GUgusto
Payrolls

Prepare a payroll for update

Changed on

Prepares an unprocessed payroll for update, including: adding eligible employees to off-cycle payrolls that support multiple employees (Bonus, Correction, and Adhoc), and updating check_date, payroll_deadline, and payroll_status_meta dates and times.

Use this endpoint before calling PUT /v1/companies/{company_id}/payrolls/{payroll_id}.

Notes

  • Nullifies calculated_at and totals if the payroll was previously calculated
  • Returns the version parameter required for updating the payroll
  • employees:read scope is required to include employee compensations data in the response.
  • Results are paginated, with a maximum page size of 100 employee compensations.

scope: payrolls:write employees:read

put/v1/companies/{company_id}/payrolls/{payroll_id}/prepare

Request

Path parameters

company_idstring required

The UUID of the company

payroll_idstring required

The UUID of the payroll

Query parameters

pageinteger

The page that is requested. When unspecified, will load all objects unless endpoint forces pagination.

perinteger

Number of objects per page. For majority of endpoints will default to 25

sort_bystring
Example:first_name:asc

Sort employee compensations by one or more fields. Options: first_name, last_name. Append :asc or :desc to specify direction (e.g., last_name:asc or last_name:asc,first_name:asc). Defaults to ascending.

Headers

X-Gusto-API-Version'2026-06-15'

Determines the date-based API version associated with your API call. If none is provided, your application's minimum API version is used.

Request body

employee_uuidsstring[] nullable

The employees to prepare, identified by UUID. If omitted, every employee currently on the payroll is prepared.

Off-cycle payrolls that support multiple employees (Bonus, Correction, Adhoc): passing employee_uuids also adds eligible employees who aren't yet on the payroll - a listed employee not on the payroll is added, while one already on it is simply prepared. A request may include up to 100 UUIDs, of which at most 25 may be employees not already on the payroll; an ineligible or unknown UUID, or more than 25 new employees, is rejected with a 422.

All other payrolls: employee_uuids selects which of the payroll's existing employees to prepare; a UUID for an employee not on the payroll is rejected with a 422.

Response

Successful

payroll_deadlinestring date-time

A timestamp that is the deadline for the payroll to be run in order for employees to be paid on time. If payroll has not been run by the deadline, a prepare request will update both the check date and deadline to reflect the soonest employees can be paid and the deadline by which the payroll must be run in order for said check date to be met.

check_datestring

The date on which employees will be paid for the payroll.

processedboolean

Whether or not the payroll has been successfully processed. Note that processed payrolls cannot be updated. Additionally, a payroll is not guaranteed to be processed just because the payroll deadline has passed. Late payrolls are not uncommon. Conversely, users may choose to run payroll before the payroll deadline.

processed_datestring nullable

The date at which the payroll was processed. Null if the payroll isn't processed yet.

calculated_atstring date-time nullable

A timestamp of the last valid payroll calculation. Null if there isn't a valid calculation.

uuidstring

The UUID of the payroll.

payroll_uuidstring

The UUID of the payroll.

company_uuidstring

The UUID of the company for the payroll.

off_cycleboolean

Indicates whether the payroll is an off-cycle payroll

off_cycle_reason'Adhoc' | 'Benefit reversal' | 'Bonus' | 'Correction' | 'Dismissed employee' | 'Hired employee' | 'Wage correction' | 'Tax reconciliation' | 'Reversal' | 'Disability insurance distribution' | 'Transition from old pay schedule' nullable

The off-cycle reason. Only included for off-cycle payrolls.

auto_payrollboolean

Indicates whether the payroll has automatic payroll enabled

externalboolean

Indicates whether the payroll is an external payroll

final_termination_payrollboolean

Indicates whether the payroll is the final payroll for a terminated employee. Only included for off-cycle payrolls.

withholding_pay_period'Every week' | 'Every other week' | 'Twice per month' | 'Monthly' | 'Quarterly' | 'Semiannually' | 'Annually' nullable

The payment schedule tax rate the payroll is based on. Only included for off-cycle payrolls.

skip_regular_deductionsboolean nullable

Block regular deductions and contributions for this payroll. Only included for off-cycle payrolls.

fixed_withholding_rateboolean nullable

Enable taxes to be withheld at the IRS's required rate of 22% for federal income taxes. State income taxes will be taxed at the state's supplemental tax rate. Otherwise, we'll sum the entirety of the employee's wages and withhold taxes on the entire amount at the rate for regular wages. Only included for off-cycle payrolls.

created_atstring date-time

Datetime for when the resource was created.

partner_owned_disbursementboolean nullable

Will money movement for the payroll be performed by the partner rather than by Gusto?

Changes

  • f98575fa2a5eRevision changes
    • breaking

      the response property / became nullable for the status

    • breaking

      the response property / became nullable for the status

    • info

      added the optional property //////// to the response with the status

    • info

      added the optional property //////// to the response with the status

    • info

      added the optional property //////// to the response with the status

    • info

      added the optional property to the response with the status