Gusto Integration: Setup and Sync

Connect Gusto to DualEntry so each payroll run posts to your ledger as a single consolidated journal entry. The connection runs through DualEntry’s payroll-data provider, which handles OAuth with Gusto on your behalf. Data flows one way: Gusto → DualEntry.

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Prerequisites

Confirm the following before connecting:

• Admin access to both your DualEntry and Gusto accounts.
• Your chart of accounts in DualEntry includes the GL accounts you intend to use for payroll expense, tax expense, employee/employer benefit accounts, and a payroll clearing or accrued-payroll account.
• A vendor record in DualEntry to use as the payroll vendor (typically named “Gusto”).
• A single DualEntry company that the Gusto data should post to. Consolidated payroll currently runs in single-entity mode only (see Current limitations).
• Optionally, a classification (such as Department) configured in DualEntry if you want pay statement items split by department on the journal entry.

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How to connect

DualEntry connects to Gusto through a hosted Connect widget. You don’t generate API keys or paste credentials into DualEntry. The payroll-data provider handles authentication and returns an access token to DualEntry.

1. In DualEntry, navigate to Company → Integrations → Gusto.
2. Choose Connect. DualEntry opens the Connect widget in a new window.
3. In the widget, choose Gusto and sign in with your Gusto admin credentials.
4. Approve the data scopes requested on DualEntry’s behalf.
5. After approval, the provider redirects back to DualEntry and the integration shows as Connected.

Disconnecting the integration in DualEntry invalidates the access token but does not remove the connection record on the provider’s side. To switch Gusto accounts, delete the pending integration in DualEntry and start a fresh Connect flow. DualEntry reauthenticates the existing connection rather than creating a duplicate. The first sync after a fresh connection only pulls metadata (companies, payroll vendor, pay statement items, departments) so you can finish mapping before any journal entries are written. Pay statements only sync once every required mapping is complete.

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What syncs

The integration pulls the following Gusto data into DualEntry on each sync run: Pay groups, headcount, and individuals are also pulled by the provider but hidden from the configuration UI for consolidated payroll - they’re internal references the integration uses, not records you need to map.

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Map your Gusto data

After connecting, DualEntry pulls Gusto’s metadata and shows you what to map. Until every required mapping is filled in, the integration shows as not yet set up and pay statements do not post. The mapping work breaks into three pieces: first, map the Gusto company and the payroll vendor so DualEntry knows where journal entries should land and which vendor to stamp on every line. Second, map every pay statement item to a GL account so each earnings, tax, deduction, and contribution line posts to the right place. Third, optionally map departments to classifications if you want journal entry lines split by department.

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Map companies and the payroll vendor

Map the Gusto company to the DualEntry company that should receive the payroll journal entries, and map the payroll vendor to a DualEntry vendor record. The company mapping determines which DualEntry company the consolidated journal entry posts to. The payroll vendor mapping determines the vendor stamped on every line of the journal entry - useful for AP-style reporting and 1099 considerations down the line.

1. Open Settings → Integrations → Gusto → Configuration.
2. On the Companies tab, map the Gusto company to a single DualEntry company.
3. On the Payroll vendor tab, map the Gusto-named vendor to your DualEntry payroll vendor record.

If you skip either mapping, sync runs that depend on it fail with an explicit error in the Integration Errors log (see Troubleshoot sync errors).

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Map pay statement items to GL accounts

Each pay statement item (earnings line, tax line, employee deduction, employer contribution) must be mapped to a DualEntry GL account before pay statements can post.

1. Open the Pay statement items tab. Items are grouped by category: earnings, taxes, employee_deductions, employer_contributions.
2. For each item, choose the DualEntry GL account that the line should post to. Item display names follow the pattern {category}{-Employer|-Employee}: {item name}, for example taxes: Federal Income Tax or employer_contributions-Employer: 401(k) Match.
3. Confirm the debit/credit direction stored on each item - this controls whether the amount posts as a debit or credit on the journal entry.

If any pay statement item is unmapped when a payroll run syncs, the run is captured as an error against the relevant pay statement records and no journal entry is written for that payment until the mapping is filled in.

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Map departments to classifications

If you maintain a Department classification in DualEntry, Gusto departments are matched by name against your classification lines and applied to the journal entry automatically. This step is optional. Gusto departments that don’t match a classification line are simply omitted from the journal entry, with no error, no fallback, and no auto-create. To enable department splits:

1. Confirm a classification named Department (or whatever name you’ve configured under integration settings) exists in DualEntry.
2. Add a classification line for each Gusto department, with names that match exactly.
3. On the next sync, departments resolve automatically - no per-department mapping screen.

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How payroll runs become journal entries

Once setup is complete, each Gusto payment (pay run) becomes a single consolidated journal entry in DualEntry - not one journal entry per employee. The consolidation rules:

• All pay statements that share a payment_id group together.
• For each unique combination of (pay statement item, classification), the integration sums amounts across employees and creates one journal entry line.
• Tax items are grouped by item only (no classification split). When Consolidate payroll tax is enabled, tax items are further consolidated by GL account into a single “Consolidated Payroll Tax” line per account.
• The journal entry is dated the payment’s pay date.
• The memo follows the pattern [Gusto] Payroll {start_date} to {end_date} paid on {pay_date} ({n} employees).

If debits and credits don’t balance after grouping, for example, when rounding causes a sub-cent drift across many employees, an offset line is added against the configured payroll offset account so the journal entry posts cleanly. The offset account is configured at the organization level under integration settings; review it before going live so the offset doesn’t land in an unexpected GL account. The consolidated journal entry is the source of truth in DualEntry; individual pay statement records are kept for traceability but marked as consolidated and excluded from posting. See Journal Entries for how to review the resulting entries in your ledger.

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Optional: Consolidate payroll tax

By default, every tax item across a payroll run is consolidated by GL account into a single “Consolidated Payroll Tax” line per account on the journal entry. This keeps the journal entry compact when many tax types map to the same account (for example, several state-specific income taxes all posting to the same expense account). If you’d rather see one journal entry line per tax item, for granular reporting or tax-type-level analysis, turn this off:

1. Open Settings → Integrations → Gusto → Settings.
2. Toggle Consolidate payroll tax off.
3. The next sync re-renders pay statements with one line per (tax item, account).

The setting only affects how tax items are grouped on the journal entry. It doesn’t change which records are pulled from Gusto or how earnings, deductions, or contributions are grouped.

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Current limitations

The Gusto integration has the following limitations today:

• Single-entity mode only. Consolidated payroll requires a single DualEntry company per Gusto connection. Multi-entity setups (one connection mapping pay statements to multiple DualEntry companies) are not yet supported and will skip pay statement processing with a warning.
• No retroactive remapping. Pay statements that have already been consolidated into a journal entry don’t re-post if you later change a pay statement item mapping. Resync the affected payment range to apply the new mapping.
• Department-only classification splits. Pay statement classification splits use the configured department classification. Splits by other classifications (such as project or class) aren’t applied automatically.
• Departments must be mapped by exact name match. Gusto departments don’t match a classification line if the names differ - even by punctuation or case.
• Employer-level taxes calculated on aggregate payroll. Certain employer taxes and remittance offsets (for example, NY MCTMT, MN Workforce Development Assessment, MO Compensation Deduction) are calculated on company-wide payroll, not per employee, so they don’t appear on the consolidated journal entry. See Record employer-level taxes manually for the workaround.

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Record employer-level taxes manually

Some payroll taxes and remittance offsets are calculated on a company’s total payroll rather than on individual pay statements. Because the integration syncs Gusto data on a per-employee basis, these company-level amounts don’t appear on the consolidated journal entry. You record them with a manual journal entry after each payroll run.

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Items affected

The following employer-level items aren’t captured automatically. The list isn’t exhaustive: any tax or remittance offset that Gusto computes against aggregate payroll falls into this category. To check whether a specific employer tax in your state syncs automatically, compare the Gusto payroll receipt against the DualEntry journal entry for the same pay date. Any line on the receipt that has no counterpart on the journal entry is a candidate for a manual entry.

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Post the journal entry

After each payroll run, reconcile against Gusto’s payroll receipt and post a journal entry for any missing employer-level lines.

1. In Gusto, open the payroll run and download the payroll receipt. The receipt itemizes every employer tax line for the run.
2. In DualEntry, open the consolidated payroll journal entry for the same pay date (see Journal Entries).
3. Identify each employer-level tax line on the Gusto receipt that isn’t on the journal entry.
4. Create a manual journal entry dated the payroll’s pay date with:
   • A debit to the appropriate payroll tax expense account for the tax amount.
   • A credit to your payroll clearing or accrued-payroll account, so the entry nets against the cash settlement when Gusto debits the funds.
5. Reference the Gusto payroll run identifier and the tax type in the memo, so the entry traces back to the source receipt during close.

For aggregate quarterly taxes such as NY MCTMT, you can post one entry per quarter against the quarterly remittance instead of per payroll run, as long as the entry date matches when Gusto debits the funds.

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Troubleshoot sync errors

When a record fails to sync, it appears in the Integration Errors log under Settings → Integrations → Gusto. The most common causes:

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Result

After completing these steps, every Gusto payroll run posts to DualEntry as a single consolidated journal entry, with line items per (pay statement item, department) and a balanced offset entry where needed. To connect additional systems, return to Integrations. To audit the resulting payroll entries, see Journal Entries.