Edit, cancel, or reverse a payroll or payment (for admins)

If you catch a mistake before payroll is fully processed, you can cancel it and start again. Once payroll is processed, you may need to make changes to it instead.

Check if canceling your payroll is possible

Gusto fully processes payrolls at 4pm PT on the processing day.

You can cancel payroll if:

• The check date has not passed, and
• Gusto has not yet debited taxes and net pay.

If payroll has already been processed, you’ll only see the option to make adjustments, not to cancel.

Reminders

• If payroll is canceled before processing, Gusto will not debit taxes or wages from your bank account.
• If you cancel by mistake, you’ll need to restart and reprocess the payroll.

Cancel payroll before it has processed

To cancel a payroll that has not been fully processed:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Go to Pay.
3. In the top right, click View pay history.
4. Find the payroll by check date. If the payroll can be canceled, you’ll see a red Cancel button.
   • If no Cancel button appears, the payroll has already been processed. You may still be able to make changes to it. 
5. Click Cancel this payroll and confirm.
   • If it’s a regular payroll, we'll save your payroll data so you do not need to re-enter details. To re-run, go to Pay, then Run payroll.
6. You can also cancel by clicking the check date, then choosing Cancel this payroll under Need to cancel?.

Making changes

If you only see the option to cancel, cancel and then rerun payroll with the correct details. You can only change payrolls once we've fully processed them.

Contractor payments

To cancel a contractor payment, go to the Change or cancel a US contractor payment section, or read our contractor payments article.

If you already submitted a payroll and we processed it, you can usually change or reverse it. If you only see the option to cancel a payroll, you need to cancel it and rerun it to edit it.

Key details about changes and reversals

Here are some important things to know about reversing payrolls:

• After a change or reversal, you’ll get a confirmation email.
• Negative payrolls appear right away in reports (no waiting for the system maintenance the next morning).
  • This keeps the employee’s wage base accurate if you run an off-cycle payroll to fix the error.
• You cannot revisit partial reversals.
  • Example: If you reverse payroll for one employee, you cannot reverse others from the same payroll later without Gusto's help.
• Reversing payroll in a closed quarter automatically creates and files amended returns (if Gusto filed the original).

Exceptions: When reversals do not apply

You cannot reverse payrolls that include:

• Guideline 401(k) (after the check date)
• Gusto-managed Health Savings Account (HSA) or Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA) contributions

Important reminders

Direct deposit reversals

• You must submit direct deposit reversals within 4 business days of the check date.
  • After 4 business days, you need to work directly with your employee to get the funds back outside of Gusto.
• You can only attemp reversals once.
• The bank will try to recover the funds within 1 – 2 business days.
  • If successful: We'll return funds to your company bank account in 5 – 7 business days.
  • If unsuccessful: You need to work directly with your employee to get the funds back outside of Gusto.
• Even if the bank does not recover the funds, Gusto will still update tax amounts and reports.

Compliance and overpayment laws

Always check your state’s overpayment laws before reversing payroll.

• Priority support customers: Submit a ticket to Mineral HR experts (you can upgrade anytime).
• All other customers: Visit your state labor office or locality website for guidance.

Tax payments

If Gusto has already paid taxes because of the payroll being changed (depending on the check date and tax deposit schedule), we cannot recover those funds from agencies.

Agencies may issue your company a refund or credit for overpayments at the end of the quarter after we send filings.

Accounting integrations

If you use an accounting integration, you may need to manually reconcile reversed entries.

Change a payroll you’ve already run

To change a payroll that Gusto has already processed:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click Pay.
3. In the top right, click View pay history.
4. Choose the check date of the payroll you need to change.
5. In the gray box on the right side, click Make changes to payroll.
   • If you do not see this option, reach out to us. To contact us, sign in to your Gusto account and click the help icon in the top-right corner of the page.
6. Follow the prompts to let us know what you need to change. 

Reverse or cancel an individual employee’s payroll

To reverse or cancel one employee's payroll:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click People.
3. Click the name of the employee who needs changes.
4. Select Pay.
5. Find Recent Paystubs. 
6. Click More actions (three dots) next to the payroll you want to make changes to.
7. Click Make changes.
8. Find Changes to payroll and click Make changes to payroll. 
9. Follow the prompts to let us know what you need to change.

If you do not see this option, go to Pay, then View pay history. Select the payroll, and click Contact us to get help.

You can change or cancel some contractor payments in Gusto without contacting support. If you only see the option to cancel, the payment has not been fully processed. You’ll need to cancel and rerun it to make changes.

Important reminders

Before the check date

Returning funds to your company bank account typically takes a few business days.

On or after the check date

We will correct reporting, but you must recover funds directly from the contractor. We cannot get the funds that were deposited or cashed back.

Change or cancel a US contractor payment

To change or cancel a US contractor payment:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Go to Pay.
3. In the top-right corner, click View pay history.
4. Click US contractors.
5. For payments you can adjust without help, you'll see a This payment can still be adjusted tag.
6. Click the payment for the contractor.  
7. Find Adjustments and click Make an adjustment.
8. Tell us what you need to adjust:
   • A contractor was paid more than once
   • You need to reverse the payment
   • A contractor was overpaid or underpaid
   • The wrong bank account number was entered
   • We used the wrong payment method (direct deposit vs. check)
   • Something else
9. Follow the rest of the prompts.

If you need to correct any other details of this payment, choose Something else and click Contact us so we can walk you through it.

If you need to stop a payment to a non-US contractor, you have limited time due to international banking rules.

Important rules

• Cancel before 4pm PT on the debit date.
• After 4pm PT, the payment cannot be canceled or stopped.

These rules exist because of how banks process international payments.

How to cancel before processing

To cancel an upcoming payment to a non-US contractor:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Go to Pay.
3. In the top right, click View pay history.
4. Click Non-US contractors.
5. Click the payday.
6. If cancellation is still available, click Cancel payment.
7. Confirm by clicking Cancel payment again. This will fully cancel the payment and remove its record.

If the payment has already been processed and the contractor did not receive it by the end of the business day on the check date, we can look into it. We may try to recall the funds, but it's not guaranteed.

To contact us, sign in to your Gusto account and click the help icon in the top-right corner of the page.