Gusto - Login and Setup Steps

Complete these before scheduling your Onboarding Accounting and Payroll Zoom Call

Updated over a week ago

Contents

Overview

Important Note: Please ignore any emails or prompts from Gusto to register your company for state payroll taxes. Collective's Employer Registration Department handles this for you as part of your subscription. You can read more about it by clicking here.

Before you schedule your Onboarding Accounting and Payroll Zoom Call with your Onboarding Accountant, please follow the steps below. If you run into trouble with these steps, go ahead and mark the checkbox as complete on your call scheduling dashboard module on your dashboard at app.collective.com. Your Onboarding Accountant will help you resolve the issues during the zoom call.

You must set up TWO profiles in Gusto. Please complete ALL the steps. Ignore any Gusto dashboard prompts that don't reference these instructions.

Action 1 - Employer Profile Setup

This is the business/company/admin profile for your S Corp.

  1. Check your email for a subject that contains "Gusto" and/or "has invited you to"

  2. Click accept and follow the prompts to build your login profile.

  3. Click to continue with the setup steps.

  4. Add your LLC's checking account in step 6. This checking account needs to be opened with your LLC's EIN. Gusto uses Plaid to add and verify bank accounts. If Plaid is not working, look for the manual setup link on the far right screen.

  5. Sign documents in step 8. The first few pages are building the electronic signature, the last few are applying that signature to the forms. Put "Owner" when it asks for your title.

  6. Verify your bank account in step 9. Most members verify using Plaid as part of step 6.

  7. Now that your Employer Profile is mostly set up, please continue to set up your Employee Profile in the section below.

Action 2 - Employee Profile Setup

You will set yourself up as an employee of the company and enter all personal information here

  1. While logged into your Employer Profile, click the drop-down on the top right of your screen where it says, Admin. Click the option to switch to the employee profile. You will now enter the flow to set up the employee profile. Click here to read more about switching between profiles.

  2. Tax Withholdings (W4 section)

    1. *Please DO NOT use the IRS tax calculator on this page.*

    2. Instead, we recommend you follow steps c-f below, which are covered in more detail in this article. Note, however, that it is it is ultimately your choice in how you want to approach withholdings settings.

    3. When you get to the Federal tax setup section please enter "single" in the top drop-down, leave the second drop down as 'select', and leave all the amounts at $0. Yes, you read that correctly - enter “single” and "0" even if you are married or file differently on your personal income tax return*.

    4. Entering “single” and “0” tells Gusto to withhold the maximum amount for federal and state income tax. Withholding the maximum is beneficial to you because your exact tax liability for the year is not known until your individual tax return is prepared.

    5. If it turns out that you withheld too much, you will get a refund after your individual income tax return is filed.

    6. Choosing your withholdings is separate from electing your filing status. When it comes time to file your individual tax return, rest assured it will reflect your correct filing status.

  3. Bank account

    1. Make sure to enter your personal checking account as this is your employee profile.

  4. Now that your Employee profile is set up, please go back to your Admin Profile for final setup steps. On your Gusto dashboard, you will see a section titled “Things To Do,” look for these items and Click "let's do it"

    1. Complete "Payroll is blocked: Please review and approve [name]” box.

      1. This should be at the top of the Things to Do list

      2. Scroll to the bottom of each page, and click to continue to the next page.

      3. On the second page, you will see it adds a radio button for "Yes, Submit New Hire Report". Please leave that as "Yes".

    2. Complete "Approve [name] I-9" Box

      1. When you go back to the home page you will see a new task pop up at the bottom of the Things to Do list

      2. You won't be uploading any images, only typing in document numbers as you are the employee and employer.

      3. Issuing Authority - Gusto will except many different variations of the following:

        1. For Passport

          1. United States/Passport authority

        2. For Driver License

          1. State issuing license

        3. For Social Security Number

          1. United States/USA/Social Security Department

          2. NO expiration date needed for SSN

      4. On the last page, you will enter your name for the signature, Owner as your title, click the check box to authorize, and then click the button sign.

Action 3 - Schedule your zoom call

Now your Gusto set up is complete :) Go back to the Training Call Prep module on your dashboard at app.collective.com and mark the checkbox as complete.

Again, if you have questions - complete it the best you can, mark the checkbox complete, and schedule your call. Your Onboarding Accountant will answer all questions on the zoom call.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this document is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial or tax advice. It is not intended to be a substitute for obtaining accounting or other financial advice from an appropriate financial adviser or for the purpose of avoiding U.S. Federal, state or local tax payments and penalties.

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