Run payroll
Review, approve, and fund a payroll run, including your approval deadline, bank holidays, fixing mistakes, and final pay for departing team members.
Once onboarding is complete, running payroll takes a few minutes. Arketa pulls your class and time data into each run, so most of the work is reviewing rather than entering.
How a payroll run works
- Review earnings for the pay period
- Confirm payment amounts
- Approve payroll
- Funds are withdrawn from your account
- Workers receive direct deposit on payday
Taxes and filings are handled automatically in the background.
Arketa pulls in classes taught (including per-class and per-head pay), hourly time worked, and substitute assignments. Earnings are calculated from that data each pay period, and you can adjust before approving. To change how pay is calculated, see Payroll setup.
Your approval deadline
Payroll must be approved three business days before payday by 3:00 PM ET. If payday is Friday, the deadline is Tuesday at 3:00 PM ET.
You don't have to count the days yourself. Each run on the Run Payroll page shows its pay period, its approval deadline, and its payday. A payday of Monday August 31, for instance, shows a deadline of Wednesday August 26.
Your paydays come from your pay schedule.
Each run is confirmed with a one-time passcode before it's submitted. If submission fails, request a new code and try again.
Bank holidays
Funds can't move on a federal banking holiday, so a payday can't fall on one. If your regular payday lands on a holiday, move it back to the preceding business day. A studio that pays every Thursday should set the check date to Wednesday during Thanksgiving week.
Moving the payday moves your approval deadline with it. A Friday payday normally means approving Tuesday by 3:00 PM ET. If that Friday is a holiday, payday becomes Thursday and your deadline becomes Monday at 3:00 PM ET.
Banking holidays through 2027:
| Holiday | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | January 1 | January 1 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | January 19 | January 18 |
| Presidents Day | February 16 | February 15 |
| Memorial Day | May 25 | May 31 |
| Juneteenth | June 19 | June 19 (Sat) |
| Independence Day | July 4 (Sat) | July 4 (Sun) |
| Labor Day | September 7 | September 6 |
| Columbus Day | October 12 | October 11 |
| Veterans Day | November 11 | November 11 |
| Thanksgiving | November 26 | November 25 |
| Christmas Day | December 25 | December 25 (Sat) |
When a holiday falls on a Saturday, banks are open the preceding Friday. When it falls on a Sunday, banks close the following Monday.
Funding your payroll
Connect your payroll funding account by linking it through Plaid or by entering your account and routing numbers directly. This is required before your first payroll.
Your account is debited as one combined debit. Separate debits for wages and taxes aren't supported. The debit covers:
- Net pay for employees paid by direct deposit
- Contractor payments paid by direct deposit
- Tax liabilities that Arketa remits for you
- Child support deductions that Arketa remits for you
It doesn't include anyone you're paying manually, or any tax or deduction that isn't remitted for you. New York PFL, New York SDI, and Hawaii SDI stay in your account for you to pay your carrier, so they aren't debited. See Payroll taxes and filings.
The debit happens closer to payday rather than at the moment you approve, so funds are in place for disbursement to workers and tax agencies. Keep the full amount available from approval through payday, since a bank can reject a payment up to two banking days after it appears to have settled.
On your bank statement the debit appears as PCR, short for cash requirements debited from employers to fund payrolls. On your workers' statements, deposits appear as Check Payroll PAYMENT.
Workers are paid by direct deposit only. Arketa doesn't print or mail paper checks.
Fixing a mistake
Once a payroll has been approved and processed, it can't be edited. That's deliberate, so your payroll records stay complete and accurate. What you can do depends on how far along the run is, and most fixes are handled on a later payroll rather than by changing the original.
- Still a draft. Edit it freely, or delete it and start again.
- Approved but not yet processing. It may still be possible to reopen it. Contact Arketa Support quickly.
- Processing. Nothing can change until it finishes.
- Paid. The run can be voided, but not until the debit has cleared its return window, usually about three business days after the debit settles. Contact Arketa Support.
For the most common mistakes:
- Underpaid someone. Run an off-cycle payroll to pay the difference.
- Overpaid someone. Reduce their gross wages on the next payroll by the difference. Federal law permits recovering overpayments from future paychecks, but state rules vary and some states require written consent or limit how much you can recover at once. Confirm your state's rules before you do it.
- Paid someone who shouldn't have been paid at all, such as a worker who had already left. Contact Arketa Support to void that payment.
Voiding a payroll from a previous quarter means amended tax returns, which Arketa handles with our payroll partner. Expect it to take longer than a fix on your next run.
If you paid someone outside Arketa, by cash or paper check, tell Arketa Support so it can be recorded. Missing payments distort your tax withholding and year-end forms.
Payroll reports
Reports live at Team → Payroll → Payroll Reports: Payroll Summary, Payroll Journal, Contractor Payments, Child Support Payments, and Tax Liabilities. See Payroll reports for what each one contains.
The separate payroll report export is still available too.
Changing your pay schedule or business details
Your pay schedule, payday, legal business name, and EIN can all be updated in your Arketa settings. If you're changing your legal name or EIN, update it before your next payroll run so filings stay accurate.