Does the journal entry match my Gusto payroll?

The entry is checked against the report's Payroll Totals and Check Amount: the employee rows are compared with the Payroll Totals row, and the lines with the Check Amount total, which is always the bank line. If those differ, a warning names the difference and the gap goes to the clearing account. Deductions and benefits are worked out, not read, so check them the first time.

Where do the payroll taxes go?

Employer taxes are an expense and a liability; employee taxes withheld are a liability. Both stay in the payroll taxes payable account until Gusto pays them from your bank. When that withdrawal shows in your bank feed, match it against the payroll taxes payable account, not an expense.

How are 401(k) and health deductions handled?

They are worked out from the report totals (Gross Earnings minus Employee Taxes minus Net Pay) and booked to the deductions payable account, with a note giving the amount. Employer contributions are worked out the same way from Employer Cost. Check them against your Gusto report the first time.

Is my payroll file uploaded?

No. The file is read and converted in your browser and never leaves your device. The journal entry and the spreadsheet carry payroll totals only, without employee names or addresses; the pay schedule name is kept in the descriptions.

Do you support ADP, Paychex or Paylocity?

Not yet. We only build a payroll source after we have a documented layout or a real report to check it against. Gusto's Payroll Journal Report is the first.

Gusto payroll journal to journal entry converter

Gusto's Payroll Journal Report CSV starts with the report title and your company name and address, then has one block per pay schedule: the pay period, the pay day, a header, one row per employee, and a Payroll Totals row.

Convert a Gusto payroll journal report

Gusto payroll journal to QuickBooks journal entry

Choose file

Payroll journal report .csv from Gusto Reports

Your file stays on this device

It is read and converted by this page, inside your browser. Nothing from the file is uploaded, and the converter keeps working offline once the page has loaded.

What is in a Gusto Payroll Journal Report?

Each employee row has the earnings (hours, rate, amount), Gross Earnings, Employee Taxes with one column per tax (federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state tax), Employer Taxes with one column per tax (Social Security, Medicare, FUTA, state unemployment), Net Pay, Reimbursements, Donations, Check Amount and Employer Cost. The last row of each block is Payroll Totals.

The converter adds the employee rows and compares every money column with the Payroll Totals row, and compares the tax columns with Employee Taxes and Employer Taxes. Each payroll becomes one journal entry dated on its pay day: gross wages and employer taxes as expenses, employee taxes withheld and employer taxes owed as liabilities, and the Check Amount total (the net pay that left your bank) on the bank line. If the lines do not add up to the Check Amount total, a warning names the difference and the gap goes to the clearing account.

Deductions and benefits: the names of Gusto's deduction and benefit columns are not documented, so they are not read one by one. Employee deductions (401(k), health insurance and so on) are worked out as Gross Earnings minus Employee Taxes minus Net Pay, and employer contributions as Employer Cost minus Gross Earnings minus Employer Taxes. A note gives both amounts whenever they are used. If either comes out below zero, or Net Pay has the opposite sign to gross pay, it cannot be a deduction or a benefit: you get a WARNING and the amount goes to the clearing account.

What is not handled: tax and benefit payments are not in this report, so the liabilities stay open until you record each payment from your bank. Donations are named in a note, not booked. The Payroll journal layout with one line per job and pay type is refused. We have not seen a real file with deductions, reimbursements or several pay schedules, so those parts are built from the report's totals and checked, not from a file. Payroll reports from ADP, Paychex, Paylocity, OnPay, Patriot, Square Payroll and QuickBooks Payroll are not supported yet.

Payroll files hold names, pay and addresses. The whole conversion runs in your browser, the file is never uploaded, and the journal entry carries totals only: no employee name or address is copied into it. The pay schedule name (for example Weekly Payroll) is kept in the descriptions, so rename a schedule in Gusto if it holds a person's name.

Choose where it is going

How to export from Gusto

In Gusto open Reports and choose the Payroll journal report.
Pick the payrolls or dates you want, keep the layout with one row per employee, and download it as CSV.
Upload that file here as downloaded, without opening and re-saving it in a spreadsheet. It never leaves your browser.

What to know about Gusto payroll journal files

A few lines with the report title and your company name and address come first, then an "Employee Earnings" block per pay schedule: a payroll period line, a Pay day line, the column header, one row per employee and a "Payroll Totals" row.
Each payroll becomes one journal entry dated on its pay day: gross wages and employer taxes as expenses, employee taxes withheld and employer taxes owed as liabilities, and the Check Amount total (net pay) out of the bank.
The employee rows are added up and compared with the Payroll Totals row, and the lines are compared with the Check Amount total. A mismatch against those totals gives a WARNING with the difference, and the gap goes to the clearing account. Deductions and benefits are worked out, not read, so check them the first time.
Deduction and benefit columns are not read by name (their names in the CSV are not documented): employee deductions are worked out as Gross Earnings minus Employee Taxes minus Net Pay, employer contributions as Employer Cost minus Gross Earnings minus Employer Taxes, and a note says so.
Tax and benefit payments are not in this report, so they stay as liabilities until you record each payment from your bank.
The Payroll journal layout with one line per job and pay type (Job, Pay Type columns, no Gross Earnings) is refused by name. Bank files (.qbo, .qfx, .ofx, bank CSVs) are not offered: a payroll report is not a bank statement.

Questions

Does the journal entry match my Gusto payroll?: The entry is checked against the report's Payroll Totals and Check Amount: the employee rows are compared with the Payroll Totals row, and the lines with the Check Amount total, which is always the bank line. If those differ, a warning names the difference and the gap goes to the clearing account. Deductions and benefits are worked out, not read, so check them the first time.
Where do the payroll taxes go?: Employer taxes are an expense and a liability; employee taxes withheld are a liability. Both stay in the payroll taxes payable account until Gusto pays them from your bank. When that withdrawal shows in your bank feed, match it against the payroll taxes payable account, not an expense.
How are 401(k) and health deductions handled?: They are worked out from the report totals (Gross Earnings minus Employee Taxes minus Net Pay) and booked to the deductions payable account, with a note giving the amount. Employer contributions are worked out the same way from Employer Cost. Check them against your Gusto report the first time.
Is my payroll file uploaded?: No. The file is read and converted in your browser and never leaves your device. The journal entry and the spreadsheet carry payroll totals only, without employee names or addresses; the pay schedule name is kept in the descriptions.
Do you support ADP, Paychex or Paylocity?: Not yet. We only build a payroll source after we have a documented layout or a real report to check it against. Gusto's Payroll Journal Report is the first.