Business owners and payroll admins sign up in four parts: create your login, enter your company's details, answer a few questions about your business, and secure your account. If you work for a company that already uses Freedom, don't sign up here. See Accept your invitation and sign in for the first time instead.
Create your login
Go to Create your free account and complete the sign-up form. If a Freedom customer referred you, open their referral link instead. It shows the same sign-up form, and Freedom connects your company to the referral when you create it.
Wait for Freedom to take you to the next step. If it shows "Your account is ready, but we couldn't open the next step.", click "Retry".
Enter your company details
On the "Sign up your company for free payroll" page, enter your "Company legal name", "Company email", and "Company phone". All three are required. Enter the phone as a 10-digit US number.
Enter your "Company website" if you have one, for example https://example.com. This one is optional.
Click "Create account". When you see "Your company is signed up!", click "Continue".
If a field shows an error, fix it and click "Create account" again. If you see "We couldn't sign up your company. Please try again." or "Our payroll partner is having trouble right now. Wait a minute and try again.", wait a minute and click "Create account" again. If it keeps happening, contact Freedom support.
Note: If Freedom shows a different page first, you may not need a new company. "You already have an invitation" has a button that reads "Join" and the name of the company that invited you. "You're already part of" a company has a button that reads "Open" and the company's name. To sign up a different company anyway, click "Sign up a different company".
Answer the business setup questions
The "Set up your business" page asks one question per screen. Click "Continue" after each answer, and "Finish" on the last one.
"How are you handling payroll today?" Choose "This will be my first ever payroll", "I use payroll software", "I run payroll manually", or "An accountant runs it".
If you've paid people before, Freedom asks whether this is your first payroll of the year. If you use payroll software and have already run payroll this year, pick your software under "Which software do you use?".
"Who do you pay?" (or "Who do you plan to pay?" if this is your first payroll). Select all that apply: "US-based employees or contractors", "Workers outside the US", or "Workers in Puerto Rico or US territories". If you pick one of the last two, a note explains that Freedom can't pay those workers yet. You can still continue.
"Your business": choose your "Business structure" and your "Industry". Pick the industry most of your revenue comes from, or "Other" if nothing fits. For some industries, Freedom then asks if any part of your business relates to cannabis, cryptocurrency, or gambling. Most businesses answer "No".
If you stop partway, sign in again and Freedom takes you back to the questions.
Secure your account
When the questions are done, the page says "You're in" and your company name. Click "Secure my account", then follow Set up two-step verification. If you already have two-step verification, the button reads "Go to your dashboard". Then continue with Set up your company on Freedom.
If you see "We can't run your payroll yet"
Freedom shows this page when you answer "Yes" to a cannabis, cryptocurrency, or gambling question. It lists the reason, for example "Cannabis-related business", and says your account is saved and nothing you entered is lost.
If you answered by mistake, click "Change this answer".
To hear from Freedom if this changes, enter your email under "Email me if this changes" and click "Email me".
If you think the result is wrong, click "Talk to us" to reach support.