Overview:
Gusto is the payroll platform most US startups run their team on: salaries, contractor payments, benefits, and the federal and state taxes that come with employing people.
Payroll is usually the largest line in a startup's expenses and the one most often booked wrong. A single payroll run isn't one number, it's several: gross wages, the employer's share of payroll taxes, employee withholdings you're holding on behalf of the IRS, and benefits deductions. Recording the total that left your bank collapses all of that into one figure, which understates your true cost of employment and leaves tax liabilities invisible on your balance sheet.
Connecting Gusto to Inkle Books means your payroll reports come in already split, so wages, taxes, and benefits land in the accounts they belong to.
Features
Gross wages, employer taxes, withholdings, and benefits each book separately rather than collapsing into one lump sum on your books.
Amounts you are holding for the IRS and state agencies show as liabilities until remitted, which is where they belong.
.svg)
Employer-side taxes and benefits sit alongside wages, so headcount cost reflects what a hire actually costs your company each month.
Contractor payments run through Gusto come across categorised separately from W-2 payroll, which matters when your 1099 filings are due.
.svg)
Payroll is where DIY bookkeeping most often goes wrong, so Inkle's team handles the mapping and keeps the split right.
.svg)
Inkle receives payroll reports for bookkeeping and cannot run payroll, change compensation, or add or remove people from your team.
How do you connect
Gusto
to Inkle?
Open Data Sources
from the left navigation in Inkle Books.
Click Connect
in the top right to open the Connect Data Sources hub.
Find Gusto under Payroll.
It has its own category, separate from banks, revenue, and AP/AR.
Share access with the Inkle team,
so your payroll reports come through to your books.
Confirm the connection.
Once set up, payroll flows into your books each cycle without you exporting anything. During financial closing, payroll appears alongside your other accounts on the checklist so it's reviewed before the period locks.
What data does Inkle pull from
Gusto
?
- Pay period dates and run dates
- Gross wages by pay run
- Employer payroll taxes
- Employee tax withholdings
- Benefits and deductions
- Contractor payments
- Individual employee bank details
- Social Security numbers
- The ability to run or cancel payroll
- The ability to change anyone's compensation
- The ability to add or remove employees
FAQs
Because it isn't one number. A $50,000 payroll run might be $40,000 in gross wages, $3,000 in employer taxes, and $7,000 withheld from employees that you're holding for the IRS. That withholding is a liability, not an expense, until you remit it. Booking the bank total as a single wage expense overstates wages, hides your tax liability, and understates what your team actually costs.
Inkle receives payroll reports for bookkeeping, not employee records. We cannot run payroll, change compensation, or add or remove people from your team.
Gusto debits your operating account for each run. The payroll report records the components, the bank transaction records the cash leaving, and reconciliation ties them together. Reconcile your operating account first, since payroll, cards, and processors all feed into it.
Contractor payments through Gusto come across alongside W-2 payroll and are categorised separately, which matters at tax time when 1099 filings are due.
No. Once access is shared, payroll reports come through each cycle. The review happens at financial closing, alongside your other accounts.
