Canadian users ask where to edit employee info in QuickBooks Online Payroll

A familiar question keeps landing on the community boards for the Canadian edition of QuickBooks Online. An employee changes a legal name, switches bank accounts, moves, or files a fresh TD1. The employer goes looking for where payroll records the update, and asks when the path is not obvious. The answer marked as the accepted solution, maintained by Intuit’s payroll team, maps two ways in. Both end at the same place: the employee profile.

The issue as users run into it

QuickBooks Online Payroll keeps everything about a person on one employee profile. The profile holds the name, address, birth date, Social Insurance Number, phone number, and gender. It also holds TD1 withholding details, direct deposit banking, hire date, pay schedule, work location, job title, and every pay type from salary to overtime. None of that updates itself. When life changes for an employee, someone has to open the profile and edit it, section by section. Users who expect the change to surface in a pay run or a report come away stuck.

Confirm before you edit

Before touching anything, the accepted solution has users verify the change with the employee. Ask for an updated TD1 when withholding changes, and for a direct deposit form or letter when banking details move. In Canadian payroll this is more than courtesy. Source deductions and deposits follow whatever the profile says, so an error travels straight into a paycheque. Get the document on file first, then open the software.

Route one: the employee profile

The first path runs through the employee list. From the main menu, open the Payroll app and choose Employees. Select the person you need. The profile opens as a series of sections, each with its own Start or Edit button. Make the change in the right section, then select Save. Saving works per section, so finish one area before moving to the next.

Why is the employee missing from the list?

The employee list defaults to active staff. Anyone marked as terminated or set to inactive does not appear, which catches users during rehires and year-end cleanups. The control sits above the list. Open the dropdown filter and switch from active employees to inactive ones, or to all employees. The missing person reappears, and the profile opens as usual. This filter is a common reason a profile seems to have vanished.

Route two: during a pay run

A pay run offers the second path, and it suits a deadline. On the screen where you run payroll, select the employee’s name. The same sections come up, with the same Start or Edit buttons. Change what you need, save the section, and carry on with the run. A new bank account that must apply to the next deposit, or a revised TD1 handed in days before payday, fits this route.

Which section holds the field you need?

The accepted answer includes a map of the profile. Here is the short version for the Canadian edition.

• Personal info: name, address, birth date, Social Insurance Number, phone number, gender.
• Tax withholding: TD1 details that drive source deductions.
• Payment method: direct deposit banking.
• Employment details: hire date, employment status, pay schedule, work location, job title, employee ID, workers’ compensation.
• Pay types: hourly or salary pay, sick and vacation pay, bonus, overtime, other pay types.
• Deductions and contributions: any further amounts configured for that employee.

Can employees change their own details?

Partly. QuickBooks Workforce, the self-service side that employees sign into, lets each person update some personal and tax information, including name, address, and TD1 details. That removes a round trip for routine changes. The note in the thread says only that some details qualify, so do not assume every field is self-service. For anything else, the two routes above remain the way in.

One edge case: brand-new hires

If the person has never been paid through the account, editing an existing profile is the wrong move. The accepted answer sends those users to the new-employee setup instead. Editing is for people already in the system whose circumstances changed.

Our read

We read this as a navigation problem, not a defect. Nothing in the thread points to data damage, a sync failure, or a bug. The profile is the source of truth, the list filter hides inactive staff, and saving happens one section at a time. Once those three facts are clear, the edit itself takes a minute. Confirm the change with the employee first, keep the paperwork on file, then save each section before moving on.