How can I change auto payroll settings so that the pay date can always be the last of the month and the pay period is the preceding month?

Hey there, grizzo-e. 

Thanks for stopping by the Community today, I'm happy to show you the way to change your payroll schedule to reflect the desired dates. To do so, you'll want to follow the steps below:

1. Log in to QuickBooks Online. 
2. Click on Employees, under the Payroll tab, from there you can click the name of the first employee you want this change to affect. 
   
3. Click on the little pencil icon (Edit) next to Pay. 
   
4. The third choice will say How often do you pay your employee. Click the pencil icon next to the current date range. 
   

Now you can change the info to your desired pay period, when finished, it will prompt you asking if you want this change to reflect on all your employees, if you do, click yes and all your employees pay period will be changed to the newly created pay period. Below, I'm also including a helpful article talking about the process to change an employee paycheck. This will cover any additional information you may need. Also, if you want assistance with the process, you can reach out to our support team and they can guide you through the process click-by-click. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a wonderful afternoon. 

Instructions do not work. There is no where in QBO to enter paydate for employee via these instructions.

I appreciate you for joining the thread, @christinet1.

Know that I recognize the urgency of this matter and that we here in the Community space aim to provide an accurate resolution to help our customers resolve their issues when using QuickBooks products. As I read the response provided by the previous representative, all that I can say is that there are new updates or changes to the interface. It's possible this is why you didn't see the option you're trying to use. I'll gladly provide the updated steps to help you enter pay dates for your employees inside your QuickBooks Online (QBO) company:

1. Access your QuickBooks Online company.
2. On the left navigational bar, go to the Payroll tab.
3. Choose the employee you'd like to modify the pay date.
4. In the Employment details section, click Edit.
5. In the Pay schedule, click the Pencil icon. A reminder, know that the Next payday and End of next pay period depend on the pay frequency that you choose for that specific employee.
6. Choose your preferred Pay frequency. please be aware that if you want to have the option to customize, you'll want to select Every month as your Pay frequency and then click the Slider button for Custom schedule.
7. Complete the setup and then once done, click the Save button.

You can visit this article to learn more about the process: Set up and manage payroll schedules.

Moreover, here's an article to guide you on how to run payroll and ensure your data stays accurate inside QBO:

• Create and run your payroll.
• Run reports in QuickBooks Online.

@christinet1, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below if you need further assistance with this or have other QuickBooks-related concerns. The Community team is always ready to help you out again. Stay safe!