When you choose "Freedom will add it for me" on Choose who will transfer your data, Freedom moves your data from your current payroll provider. Some steps stay with you, because only you can do them.
What Freedom does
Freedom starts after you give Freedom access to your account with your current payroll provider. Then Freedom does these steps:
Adds your workplaces. A workplace is each address where your employees work.
Adds your employees and contractors. Freedom copies each worker's details and pay from your current provider.
Transfers your pay history. Freedom brings over every payroll you ran this year. Freedom needs the full year to file your taxes, W-2s, and 1099s correctly.
Transfers benefits, post-tax deductions, and withholding. Freedom copies each worker's benefit deductions, post-tax deductions, and tax withholding.
Checks the data. It compares the transferred data with your current provider's reports before Freedom approves your company for payroll.
Note: Freedom adds your workers, but each worker must still complete their own setup in Freedom before they can be paid.
What you do
Open Transfer access to Freedom and add [email protected] as a user in your current payroll provider. For the steps, see How to give Freedom access to your payroll provider. Do this first. Freedom can't start without it.
Connect a bank account. Freedom debits this account to fund payroll.
If the Onboarding page shows an "Upload verification documents" task, upload the documents it lists.
Set up state taxes. This task opens after your bank account is verified, your federal taxes are set up, and Freedom has added your employees.
Authorize tax filings, so Freedom can file taxes for your company. This task opens after your bank account is verified and your federal taxes are set up.
You can work through your tasks while Freedom transfers your data. Only "Set up state taxes" depends on Freedom's work: it stays locked until Freedom has added your employees. Your own steps, such as your bank account and federal taxes, don't wait for Freedom.
Keep your current provider until your first Freedom payday
Continue to run payroll with your current provider until your first Freedom payday. Don't cancel your current provider before then. For what your first payday is, see Understand your start date and your first payday. For when and how to cancel, see How to cancel with your previous payroll provider.
See Freedom's progress
On the Onboarding page, the tasks Freedom does for you ("Add employees", "Add contractors", "Transfer pay history", "Transfer benefits", and "Transfer post-tax deductions") show "After you grant access" until you finish "Transfer access to Freedom". Then they show "Freedom is on it". "Transfer pay history" appears only if you ran payroll this year.
The summary next to the task list (above it on a small screen) lists each of these tasks under "Freedom's progress".
If you open "Add employees", "Add contractors", or "Transfer pay history", you see "Freedom is handling this step for you. You do not need to add anything here."
Change who adds your data
You can change who adds your data at any time during setup. If you started to add your data yourself, you can ask Freedom to transfer it for you. If Freedom has already started transferring your data, you can still take over.
Go to the Onboarding page.
Next to "Who adds your data", click "Change". It is in the summary next to the task list, or above it on a small screen.
To ask Freedom to transfer your data, click "Freedom will add it for me". To add your data yourself, click "Change this choice", then click "I will add it myself".
Your choice saves when you click it. Data that is already in Freedom stays. If you change to "I will add it myself", the data Freedom added stays, and the tasks Freedom was handling become yours: "Add employees", "Add contractors", "Transfer pay history", "Transfer benefits", and "Transfer post-tax deductions".