QuickBooksHelpIntuit

Set up and manage pay schedules in QuickBooks Online Payroll

by Intuit•19• Updated 2 days ago

Learn how to create and manage pay schedules, and effectively group your employees based on their unique payment timing. Whether you're refining existing schedules or setting up multiple ones, we'll guide you through the process.

This article is for customers who use QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium, or QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite.

💡 Important: Payroll billing is changing from 15 June 2026. Check that your employee statuses are up to date before your next bill. Find out what to do

Types of pay schedules you can assign your employees to:

Weekly: Pay your employees every week on a specific, recurring day of the week. Many businesses schedule paydays every Friday, which makes 52 pay outs a year.
Monthly: Pay your employees once a month on a specific, recurring date. This makes 12 pay outs a year.

Key considerations for pay schedule management

When it comes to setting up and assigning pay schedules, keeping a few things in mind will help ensure things go smoothly:

Payment lock: Once an employee has been paid, their pay schedule cannot be created or changed.
Payroll usage: Once a pay schedule is used in a payroll run, it can't be deleted.
New schedules: Newly created pay schedules can be assigned to both existing and new employees.
Individual updates: To change the pay schedule for multiple employees, you must update each employee's settings separately.
Default application: Selecting the Use this pay schedule for employees you add after this one checkbox will automatically apply the chosen schedule to all new employees.
Individual pay period changes: Each employee's pay period can be altered within their individual employee record.

Add a new pay schedule

Go to All apps , select Payroll, then select Employees (Take me there).
Select your employee.
From the Employment details section, select Start or Edit.
From the Pay schedule ▼ dropdown, select + Add pay schedule.
Select a Pay frequency, Next payday, and End of next pay period.
Enter a Pay schedule name.
Note: Uncheck the checkbox Use this pay schedule for employees you add after this one, if you don't wish to use this pay schedule for employees you add after this one.
Select Save.

Assign employee a pay schedule

Go to All apps , select Payroll, then select Employees (Take me there).
Select your employee.
In the Employment details section, select Start or Edit.
From the Pay schedule ▼ dropdown, select an existing pay schedule.
Select Save.