Prior payroll information needed for OnPay – Help Center Home

Updated for Q4, 2023

If you’re new to OnPay, and your company has already paid wages in 2023, we will need your prior payroll information by way of payroll reports provided by you, in order to correctly calculate withholdings and deductions, and process year-end forms and filings. The accuracy of these calculations and filings depends on the prior payroll information provided by your reports. To ensure a smooth transition, both to OnPay and into the new year, carefully follow the following instructions for the formatting of these reports for each quarter of 2023.

Reporting date range	How each report should be totaled
Q4: Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2023	All payroll information separated by check date, employee, and type.
Q3: July 1 – Sept. 30, 2023	All payroll information totaled for the quarter.
Q2: April 1 - June 30, 2023	All payroll information totaled for the quarter.
Q1: Jan. 1 - Mar. 31, 2023	All payroll information totaled for the quarter.

Your Q4 payroll report must be itemized by employee. Each employee's gross wages, taxes, and net amounts paid must be itemized separately. These totals are needed for OnPay to accurately file returns and year-end reports like W-2s.

We've got you. This article will detail everything you need to send us, but you can always email us at hello@onpay.com for help!

What we’ll cover

Employee and prior payroll data migration and setup
Where you can run the reports we need
How prior pay reports must be categorized
How prior pay reports must be totaled
How to send us your reports
Our Tax Accuracy Guarantee

Frequently asked questions

Who needs prior payroll information recorded?

W-2 Employees: All active and terminated employees receiving a W-2 for this year will need to be added to your OnPay account, including their prior payroll information.

Contractors: All contractors needing a Form 1099-NEC from OnPay for this year will need to be added to your OnPay account, including their prior payroll information.

Learn more about how to classify employees.

Will OnPay enter my company’s prior payroll information?

Yes! And at no additional cost. Simply send us the employee data as described in this article, and we will take care of it.

Why is it so important to provide prior payroll information?

It is crucial that you provide this information to OnPay for several reasons:

An employer can only issue one W2 per employee in the calendar year.
Your employees can overpay taxes, creating a financial hardship.
Improper reporting of wages can cause employer penalties and interest.
An employer can overpay their Federal and State Unemployment Taxes if not reported correctly.

Where is this information located?

Typically, your current payroll provider will have reports that contain this information. It may be a Payroll Summary or in an Employee Detail Report that can be filtered by pay date.

Employee and contractor migration and setup

We’ll be glad to enter all your employees and contractors for you. Just send us your employee details, including any terminated employees and contractors receiving a W-2 or 1099-NEC from you this year. For this report, each employee must include the following information:

Name
Address
Social security number*
Birth date
Hire date
Tax elections
Rate of pay (per pay period or per hour)

*Note: You MUST include a verified Social Security Number (SSN) for each employee.

Prior payroll data migration and setup

Once your employees and/or contractors have been entered into OnPay, we’ll begin entering their prior wages for this calendar year. Keep in mind, there are some specific totals that we must have, so follow this guide carefully when providing your prior pay info to OnPay.

IMPORTANT: CATEGORIZE PAYROLL TAX FILINGS BY CHECK DATE

Payroll tax filings report pay information and taxes based on the check date, not the pay period.

For example, if the pay period covers September 16th - 29th, but the check date is October 6th, then this pay must be included in your Q4 report.

Where you can run the reports we need

From your current payroll provider, you’ll need to run a few reports. Depending on the provider, these reports may have different names. What’s important is that the report is categorized and totaled as detailed in the next two sections.

How prior pay reports must be categorized

Your reports must be separated by pay category. Make sure to include all of the following wage, tax, and deduction categories:

Gross Wages
Employee Taxes
Employer Taxes
Section 125 Deductions
Other Pre-Tax Deductions
Other Standard Post-Tax Deductions

These categories may also have multiple pay types. For example, gross wages will include regular, overtime, sick, and holiday hours, and will all be listed separately on your report, as seen in the below examples of pay categories explained.

Pay categories explained

Gross Wages

All regular wages and hours, must be separated into clear categories such as regular, overtime, bonuses, commissions, etc.

Note: Your report may look very different than this example, depending on your report generator. What’s important is that all earnings are separated by pay category.

Employee Taxes

All Federal Taxes, Social Security, Medicare, State Taxes, and Local Taxes, must be separated by type for correct filing.

Note: Your report may look very different than this example, depending on your report generator. What’s important is that all earnings are separated by pay category.

Employer Taxes

All Federal Unemployment Taxes and State Unemployment Taxes, must be separated by type for correct filing.

Note: Your report may look very different than this example. Your state or local district may require taxes that do not appear in this example. You must provide all employer tax totals for each employee.

Section 125 Deductions

Typically, these include Medical, Dental, and Vision deductions. Section 125 deductions must be listed separately by type for correct filing.

Note: Your report may look very different than this example. You may offer benefits or deductions that do not appear in this example. Provide all employer contribution totals itemized per employee.

Other Pre-Tax Deductions

Any other pre-tax deductions that affect taxable wages. Typically, these include your 401K, Traditional IRA, and Commuter Benefit deductions. All pre-tax deductions must be separated by employee. for correct filing

Note: Your report may look very different than this example. You may offer benefits that do not appear here. You must provide all pre-tax employer contribution totals per employee.

How prior pay reports must be totaled

Now that you know how we need your reports categorized, let’s talk about how it should be totaled. To enter your prior payroll information accurately, we’ll need your report to be separated by check date, so follow these instructions carefully to ensure that there are no mistakes come tax time.

Current quarter report (October 1 – December 31, 2022): Separated by check date

You will need to report the following for the current quarter:

Employer tax contributions
Employee gross wages
Any pre or post-tax deductions
All pay information for the quarter separated bycheck date, byemployee, and bytype.
- By check date: Separate each paycheck issued during the quarter (Only include checks dated between October 1 – December 31)
- By employee: Each separated check date must also report separate employees paid
- By type: This pay for each employee must also be separated by pay type (Social security, Medicare, federal and state taxes, etc.)

This information must detail amounts paid for each employee, company taxes, and all net wages as shown below:

Note: Your report may look very different than this example, depending on your report generator. What’s important is that the information detailed here is present.

Q1 (Jan-Mar), Q2 (April-June), and Q3 (July-Sept) reports: Separated by quarter

For these quarters, you will need to provide three separate reports, one for Q1, another for Q2, and a third for Q3. Each separate report must include the following details:

Employer tax contributions
Employee gross wages
Any pre orpost-tax deductions
All pay information for the quarter

Since you’re switching to OnPay in the 4th Quarter (Oct 1 – Dec 31), we will also need your wages for prior quarters of this year. They must be separated by quarter, but here’s the good news: This time, we won’t need totals separated by each check date. We still need the same info as the current quarter, but reports for Q1 , Q2, and Q3 can be consolidated reports, with quarterly totals, as shown below.

How to send us your reports

Please make sure your reports are totalled separately by quarter, by category, and by employee (as directed) before uploading your reports.

When you're ready, upload your reports using the "Upload Reports" form.

Questions? Email us at hello@onpay.com!

Our Tax Accuracy Guarantee

Bottom line: We take the accuracy of our payroll tax calculations very seriously — and our accuracy guarantee ensures we’ll always have your back.

However, because we file on your behalf using information provided by you, it's important that you provide and input accurate information about your company, its employees, and the states and districts in which they live and your business operates, including all IDs and tax rates. Our Tax Accuracy Guarantee picks up where you leave off by covering all our calculations, and the filings and payments we base on them.

In rare circumstances, OnPay may need additional information from you, or may request you take action in order for us to file and pay your taxes. If such information is requested by us, but never provided by you, any affected tax filings and payments will not be covered by our Tax Accuracy Guarantee.

v6.23.Q4

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