Manage company bank account details (for admins)

Review these important details about permissions, default accounts, and payment processing. 

• Permissions: You can add, remove, or assign bank accounts to specific payrolls or payments if you have at least one of these permissions:
  • “Full access” admins
  • Admins who can “Run payroll”
  • Admins who can “Pay contractors”
• Remember the last 4 digits of bank accounts: If we’ve verified multiple banks for you, remember the last 4 digits when assigning a bank to specific payrolls/payments. At this time, you cannot add nicknames to bank accounts.
• Default bank info
  • We use your “default” bank account for:
    • Your monthly invoice
    • General payroll and contractor payments (unless you choose a different bank)
    • Workers’ comp debits (from NEXT insurance)
    • Tax-advantaged accounts: FSA, HSA, DCFSA, and commuter benefits
    • Payroll on AutoPilot®, unless you set up a different bank account (learn more in the Add more bank accounts section of the article)
    • Refunds or debits related to wage corrections, tax reconciliations, cancellations, and more
  • If you change your default bank account, we’ll keep using your current default bank account for all standard debits (examples listed in the bullet above) until we fully verify and set up the new account.
    • Once we verify it, we’ll use the new default bank account for all of the above. 
• Payroll reversals: If we need to debit or credit funds to your company because of a reversal, we’ll use the bank account linked to that payment (as long as the bank account is still active in Gusto).
  • If you’ve removed the account, we’ll send the money to your default account.
• Companies still onboarding: You cannot add more bank accounts until you finish setting up your account completely, and we approve it.

Before you can add more bank accounts, you’ll need to have added one verified bank account, completed your Gusto onboarding, and gotten approval from our team. Once that’s complete, you can add more bank accounts. 

To add more bank accounts:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click your name at the top right and select Settings.
3. Go to the Plan & billing tab. 
4. Scroll to the “Bank Accounts” headline and click Add bank account.
   • If you do not see this option, you may not have added one verified bank account, completed your Gusto onboarding, and gotten approval from our team. You need to complete these steps before you can add more bank accounts.
5. Choose whether you’d like to Connect Instantly (by securely signing in to your bank with Plaid) or Connect Manually (1–2 business days). 
   • Some customers can only connect manually using test transactions.
   • If you verify with Plaid, you cannot use “Bottom (blank check stock)” to print checks you write. Plaid encrypts account numbers, so they will not print on this type of check. 
6. If connecting manually, enter the new routing number and account number.
7. Click the checkbox to acknowledge that this change may block payroll for up to 2 business days until we complete the bank verification.
   • Until we verify the new account, we’ll use the bank elections you have in place when processing a payment (either manually or using Payroll on AutoPilot®).
     • If you’ve already processed a payroll, adding a new account while the money is in-flight will not change which bank account we used.
8. Click Continue.
9. Review the timeline — we’ll test your account with two small transactions.
   • Don’t want to wait? Click the Verify with Plaid instead link.
10. Once you see the transactions in your bank (this can take a few days), return to this part of your profile to confirm the amounts.
11. Click Go to Gusto Home to return to your Home page. 

If we’ve verified multiple bank accounts in Gusto, remember the last 4 numbers of the bank account(s) you want to use when making payments. At this time, you cannot add nicknames to accounts.

We use your default bank account for:

• Your monthly invoice
• General payroll and domestic contractor payments (unless you choose a different bank)
• All international contractor payments 
• Workers’ comp debits/premiums (from NEXT insurance)
• Payroll on AutoPilot®, unless you set up a different bank account (learn more in the Add more bank accounts section of the article)
• Refunds or debits related to wage corrections, tax reconciliations, cancellations, and more

How to change your default bank account

Until we fully verify and set up the new bank account, we’ll use your current default bank account for all standard debits and payrolls you’ve already processed. If the account on file returns a bank error at the time we processed a payroll, we may move you to a slower direct-deposit speed. 

To change your default bank account:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click your name at the top right and select Settings. 
3. Go to the Plan & billing tab. 
4. Scroll to the “Bank Accounts” headline, find the bank account you want to make the default account, and click the three-dot menu in the Actions column.
   • If we have not yet verified another bank account, you’ll need to add, verify, and set an alternate bank account as the default before you remove the current default account.
5. Choose Set as default.

If your company uses Payroll on AutoPilot®, we’ll debit from your default bank account unless you assign a different account. 

How to assign a specific bank account for Payroll on AutoPilot®

To assign a specific bank account for Payroll on AutoPilot®:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Go to Pay and select Pay settings.
   • If you do not see this section in your account, you may not have the required permissions. 
3. Next to the AutoPilot section, click Edit.
4. Select the bank account you want from the dropdown box.
5. Click Save.

After you save, Payroll on AutoPilot® will debit funds from the bank account you selected.

If you delete a bank account with scheduled future payments, we’ll warn you that we’ll cancel those payments. You’ll need to reschedule them. 

To delete a bank account:

1. Sign in to Gusto.
2. Click your name at the top right and select Settings. 
3. Go to the Plan & billing tab.  
4. Scroll to the “Bank Accounts” headline, find the bank account you want to remove, and click the three-dot menu in the Actions column.
   • If we have not yet verified another bank account, you’ll need to add, verify, and set an alternate bank account as the default before you delete this account.
5. Click Delete.

Q: Can I add multiple company bank accounts?

A: Yes. You can add multiple bank accounts and choose which one to use for payroll(s) and contractor payments.

Q: I paid people from the wrong account. What do I do?

A: If we have not debited your account yet, you can cancel the payroll or contractor payment and reschedule it from the correct bank account. 

If we’ve already debited the account, contact your bank to transfer the necessary funds into that account.

Q: Can we split the payments between multiple bank accounts?

A: No. All payments come from one bank account. If you want to split payments, run multiple payrolls, and select a different bank account for each one.

Q: Can we have a bank account associated with each employee? 

A: No, but you can assign employees to departments and set up pay schedules for each department. Then you can link a bank account to each pay schedule.

Q: Does Gusto support alphanumeric bank accounts?

A: Yes. We accept bank accounts with both letters and numbers.

Q: I cannot print checks because of an “issue with bank verification.” What does that mean?

A: If you verify with Plaid, you cannot use “Bottom (blank check stock)” to print checks you may write. Plaid encrypts account numbers, so they will not print on this type of check. Use the other check stock type we offer.