payroll switch from Direct Deposit to Check without me changing anything

Thank you for your proactive approach in reporting this issue, PaulD1. I understand the importance of maintaining secure and reliable payments for your employees through your preferred payment method.

To address this issue, you can review your employees' detailed information to identify those assigned to the Paper Check payment method. Please ensure all employees are correctly assigned to the Direct Deposit (DD) method.

If you've verified that all employees are assigned to the DD method but the issue persists, I recommend contacting our live experts for further assistance. They have the tools and expertise to review the issue closely and provide a real-time resolution.

To check the best time to contact us, please refer to our support hours:

• QuickBooks Online Payroll Core:
  • Monday to Friday: 6 AM to 6 PM PT.
     
• QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium and Elite:
  • Monday to Friday: 5 AM to 7 PM PT.
  • Saturday and Sunday: 6 AM to 3 PM PT.

Please don't hesitate to reply here if you have additional questions or need further assistance.

Hi @PaulD1.

Just checking in to see if the solution we shared worked for you.

Did it fix the issue, or are you still having trouble?

Happy to help if you need any more assistance!

Yes, just happened today. Every employee on payroll got switched from DD to check. QB said their system switched it automatically as a "precaution due to an unusually large number of transactions" . When I asked what transaction they listed the names of employees receiving payroll which is pretty much the same number of transactions as it has been every Friday for the past year or more.

Extremely frustrating

Happened to my clients payroll 11-28-25 and converted all 10 employees to manual checks. Put my client in a bind for sure. Indeed frustrating.and concerning. 

Is this a bug in the system??

Hello there, Mike.

I noticed a similar question regarding the unprompted reversion from Direct Deposit to Manual Check in QuickBooks Online (QBO) Payroll. Fortunately, this issue has been raised by another member of the Community, and a fix has been shared.

I would like to share the link to their response so you can follow the recommended steps: Has anyone had their employees changed to manual checks?

Additionally, I'll share this article in case you'll want to run payroll for your employees in QBO Payroll: Run report.

Feel free to reply below if you need further assistance.

This just happened to me yesterday with no warning at all. Now my employees didn't get paid and because I have Core instead of Essentials or Premium, I can't get help until Monday. How do I fix this and get them paid?

Thanks for reaching out, @Flozon1. I understand you're facing an urgent and unexpected payroll issue that has directly impacted your employees. Rest assured, I'm here to assist and provide helpful information.

Here are a few potential reasons for the issue:

• Review your employees' payment methods to confirm they are correctly assigned to Direct Deposit (DD) instead of Paper Check.
• Check for delays or issues with the financial institution, such as direct deposit processing delays.
• Verify the last four digits of the bank account on file and confirm there are no bank holds or NSF (non-sufficient funds) issues.

For more detailed guidance, you can visit this article: Handle a direct deposit paycheck that was not received by an employee.

You are correct that live support for Core is available Monday to Friday, from 6 AM to 6 PM PT. In the meantime, you can pay your employees manually and record the transaction in QuickBooks Online (QBO) as a paper check.

If the issue persists, I recommend contacting our live support team at the earliest opportunity to verify if there is an ongoing issue or request an investigation. They have the tools and expertise to thoroughly review the problem and provide a timely resolution.

We’re committed to ensuring your business runs smoothly, and I appreciate your patience as we work through this. If you have additional questions or concerns, feel free to reply here. I’m happy to assist!

Hi.  I just experienced this with my Dec 29 payroll.  Were you able to rerun the payroll or did you issue paper checks?

Just happened to our company over New Years. 8 random people got bumped to checks and 3 stayed on DD. This is not acceptable.

Hi there, @Jesse79.

I understand how concerning this payroll issue must be, especially around the New Year. Ensuring your team is paid accurately and on time is essential, and I’m here to help you resolve any issues.
 

To start, I recommend checking the payment method settings for the affected employees.
 

Here’s how to do that:
 

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online account and go to Payroll and click Employees.

2. Select each employee’s name and review their payment method under “How do you want to pay this employee?” Make sure it’s set to Direct Deposit. If not, you can update it and save the changes.

3. Ensure that it’s set to Direct Deposit. If not, you can update it and save the changes.
 

Also, check the Audit Log (under Settings) to see if any payroll settings or employee records were changed around the time of the incident.
 

If issues persist after reviewing these settings, I recommend contacting live QuickBooks Payroll Support during their available hours, as they have the tools to further investigate your issue.
 

Let me know if you have additional questions or need further clarification.

I'm adding my company to this list. This happened to us with the payroll that we ran for payment today, Jan 31. Unacceptable situation.