]

[This post was updated by moderator in 2020 to reflect a name change - deposits are now called transfers.]

We definitely understand the need for tip splitting pershift @Twistedhornmead! 👍 We are looking to build out additional tip splitting options in the future and this is one of our top requests. 

Square allows you to add Authorized Representatives to your account for free. Adding someone as an Authorized Representative allows them to call Square Support and take limited actions on your account, but does not include online dashboard access. Authorized Reps are permitted to discuss transactions, transfers, and other account-specific details. They can request Square to update the business’s shipping address, public profile, and remove an old bank account if a new account has been added.

To add an authorized user, visit the account & settings section of your Square dashboard. Select Authorized Representatives and Create New Authorized Representative. You will be prompted to enter their name, email address and mobile phone number. Square will send the Authorized Representative an email or SMS message notification. Finally, you will receive an email notification to confirm this person has been added as an Authorized Representative.

If your partners also need to access the online dashboard without paying the $5/employee per month fee, they will need to continue using the owner login information. Alternatively you can add one general profile to Employee Management that all partners can share for general admin access. This will limit the monthly fee to just one profile or a total of $5/month.  

[HossBurgers]

Will there ever be the option for employees to enter the amount of cash tips they received when they clock out, and then have those cash tips totaled and added to the timecard import for Square Payroll? Right now, I have to keep track of the cash tips for each employee each pay period and then type them in myself when I run payroll. It would be great if the employees could enter the information themselves.

[caroline]

This is great feedback, @HossBurgers! After speaking with several of our merchants, we understand that reporting and paying out tips is one of the most time consuming tasks when it comes to running payroll. Cash tips can be the most manual tracking process as they are often recorded by hand or on a spreadsheet outside of Square. Our goal is to simplify running payroll and eliminate the need for any external or manual tracking.

We are continually looking for ways to improve the product and I agree that simplifying cash tip reporting is a great opportunity to reduce the time it takes to manage and pay your employees. As soon as we have a feature like this available, we will be sure to notify you!

[MichaelMateria]

1) Is switching from another payroll provider easy? Example: Gusto. 

2) I pay a lot of contractors, do you charge only the month they are active?

3) We’re a two owner llc that gets paid salary on top of paying ourselves hourly (events only). Does your system allow for such payments to happen?

4) How fast are payments distributed?

5) Any plans for benefits and onboarding?

THANK YOU

[caroline]

I’ve got my answers for you below, @MichaelMateria 😀

1) Switching to Square Payroll from another provider is extremely simple and can be completed in as little as 30 minutes. Our team of Payroll Specialists help customers switch to Square Payroll from other providers every day, including Gusto.

To Get Started with Square Payroll, we’ll ask you for a few pieces of information including:

1. Legal business name and address
2. Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)
3. State Tax ID’s - this varies by state and you can find more information about state specific IDs and where to find them here
4. Bank account and routing number for payroll withdrawals
5. Employee & Contractor Details
6. Year-to-date reports from Gusto - you can find instructions on how to download the correct report from your Gusto account here. If you switch at the beginning of the year and send your first run of 2019 with Square you will not need to transfer any historical payments.

2) If you’re paying contractors only, our pricing is just $5/contractor paid per month. If there are active contractors in your account that you do not pay within the month, we will not charge you for them. For example, if you have 10 active contractors, and only pay 5 of them within the month, we will only charge you for those 5 ($25 total).

If you are paying at least 1 W2 employee along with your contractors, our pricing is $29/month + $5/employee or contractor paid per month.

3) Our team is currently in the process of building out support for multiple pay rates. With this feature, you would be able to set up your employee profile with both a default salary rate and additional pay rates you can use, as needed. We hope to launch our multiple pay rate feature in the coming weeks. If you’re interested in gaining early access, you can do so today. Please see our contact information below.

4) We offer a variety of ways to pay your team so that you can pick what works best for you and your business. You can pay your team by direct deposit, manual check, printed check, or to their Cash App account. If you pay your team by direct deposit, the default processing time is 4-business days. For example, if you run payroll on a Monday, your employees will see their direct deposit in their account by Friday. If you pay your team by manual check, you will hand write the check and have the freedom to customize the check date. If you pay your employees to their Cash App account, the default processing time is 3 business days. For example, if you run payroll on a Monday, your employees will see their pay in their Cash App account by Thursday.

If our direct deposit time is not a fit for your business, we’d love to learn what your ideal schedule looks like. Feel free to leave us a comment!

5) Yes! We just recently launched a fully integrated benefit suite that includes health insurance, 401k planning, pre-tax spending and workers compensation insurance. You can obtain a quote and onboard to each of these benefits directly through your Square Payroll online dashboard under the Benefits tab. These benefits are flexible, easy-to-use, and affordable. They seamlessly integrate with the rest of Square Payroll, removing the administrative complexity businesses typically face with offering benefits. Our goal is to give small businesses access to big-company benefits at a fraction of the cost. Learn more about our benefit offerings here.

And you’re always welcome to chat with a Payroll Specialist (available M-F 6am - 6pm PST at [Redacted])!

[ActorsWithaClue]

Some of my 1099 contractors are starting to set up LLCs and use EIN numbers. Currently, Square Payroll doesn't support paying contractors with EINs. Will we be able to do this soon?

Many Thanks,

Lori Revilla, Event Consultant

Actors With a Clue! LLC

[steaadyjohn]

Contractors with EINs do not need to be sent a 1099.  Treat them as a vendor like your internet provider or the untility company.  

[Jim_A]

A Single Member LLC filing as a sole-proprietor will need to be issued a 1099, even if using EIN as opposed to SSN.

[caroline]

This is correct, @ActorsWithaClue, Square Payroll currently does not support 1099 contractor payments to an EIN. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good estimate on when this feature will be available. We will let you know when it’s available!

If you have other questions about how to classify a contractor, you should contact a tax professional!