QuickBooks Desktop Payroll: Inviting Employees to Workforce for Pay Stubs and W-2s
QuickBooks Desktop Payroll users can invite employees to QuickBooks Workforce so they can independently view and print their pay stubs and W-2s online.
QuickBooks Workforce gives employees self-service access to their pay stubs and W-2s, but Desktop Payroll users have to initiate the process manually — and several of the steps are easy to overlook.
How Workforce Works With Desktop Payroll
Once an employee is invited and enrolled, they receive an email notification each time you run payroll, letting them know a new pay stub is available. At tax time, they can also view and print their own W-2s. The setup, however, requires the payroll license holder to turn the feature on, add employee email addresses, send the invitations, and then transmit pay stub data to Intuit.
Step 1: Add Email Addresses to Employee Profiles
Before sending any invitations, each employee needs a valid email address on file. Open the Employee Center and double-click the first employee you want to invite. In the Address and Contact tab, enter their email address and save the record. Repeat this for every employee you plan to invite.
Step 2: Turn On Workforce and Send Invitations
With email addresses in place, go to the Employees menu and select Manage Payroll Cloud Services. If that option is missing from the menu, update QuickBooks to the current release — older builds do not surface it.
In the cloud services window, find the QuickBooks Workforce section and toggle the status to On, then select Invite Employees. You will be prompted to sign in using the Intuit Account tied to the QuickBooks Payroll license — this should be the account of the person who owns the subscription, not a secondary user.
Select the employees you want to add, confirm or correct their email addresses, and choose Send Invite. The Status column should update to show Invited for each selected employee.
Step 3: Send Pay Stub Data to Intuit
Invitations alone do not populate the employee’s Workforce view — you also have to transmit the underlying pay stub data. The timing depends on where you are in the payroll cycle.
After running payroll: On the Confirmation and Next Steps screen that appears at the end of a payroll run, select Send to Intuit. In the Send/Receive Data window, choose Send and enter your payroll service PIN when prompted.
For existing pay stubs: Go to File, then Print Forms, and select Print Pay Stubs. In the Select Pay Stubs window, adjust the date range in the Checks Dated fields to cover the stubs you want to push to Workforce. Select the pay stubs, then click Send Online. From the Send/Receive Data window, choose Send All and enter your payroll PIN.
Batch Limits and Known Pitfalls
When uploading historical pay stubs, keep the selection to the current calendar year and work in batches of roughly 100 to 200 paychecks at a time. Larger batches can trigger transmission errors, which means starting over with a smaller group.
Adding New Employees to Workforce
For employees added after Workforce is already turned on, the process is similar. Create the employee through the Employee Center, making sure to include their email address in the Address and Contact tab. Then return to Employees, select Manage Payroll Cloud Services, and choose Invite Employees from the Workforce section to send the invitation.
QuickBooks Online Users
The steps above apply specifically to QuickBooks Desktop Payroll. If your business runs payroll through QuickBooks Online, the Workforce invitation process is handled differently and does not require the Send/Receive Data transmission step.