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Reusable templatePayroll

Payroll Processing Checklist

Every step of a clean payroll run — collecting time, approvals, adjustments, review, submission, and the after-run tasks — timed around your pay date so nobody's paycheck is late or wrong.

Open this checklist in Recurbit → Jump to the checklist

Free to start · No credit card · Add, remove, or edit any step to make it yours

A printable checklist is good once.A printed payroll checklist covers one run — then you do it all again next pay period.
This one comes back every pay period.Set the pay date in Recurbit, make it recur on your schedule, and the whole run rebuilds itself every period.

Payroll is unforgiving: it runs on a fixed date, every period, and mistakes land in people's paychecks. The steps are identical run to run — collect time, verify it, process, review, submit — but doing them from memory is how a missed adjustment or an unapproved timesheet slips through.

This is the standard sequence, grouped by when each task happens relative to pay date. Adjust it to your pay schedule, your payroll provider, and your approval chain.

Approvals are the bottleneck. Chase timesheet and PTO approvals early — a single unapproved manager can hold up the whole run. Build in a day of buffer before you process.
↓ The checklist
These steps are a starting point, not a rulebook. Add, remove, reorder, or re-time anything below so it matches how you actually work — that's what the template is for.
−4–5d

Collect & verify

~4–5 days before pay date
−2–3d

Adjustments

~2–3 days before pay date
−1–2d

Review & submit

~1–2 days before pay date
After

On and after pay date

Pay date and the days after

Make it repeatable

Add this payroll checklist to Recurbit. Set the pay date and every task back-dates itself — approvals, adjustments, review, submit — then set it to repeat on your pay schedule.

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Running payroll every pay period?

Recurbit turns payroll into a reusable, repeating template. Set the pay date and every task back-dates itself — 'chase approvals 4 days before,' 'submit by cutoff.' Set it to recur on your pay schedule and it rebuilds itself every period.

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A general process guide, not payroll, tax, or legal advice. Tax filing and payment deadlines and wage-and-hour rules vary — follow your provider's and advisor's guidance.