1. Export the file 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.
Why a raw Gusto payroll journal export fails in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice
Opened in Excel, the report starts with your company name and address, repeats its header for each pay schedule, and mixes per-tax columns with their totals and a rate column that does not add up, so summing columns gives wrong answers.
Excel and Google Sheets open a CSV directly only when it is a plain table. This report has a preamble, a header repeated for each pay schedule and a totals row, so it is rebuilt as one table of journal lines.
What is unusual about the Gusto payroll journal file
- 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.
What Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice requires
- One row per journal line: Date, Value date, Amount, Currency, Debit/Credit, Counterparty, Counterparty account, Description, Reference, Balance (Value date, Counterparty and Balance stay empty for payroll).
- The lines of each payroll add up to zero; the Reference column names the payroll (pay day and schedule).
- Comma style: commas between columns and 1234.56 amounts. Semicolon style: semicolons and 1234,56 amounts.
- Text that starts with = + - or @ gets an apostrophe in front so a spreadsheet does not run it as a formula.
2. Before and after
Before: the Gusto Payroll Journal Report CSV as downloaded
"Payroll Journal Report" "Sample Bakery LLC" "100 Example Ave" "Durham","NC","27701" "Employee Earnings" "Weekly Payroll payroll period"," 03/02/2026 - 03/08/2026" "Pay day"," 03/13/2026"
After: what Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice receives
| Date | Value date | Amount | Currency | Debit/Credit | Counterparty | Counterparty account | Description | Reference | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-13 | -1300.00 | USD | Debit | Gusto payroll pay day 2026-03-13 (Weekly Payroll): Gross wages (Gross Earnings) | 2026-03-13 Weekly Payroll:1 | ||||
| 2026-03-13 | -115.25 | USD | Debit | Gusto payroll pay day 2026-03-13 (Weekly Payroll): Employer payroll taxes (expense) | 2026-03-13 Weekly Payroll:2 | ||||
| 2026-03-13 | 251.95 | USD | Credit | Gusto payroll pay day 2026-03-13 (Weekly Payroll): Employee taxes withheld (owed to tax agencies) | 2026-03-13 Weekly Payroll:3 | ||||
| 2026-03-13 | 115.25 | USD | Credit | Gusto payroll pay day 2026-03-13 (Weekly Payroll): Employer payroll taxes owed | 2026-03-13 Weekly Payroll:4 | ||||
| 2026-03-13 | 1048.05 | USD | Credit | Gusto payroll pay day 2026-03-13 (Weekly Payroll): net pay paid (Check Amount total) | 2026-03-13 Weekly Payroll:check-amount | ||||
| 2026-03-13 | -2000.00 | USD | Debit | Gusto payroll pay day 2026-03-13 (Biweekly Payroll): Gross wages (Gross Earnings) | 2026-03-13 Biweekly Payroll:1 |
Synthetic sample data that follows the real export layout, not a real account. The "after" output was produced from it by the same converter this page runs.
3. Import the converted file into Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice
- Open the downloaded file in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice.
- If every value lands in one column, use the semicolon style (for European Excel) or import it with Data > From Text/CSV.
Questions
- Why are some amounts negative?
- Each row is one line of the payroll journal entry. Debits (wages, employer taxes, reimbursements) are negative and credits (taxes withheld, taxes owed, deductions, the net pay that left your bank) are positive, so the rows of each payroll add up to zero.
- 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.