Once you have completed your application and are ready to use direct deposit as your payment method, follow these steps to see how to use direct deposit for your payrolls.
Turn on Direct Deposit in Payment Settings
After you have signed up for direct deposit, your application has been approved turn on direct deposit to begin using it in payroll by selecting Direct Deposit as your payment method in your direct deposit settings.
Go to Settings > Payment Settings > Direct Deposit Settings
Ensure All Employees Have Banking Information
You will need to make sure that your employees’ direct deposit information has been entered on their records. For more information, see Adding Employee Direct Deposit Info. The software will notify you with a banner of names of employees who do not have banking information entered.
The Direct Deposit Setting on Payroll
The Direct Deposit setting for each payroll is conveniently located on payroll step one. This will be enabled by default when you select direct deposit as you payment settings in your software.
To turn direct deposit off for one payroll
Click the Disable radio button on step one of payroll to turn off direct deposit for that payroll. Direct deposit will automatically turn back on the next payroll. To keep direct deposit off adjust the payment method in your Direct Deposit Settings to paper checks.
Find the Direct Deposit Collection Date and Amount Before Payroll Is Approved
When you are on Step 2 of the payroll process, you will see a message that the direct deposit amount will be collected from your bank account.
Deadlines for Direct Deposit
Your deadline for processing a payroll with direct deposit will be 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, although we recommend not waiting until the last minute, in the event of an unexpected technical delay.
New direct deposit customers start with 4- day ACH timing. You must allow 4 banking days for Patriot to initiate the collection, confirm the collection, and pay employees. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the 4-day ACH process:
Day 1: Run payroll before 8:00 PM ET with the pay date set at least four banking days out.
Day 2: Patriot withdraws funds from your business bank account (three banking days before the pay date).
Day 3: Funds are in transit via ACH.
Day 4 (Pay Date): Employees are paid via ACH.
If you do not have enough time to process through direct deposit you will be shown a model that warns you and gives you your options:
Change the pay date
Write/print paper checks.
Please read our help article, Direct Deposit Timing Options for an explanation of direct deposit timing.
Use our direct deposit planner tool to help determine your cut off times.
Common Issues and Troubleshooting
Unavailable Pay Dates
If a specific pay date does not appear as an option in Patriot, it means the date is not available in the system because it is on a non-banking day or the pay date will not allow Patriot enough time to collect funds for direct deposit or payroll taxes. Select from the available dates shown during payroll processing.
Error Messages for Insufficient Time
If you see a message like “Your pay date doesn’t allow enough time,” it indicates that the payroll was not finalized within the required lead time.
Avoiding Double Payments
If direct deposit is not set up, you can pay employees using alternative methods like wire transfers or paper checks. This will not result in duplicate payments, as the system assumes a paper check when direct deposit is incomplete.