Prior payroll information needed for OnPay

If you’re new to OnPay, and your company has already paid wages in 2025, we'll need you to provide your prior payroll information by way of payroll reports. The information you provide is used to calculate employee withholdings and deductions, and to process year-end forms and filings.

The accuracy of these calculations and filings depends on the prior payroll information provided by your reports. Read these instructions thoroughly. They detail everything you need to send us.

Your Q2 payroll report must be itemized by employee. Gross wages, taxes, and net amounts paid during this quarter must be itemized for each employee separately. These employee totals are needed for OnPay to accurately calculate tax contribution amounts for the remainder of the year.

• 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 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 specific totals that we must have, so follow this guide carefully when providing your prior pay info to OnPay.

SEPARATE PAY INFORMATION BY CHECK DATE - NOT PAY PERIOD

Payroll tax filings report pay information and taxes based on the check date, not the pay period. For example, if a two-week pay period covers Saturday, March 15th - Friday, March 28th of Q1, but the check date is the following Friday, April 4th, this pay must be included in your Q2 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. For examples, click Pay categories explained.

• Gross Wages

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

  

  Employee Taxes

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

  

  Employer Taxes

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

  

  Section 125 Deductions

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

  

  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

  

  Other Standard Post-Tax Deductions

  Any deductions that take place after taxes must be listed separately to ensure correct filing. Examples of post-tax deductions include Roth 401K, child support, garnishments, and advances.

  

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 (April 1 – Present):
Separated by check date

Each report must include:

• Employer tax contributions
• Employee gross wages
• Any pre or post-tax deductions

All pay information for the current quarter must be submitted with a separate report for each check dated between April 1 and June 30.

Columns and rows:

• By employee: Each separated check date must also report separate employees paid
• By pay type: Wages 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:

Your reports may look very different than these examples, depending on your report generator. What’s important is that the information detailed here is present.

Q1 (Jan-Mar) report:
Consolidated report for the quarter

Since you’re switching to OnPay in the 2nd Quarter (April 1 – June 30), you'll need to run a separate report for Q1, with the following details:

• Employer tax contributions
• Employee gross wages
• Any pre or post-tax deductions
• All pay information for the 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 your Q1 report can be consolidated, with quarterly totals, as shown below.

How to send us your reports

Reports must be totalled separately by quarter, by category, and by employee (as described above) before you Upload Reports→

Questions? Our US based support team is ready to help. To contact us, click the Submit a request button below, and log in using your OnPay credentials. 

Requests can also be submitted by clicking the link at the bottom of any help article, or by starting a chat from your OnPay dashboard. Submitting a request is the fastest and most secure way to get help with tax matters, technical advice, or any other support you may need from OnPay. 

Submit a request

Note: You will need your OnPay login credentials.

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.

Q2/2025

v7.25