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Employee: What to do when an employee leaves or is terminated

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Payroll Admin
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When an employee is terminated or leaves your company for any reason:

Pay the employee without waiting until the next pay period.
 
Remove the employee from the list of people you pay:
*If you export data to accounting software (such as QuickBooks, Quicken, or Microsoft Money), export this final check before you complete the steps below.

Hide the employee from the list of people you pay and stop their payday reminders

  1. Click the "Employees" tab
  2. Select the employee in the "Employees and Contractors Overview"
  3. In the Employment details section, select "Edit" at the top of the employee's page.
  4. Select Terminated from the Status drop-down. A Termination date box appears.
  5. Optionally, enter the Termination date — the employee's last work day.
  6. Click OK.

Verify status

  1. Go to the Employees tab
  2. Click the drop-down arrow above your employee list to change your view to "Show:All Employees:".

Check the Status column to see the employee's current status (Active, Terminated, Unpaid leave of absence, etc.). The payroll data for inactive employees stays in our system so that year-end taxes and reports are correct.

Complete any forms required for your state
Some states require a form to apply for unemployment insurance or a form to notify the state.

See if your state requires additional forms when an employee leaves your company

  1. Go to Taxes & Forms > Forms and then Employee Setup.
  2. Review the list of forms to see if you are required to file any for a terminated employee.

If you will no longer have any employees, look for a box on the next quarterly tax filings to indicate that you will not need to file in the future. (For example, the federal 941 has a box near the top with a space to enter the date of final wages paid.)

In some states, you need to continue filing "zero" returns for some period of time. Some states have a separate termination form. Check our Payroll resources for your state — we've added all the state termination forms we could find. See also Cancel My Service.

In January, we provide the terminated employee a Form W-2.
We will provide terminated employees a Form W-2 wage and tax statement by January 31. See Form W-2: Printing for employees.

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