Set up company
Legal entity, jurisdictions, tax accounts, pay schedules, bank rails, and reporting preferences.
Full-service payroll, built for review
Run payroll. Keep the answer behind every number.
Current availability
Employer previews, the product walkthrough, proof demo, and verifier are available now. Live payroll processing, direct deposit, tax payments, and tax filing are not yet available.
See full status
Runbook brings payroll runs, taxes, approvals, corrections, filings, payments, and accounting into one reviewable record. Your team can handle payday and answer questions later without rebuilding the story from exports, screenshots, and support tickets.
PAYROLL LOOPReviewable
WorkersEmployees + contractors
AutomationRoutine runs + alerts
TaxesFederal / state / local
ConnectedTime / benefits / books
RecordSources + verification
PayFileCorrectProve
One workflow from setup to the books.
Runbook connects the everyday payroll work—people, pay, taxes, approvals, payments, filings, and reports—so every handoff starts from the same record.
Add workers
Employees, contractors, pay rates, tax elections, direct deposit, deductions, reimbursements, and documents.
Capture work and changes
Hours, PTO, tips, bonuses, commissions, HR changes, benefits, off-cycle items, prior-provider YTD, and approvals.
Calculate payroll
Gross pay, net pay, employee taxes, employer taxes, deductions, benefits, reimbursements, and cash required.
Review and approve
See what changed, clear exceptions, confirm funding, and approve the run before payments and filings move forward.
Pay, file, and close the books
Payments, tax work, accounting entries, corrections, reports, and supporting records stay connected to the run.
One ordinary payday
Follow the record, not a collection of screens.
This walkthrough uses the test-backed Marlow Goods demo to show one payroll moving from preparation to employee explanation, approval, advisor review, correction, and independent verification.
A good payday makes five answers obvious before approval.
Who changed? Name the affected workers and the recorded reason. What will leave the bank? Show net pay, taxes, and deductions separately. When? Put the planned debit date beside payday. What is unresolved? Keep every evidence or funding hold visible. What will each worker see? Gross pay, taxes, deductions, take-home pay, and the reason for any change.
01 / Prepare
Start with what is known.
Hours, pay rates, elections, work locations, and the governing rules form the prepared run. Missing support stays visible before approval.
Can I act? Yes—review the recorded facts and resolve the open evidence hold.
PREPARED PAYROLLRun 9 · Marlow Goods
- Worker
- Carlos Reyes
- Approved hours
- 78.00
- Recorded rate
- $24.50 / hour
- Source events
- 2 recorded
02 / Explain
Give the worker more than a total.
The statement connects take-home pay to hours, rate, taxes, deductions, and employer-provided value. A later question starts from the same record.
Why is it true? Every amount keeps its source sentence and calculation lineage.
PAYDAY STATEMENTRun 9
Gross pay$1,911.00
- Hours
- 78.00
- Rate used
- $24.50 / hour
- Calculation
- 78 × $24.50
- Taxes
- $346.58
- Deductions
- $186.44
- Net pay
- $1,377.98
- Payday
- May 8, 2026
- Planned debit date
- Not yet evidenced
03 / Approve
Make approval a dated fact.
Approval records who accepted the run and what the system knew at that moment. It does not pretend that payment settlement has already happened.
What needs attention? The approval boundary and any unsettled payment or filing work remain explicit.
APPROVAL RECORDRecorded
- Run
- Run 9
- Knowledge through
- May 6, 2026
- Run state
- Approved
- Settlement
- Tracked separately
04 / Reconcile
Let the advisor review the whole rollforward.
The advisor rollforward carries filed amounts, liabilities, evidence, and open next-run items without asking someone to rebuild the payroll from a stack of exports.
Can I close the books? The rollforward shows the amount, its status, and the record that supports it.
ADVISOR ROLLFORWARDRun 9 → 10
- Filed gross
- $1,911.00
- Federal liability
- $465.24
- Rule snapshot
- Attached
- Run 10 evidence
- 1 timecard hold
05 / Correct
Record later knowledge without editing the past.
A $26.00 hourly rate was effective during Run 9 but recorded after approval. Runbook preserves the filed run, recomputes from the later fact, and carries the delta forward.
What changed? The engine derives a $58.50 gross correction; nobody types an adjustment to force the answer.
ADDITIVE CORRECTIONRun 9 → 10
- Filed gross
- $1,911.00
- Corrected gross
- $1,969.50
- Gross correction
- +$58.50
- Worker net delta
- +$44.91
06 / Verify
End with proof someone else can check.
The sample packet connects facts, rules, the derived correction, and the reconciled notice answer. A Quittance is Runbook’s sealed, independently verifiable payroll proof record: the facts, rules, calculation, approval, correction history, and available external evidence behind a payroll. It can be checked in the browser without a Runbook account.
Does the answer stand up? The notice claim and deposited correction both equal $15.14, leaving a $0.00 residual.
REVIEW RESULTReconciled
- Source facts
- Present
- Derived correction
- Matched
- Notice claim
- $15.14
- Residual
- $0.00
The right payroll view for every role.
Owners, payroll teams, HR staff, workers, accountants, and support teams see the work they need without creating competing versions of payroll.
Owner
Payroll command center
Cash required, open liabilities, approval deadline, exposure, tax calendar, and what remains unsettled.
$47,812Total cash needed
Payroll admin
Run review console
Worker deltas, exceptions, funding, tax deposits, filing queue, approvals, and correction history.
2Exceptions to clear
HR admin
Payroll-ready onboarding
W-4, I-9, direct deposit, documents, compensation changes, job status, locations, and terminations.
5/6Forms complete
Worker
Pay explained
Paystub, YTD, tax forms, direct deposit, withholding elections, reimbursements, and why-pay-changed notes.
1Correction note
CPA
Review and reconcile
Payroll journal, liability rollforward, filing receipts, exports, notice packets, and verification trail.
ReadyJournal export
Support ops
Issue packet builder
Returned ACH, missed payday, worker dispute, filing rejection, tax notice, and amendment workflows.
3Evidence links
Concept views show how each role can work from the same payroll record. See current product availability.
Accrued liability report
The correctness report accountants will actually use.
A payroll register tells you what ran. The liability report shows what the business accrued, what was settled, what remains open, and which evidence supports each line when the answer is questioned.
CreatedWage, tax, deduction, benefit, reimbursement, and employer liabilities generated by the approved run.
SettledNet pay, tax deposits, contractor ACH, filings, and remittances matched back to the run.
OpenAmounts not yet paid, filed, cleared, reversed, corrected, or evidenced.
LIABILITY REPORTJune 28 payroll
LiabilityAmountStatus
Net pay payable$31,575.28Settled
Employee withholding$7,904.18Scheduled
Employer payroll taxes$3,380.54Open
Benefits deductions$1,246.00Settled
Reimbursements$418.90Settled
Local tax deposit$428.60Evidence ready
Payroll journal
Deposit receipt
Rule snapshot
Quittance
Illustrative display. Live amounts will be calculated from the recorded payroll facts.
When a payroll answer is questioned, build the packet.
This is the customer moment where Runbook feels different: the system assembles the run, liability, settlement, filing, correction, and evidence trail instead of sending the owner to hunt through exports.
Example notice
State agency says Q2 withholding was short.
The owner does not need to know where every receipt lives. Runbook identifies the affected period, pulls the payroll record, and shows what was accrued, paid, filed, corrected, and still open.
1Affected runsJune 14 and June 28 payrolls
2Liability linesEmployee withholding and employer taxes
3Payment evidenceDeposit receipt, ACH status, bank confirmation
4Filing evidenceQuarterly return, agency receipt, amendment status
5Correction historyLate W-4 update and resulting delta
6Response packetAdvisor-ready summary with linked proof
What a complete payroll service should cover.
Runbook is designed to bring routine payroll, tax work, worker records, accounting, corrections, and support into one service. See current availability.
Payroll runs
Regular payroll, off-cycle checks, bonuses, contractor-only runs, final pay, and multiple schedules.
Taxes and filings
Federal, state, and local withholding, employer taxes, deposits, quarterly and annual filings, W-2s, and 1099s.
Routine automation
Missing-data checks, change flags, reminders, approval rules, and clear stop conditions.
Payments
Direct deposit, checks, contractor payments, return handling, status visibility, and worker communication.
Worker self-service
Paystubs, W-4 changes, direct deposit, personal information, YTD totals, documents, and pay explanations.
HR and onboarding
Employee onboarding, I-9 and W-4 collection, compensation changes, locations, roles, and terminations.
Benefits
Benefit elections, payroll deductions, employer contributions, remittances, and worker-facing explanations.
Time tracking
Hours, PTO, tips, job codes, approvals, imports, and inconsistency checks before payroll runs.
Accounting
Payroll journals, liability rollforwards, class and location mapping, reconciliation exports, and advisor review.
Corrections and notices
Wrong-pay questions, agency notices, amendments, filing issues, and preserved correction history.
Support
Missed payroll, returned payments, worker questions, filing rejections, and escalation workflows.
Security
Role-based access, audit history, monitored operations, recovery procedures, and provider review.
Reports and exports
Pay registers, payroll journals, liability reports, period totals, worker stubs, accounting exports, and notice packets.
Reviewable records
Source facts, rule sources, calculations, approvals, corrections, and verification stay connected.
Trust and security model
The payroll record is sensitive before it is provable.
Trust cannot be only cryptographic proof. The product must protect worker data, bank details, tax identifiers, approvals, agent proposals, and provider credentials with explicit controls.
See security postureAccess controlEmployer, advisor, worker, support, and agent roles need scoped permissions and reviewable activity.
Operational controlsMonitoring, backups, incident response, support escalation, and provider status support live payroll operations.
Data minimizationVerification exposes the minimum necessary evidence while keeping private payroll data off public rails.
Switching payroll without losing the year.
Mid-year switching is not just import convenience. It is accrued payroll liability continuity: wage bases, local taxes, W-2 continuity, and prior-provider facts that need a defensible record.
Switching riskWhat Runbook must captureWhy it matters
Prior wagesYTD wages, taxable wages, employee/employer taxes, deductions, benefits.Caps, W-2 totals, and future withholding depend on the imported baseline.
Local taxesJurisdiction, resident/work location, prior liability, paid status, and rule source.Local payroll is where generic exports often stop explaining themselves.
CorrectionsWhich period changed, what fact arrived late, and how the delta carries forward.The old run stays intact while the new knowledge is recorded.
Year endW-2/1099 totals, filings, amendments, and support evidence.The record has to survive January, not just the first payday.
Payroll Evidence Vault.
Real payroll problems come with messy support files: timecards, EFTPS confirmations, provider letters, worker comp audits, duplicate PDFs, notices, and year-end records. Runbook turns those into organized payroll evidence.
Attach source documents
Upload timecards, prior-provider reports, payment confirmations, filings, notices, worker comp documents, and support files to the relevant company, worker, period, or run.
Classify and dedupe
Identify document type, period, jurisdiction, tax type, provider, duplicate files, and missing support without exposing sensitive data publicly.
Link evidence to payroll events
Connect each file to the run, accrued liability, payment, filing, correction, notice, or provider switch it supports.
Build response packets
Create advisor-ready packets for agency notices, worker questions, audits, mid-year switching, and year-end reconciliation.
Keep proof private
Store sensitive files privately while a reviewer receives only the minimum information needed to check the record.
Preserve history
Late documents and corrections add new events instead of overwriting the original payroll record.
Run payroll and keep the record ready for questions.
Explore a test-backed example of how Runbook connects a payroll result to the facts, correction history, and evidence behind it.
Explore proof demo