Learn the basics of setting up your OnPay account with our step-by-step instructions and video to help you along the way.
How To Set Up Payroll With OnPay: A Guide for Small Businesses
Charlette has over 10 years of experience in accounting and finance and 2 years of partnering with HR leaders on freelance projects. She uses this extensive experience to answer your questions about payroll.
Heather is a staff writer and payroll specialist with several years of experience working directly with small business owners. Her expertise allows her to deliver the best answers to your questions about payroll.
This article is part of a larger series on Payroll Services.
OnPay is a full-service payroll solution that lets you manage payroll, including tax filings for wage-earning employees and contractors. At $40 monthly plus $6 per employee, per month, it also comes with basic HR functions such as paid time off (PTO) and benefits management. Its clear interface with large, colorful tabs makes it an easy-to-use solution for processing payroll.
In this article, we go over the basic steps of how to set up your payroll account with OnPay. It offers a free trial for 30 days with no credit card required.
If you want to set up your payroll account with more than just screenshots as support, follow along with our video on how to set up payroll with OnPay.
Please note: Depending on where you are in the process and how you initially access OnPay’s software, some of the screenshots we provide to help guide you may differ from what you actually see. Overall, the process should be the same and will ask for the same information.
Step 1: Create Your Account
Getting started is easy. Sign up for an account. There’s only one plan, and the first month is free. OnPay provides an onboarding checklist so you can gather all the information you need before starting and complete your account registration quickly.
You can start with a free month.
Step 2: Add Company Information
Once you’ve applied and verified your email, you’ll be sent a link to Pending Enrollments. Click the launch button beside your company name. Then, it will lead you through the information you need to add:
- Employer Identification Number (EIN)
- Type of business
- First check date (the trial begins as of the first check date)
- Name, Social Security number (SSN), and address of the owner or officer who can sign legal documents for the company
- Work locations (address of work site)
- Form 8655 to allow OnPay to report and file payroll taxes on your behalf
- Pay schedule
- Bank account and routing numbers; OnPay will verify the account with token credit and debit transactions you’ll need to verify
Add Owner or Officer Information
You’ll need to enter basic information about the owner or at least one officer who represents the company. OnPay requires you to provide an email address, Social Security number, and address. If you want to add more than one person, you can select the plus sign on the page to create another record. When you’re done adding owners and/or officers, select “Continue.”
Reporting Agent Authorization
Now, you’re ready to review Form 8655, which essentially gives OnPay authorization to file and pay your payroll taxes. The system automatically fills the form with your company’s information, so all you have to do is select your title and click “Sign.” You also have the option to skip this section and save it for later.
Step 3: Enter Bank Account Information
OnPay needs your bank routing number and account number. When you enter your routing number, your bank name should populate. If it doesn’t, double-check that you entered it correctly. Click “Save and Continue” when you’re done, and you’ll see a message that states OnPay is provisioning your account. Once done, select “Continue.”
Step 4: Create a Pay Schedule
You can name each schedule, which comes in handy if you’re paying different groups of employees on contrasting pay cycles. There are four pay schedules to choose from—weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly. A specific number of pay period selections will populate, depending on which option you select. For bimonthly pay schedules, you’ll see two periods that need detail. You’ll enter the starting and ending dates of the period along with the pay date. Select “Create” when you’re done and then, “Continue.”
Step 5: Create Worksites
Although you’ve already entered the company address, OnPay wants detail on the physical location of your worksite. This may be the same address, but you can reenter it. You’ll need to name the worksite, i.e., Main Office or Dallas Office. Select “Create” when you’re done. You’ll have the option to select “Add Another” or you can click “Continue” if you’re done.
Step 6: Verify Bank Account Information
OnPay uses a company called Plaid to verify your account. You’ll need to enter your bank name again (it doesn’t pull from the previous entry), and the bank’s online banking login page will populate. Once you enter your credentials (username and password) and select the account you’re planning to use for payroll, Plaid will be able to verify it.
You can also opt to verify your account manually—if, for instance, you don’t use online banking. It may take a few days to complete.
When you’re done on this page, you’ll be taken to OnPay’s dashboard where you’ll be able to enter employee information.
Step 7: Add Employees
OnPay allows you to add both employees and contractors to your account for payroll. To add an employee yourself, go to “Workers” and select “Employees.” Then, you’ll click “Hire Workers” and select “Add an employee.” You can also add a contractor on this page, if needed.
It will lead you through the steps of providing basic information, withholding details, banking data, and personal information. You’ll need the same information as you provided OnPay if you had it to load employees.
Click “Continue” when you’re done.
If you’d prefer to have the OnPay representative enter your employees for you, they absolutely can. You would simply need to provide them with this same information and they can add all of your employees to your OnPay account for you. You can also invite employees to load this information themselves by clicking “Invite Employee” after you’ve entered the basic information of name and job details.
Step 8: Complete Federal & State Tax Details
You need a federal employer identification number (FEIN) and a state tax ID (STI) for each state you file in. Enter these through the Settings tab in the left sidebar.
You can add your FEIN and STI on a single page.
State tax laws vary. OnPay’s help section has a state map with links for registering with state agencies and getting the information it needs to file on your behalf.
The help section can lead you to information about state tax regulations.
Click “Continue” when you’re done entering tax information.
Step 9: Apply for Direct Deposit
You can apply for direct deposit when you put in your account information. Simply reply to the ACH verification email you receive during your enrollment. After that, the OnPay ACH team will run a risk assessment on the company to check the likelihood that you will have the liquid capital to cover the direct deposit withdrawals.
Once approved for direct deposit, select employees who choose the option.
To enable employees to use direct deposit, go to “Workers” in the left sidebar. Select the employee profile and click on “Accounts.” They will, of course, have to have their accounts already registered in the system. From there, you can enable direct deposit. You can split checks between multiple accounts by percentage, dollar amount, or a mix of the two. Select “Continue” when you’re ready to move to the next step.
Step 10: Add Personnel Items
You can store documents on OnPay such as employee onboarding documents. If you are manually onboarding employees, you will click “Workers,” select the employee, and then go to the Personal Items Page. Select “Checklist.” These folders will include checklists, W-4, I-9, handbook sign-off, and other acknowledgments. Upload these documents from your computer. Click “Add Task” if you need to send a request to the employee to sign the forms electronically.
Alternatively, you can create documents in the HR section of the program. This includes smart documents that can have signatures and acknowledgments.
OnPay makes it easy for business owners to stay on top of important documents such as payroll forms. If you need more information on specific forms, check out our guide.
Step 11: Add Workers’ Compensation Insurance
The workers’ comp section under the “Company” tab in the left sidebar lets you add or modify workers’ comp codes for any state where you have employees. You can also give these a name for easier identification. To add a code, click the “Add” button and fill in the state, the name you choose to define the compensation, the class code, and rate. Then, go to the individual employee’s “Pay” section under “Workers” and add the state and class from the drop-down list.
Congratulations! You’ve finished setting up your OnPay payroll account. The next step is understanding how to run your payroll, which we detail step by step in our How to Run Payroll with OnPay article, that includes a video that walks you through the whole process.
Bottom Line
Using a payroll software to help you run your payroll can be a great tool for small business owners. Setting up payroll in OnPay is simple and straightforward, and gets you ready to process payroll more easily. Also, these steps can be a great training tool to help your team understand how to navigate the OnPay system.
Consider signing up with OnPay for automated payroll processing and benefits in all 50 states. Sign up for a free trial today.
