How to Setup Gusto

Gusto helps businesses grow and support their team with a platform built around payroll, benefits and hiring tools. Whether a company is just starting its operations or switching to the platform, the process is fast and easy.

We’re going to walk you through the steps necessary to learn how to setup Gusto like a pro – even if you’re switching from another solution.

Setting Up Gusto

Gusto is built from the ground up to make payroll as simple as possible for small businesses. We recommend that you gather the following documents before signing up for an account:

• Business tax information
• Signatory Social Security numbers
• All existing business addresses
• Paystub info (if in the midyear)
• Quarterly pay data (if in the midyear)

You’ll want to then sign up for an account on Gusto. During the sign-up process, you’ll be asked a few bits of information about your business, such as:

• Company name
• Number of employees
• Industry
• Phone number
• More

Gusto will walk you through the setup process, and then your account creation will be complete. A verification email will be sent to the email you applied with and will contain a link to verify that you are the account owner.

You’ll be brought back to the official Gusto website, where you’ll answer more questions. It’s important to answer each question to the best of your ability because it will allow you to customize your experience.

Some of the information requested during this time includes: time-tracking needs, employee types, and desired first payroll date.

You’ll need to add:

• Bank account
• Federal tax info
• Accountant or bookkeeper
• Benefits info

If you’re using something like QuickBooks Online or other third-party apps, you can also integrate them with Gusto.

Once your basic account information is setup, you can then go and begin your Gusto payroll setup. You’ll go through a step-by-step process that will require you to add employees, pay schedule and state tax information.

You’ll also add in your historical payroll information, unpaid liabilities from the current quarter, aff a signatory for your company, and finally, any workers’ comp information.

Gusto is a payroll solution that prides itself on having no hidden fees. However, you will notice that there are multiple tiers to choose from and a monthly charge per person that you add. Premium tiers are available, with exclusive pricing based on your needs.

Add-on services are also something to consider, but for the purpose of this article, we’re sticking with a basic Gusto setup.

If you have a payroll provider and want to setup Gusto using your existing data, follow the steps below.

Note: Read through our post on How to Use Gusto for tips on getting started with the platform.

How to Switch to Gusto

If you’re just switching to a Gusto setup from another payroll solution, it takes less than two weeks for the process to go through. You’ll want to allow enough time to get everything in order so that the switch doesn’t impact your employees receiving their paychecks.

We recommend that if you’re going to make the switch, try to do it at the end of the year. 

Why?

If you make the switch at the end of the year, you won’t need to transfer much of your data over. However, Gusto’s team will help you make the switch at any time of the year.

Gusto’s team makes it as easy as possible. Here’s how it works:

1. Create an account.
2. Go through the step-by-step onboarding process.
3. Work with Gusto’s support team to setup:
   • Benefits
   • Payroll deductions
   • PTO
   • Etc.
4. Gusto will confirm everything when the setup is complete.

Switching to Gusto is estimated to save you 5 hours on running payroll each month. Your human resources department will free up vital time that they can use for other crucial tasks.

And with 88% of surveyed customers stating that Gusto is easier than their previous software, your team is sure to love the simplicity of the platform. At Redmond, we love integrating Gusto with QuickBooks Online. Seamless integration makes handling payroll and expenses easier.

Once connected, you can run payroll and all of the expenses, such as your wages and taxes paid, will be added as expenses in QuickBooks. It’s a nice way to simplify your data and make payroll a breeze for your small business.

Do you need help with your Gusto setup? You can partner with us (we’ve partnered with Gusto) and we’ll help you get everything up and running at a discount. Sign up here today.

Click here to schedule a consultation and see how we can help you navigate Gusto’s key features.