Before You Begin
Run your payroll in your payroll processor (e.g., ADP, Paylocity, manual register) and export your payroll detail reports. You'll need:
Pay period dates
Total gross pay, net pay, and payroll taxes across all employees
Total independent contractor payments
Employer tax and benefit amounts
Then, identify the cash withdrawals for payroll in Puzzle's Transactions tab. Set the date range ~5 days earlier than the posting date (to catch weekends and bank timing) and search for your payroll provider name.
Step-by-Step: Enter Payroll Manually
1. Go to Payroll
In Puzzle, open the Payroll tab and click + Add Payroll in the top right.
2. Fill in the Header Fields
At the top of the form, enter:
Field | What to enter |
Payroll provider | Click your Payroll Provider |
Posting date | The payroll period end date or pay date |
Withdrawal date | The date(s) of the bank withdrawal(s) for payroll |
Pay period | The start and end dates of the pay period |
3. Enter Payroll Amounts
Note: This form captures payroll as aggregate totals only — there are no fields for individual employee or contractor names. Enter the combined totals from your payroll report across all employees and contractors for the period. If you need per-person detail in your records, see the MJE option below.
The form has three sections:
Contractor
Item | What to enter |
Independent contractors | Total payments to all contractors this period |
Employee
Item | What to enter |
Salary | Total gross wages |
Net pay | Total net pay after all deductions |
Taxes | Total taxes withheld |
Add benefit | Expand to add any employee-paid benefit contributions |
Employer
Item | What to enter |
Taxes | Employer portion of payroll taxes (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, FUTA) |
Add benefit | Expand to add any employer-paid benefit contributions |
Note: Employer-withheld income tax is a wage/salary expense from the employer's perspective, even though it's remitted to the government on the employee's behalf.
4. Match to Cash Withdrawals
After saving:
Go to Transactions
Set the date range to include the posting date plus ~5 days earlier
Search for your payroll provider name to find the matching withdrawal(s)
Categorize those transactions as 13511 – Salaries & Benefits Clearing (this prevents duplicating salary expenses)
5. Review & Reconcile
Confirm that the total of your manual payroll entry matches the bank/ACH withdrawals. Total debits must equal credits. If the amounts don't tie, adjust until they reconcile.
Editing or Adjusting Manual Payroll
Edit an existing entry: Open the posted payroll → click Edit → make changes → save and verify in the General Ledger and Transactions.
Need per-employee detail? Use a Manual Journal Entry (MJE) instead.
The manual payroll form only supports aggregate totals. If your situation requires tracking payroll by individual (e.g., for audit purposes or detailed reporting), delete the payroll run and record it as an MJE:
Delete the payroll run
Find the bank payroll transaction and categorize as Salaries & Benefits Clearing
Go to Journal Entries → Create new MJE
Debits:
Salaries (use the memo field to note individual employee names)
Independent Contractors (use the memo field for contractor names)
Payroll taxes (employer and employee portions)
Employer benefits
Credit:
Salaries & Benefits Clearing
Best Practices
Keep your payroll processor's detail reports on file — Puzzle stores aggregate totals only
Always match manual entries to Transactions to keep bank reconciliation clean
Use MJEs with memos if you need per-employee or per-contractor visibility in the General Ledger