The run payroll page lets you review, edit and approve payroll. Access the dashboard by navigating to Payroll > Run Payroll in the left navigation menu.
Change or skip a payroll period
Set pay period and payday
Your start, end, and payday dates are available at a glance for the most recent payroll.
The start date and end date represent the work period that you are paying your employees or contractors for. The payday is the day your employees receive their direct deposit, or issue their checks.
Learn how to change or skip a payroll period.
Set the payroll frequency
The payroll frequency determines how often you’ll run your payroll. Payroll can be run from as often as once a week up to once a month.
Learn how to set your payroll frequency.
Payroll frequency and/or start dates can’t be changed by you once your first payroll is run. If you need to change the frequency after this, open Mave, Wave’s automated chatbot, and type payroll frequency help, then select I need help changing my payroll frequency. Mave will help collect any relevant details and direct you to the appropriate support. Learn how to open Mave in Get support with Wave.
Review and approve payroll
When you’re ready to run payroll for a period, click Review payroll notices to see all the costs for the period, as well as any notices.
Navigating away to make any changes does not remove hours or other data entered for this period. When you return to the run payroll page, you can proceed with your payroll review.
Once you have confirmed the amounts are correct and addressed the notices, click Approve this payroll.
When direct deposit is involved:
If you pay your employees via direct deposit, you must approve each payroll run three business days prior to the intended payday.
For example, if the payday is Friday, March 8, you must approve the payroll by no later than 3 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, March 5.
Make sure to set your payroll schedule so that the timeframe for approving a payroll comes after the pay period is done, so you can approve the payroll run with all employee hours, bonuses, and deductions accurately accounted for.
Approved payrolls
After you run your first payroll, you can view all your approved payrolls by clicking Approved Payrolls. You can also view and download individual employee pay stubs from this page.
Change or skip a payroll period
If you have no payroll to run for a pay period, you can skip it. Once you approve a pay period that falls after a skipped period, you will not be able to go back. To skip a pay period:
- Go to Payroll > Run Payroll.
- Click Edit under the END date on the payroll scheduler.
- From the calendar, select the end date for the period you want to move or skip to.
You need to select an end date that aligns with your current payroll frequency (For example, if you process your payroll biweekly Monday through Sunday, you will need to select an end date that is a Sunday).
- When the end date has been selected, the pay period will adjust.
If you get an error that the payroll cannot be calculated one of two issues has occurred:
- Review your payroll frequency and pay period dates, and ensure that you select an end date that aligns with it. For example, if your payroll frequency is biweekly, you cannot skip a single week. You can only skip a full two week period. For a single week without wages, run payroll as normal and only enter employee hours in the week the employee worked.
- Ensure you’re not trying to select a date for a period that has already been approved.