Free Payroll Spreadsheet Templates for Small Business
Free payroll spreadsheet templates for small business: weekly, biweekly, hourly with overtime, salaried, taxes, contractor, and register. Excel.
Payroll Spreadsheet Templates
Free payroll spreadsheet templates for small business, as real Excel files with worked examples: weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, and monthly, plus hourly with overtime, salaried, tax deductions, contractor, and a year-to-date register. Built with 2026 FICA rates and FLSA overtime. No signup.
A payroll spreadsheet is an Excel or Google Sheets file that calculates and records employee pay: each person's hours or salary, their gross pay, the taxes and deductions taken out, and the net pay they receive. For a very small business running payroll without software, it is often the practical starting point, and it is where I would tell another founder to begin.
The templates below are real Excel files with worked example rows, not empty grids, so you can see the gross-to-net calculation done correctly before you enter your own people. That matters because a payroll sheet is only as good as its math, and overtime, FICA (Social Security and Medicare tax), and the current-year tax numbers are exactly where a generic template falls short.
You get versions for each pay frequency, weekly through monthly, plus hourly with overtime, salaried, a tax-deduction version, a small-business and contractor version, and a year-to-date register. Wherever they calculate tax or overtime, they use the 2026 FICA rate and the time-and-a-half overtime rule.
What a Payroll Spreadsheet Is
A payroll spreadsheet is a file that calculates and records what you pay employees each period: their hours or salary, gross pay, the deductions taken out, and net pay, often with year-to-date totals. Payroll spreadsheet, payroll sheet, and payroll format all describe the same thing.
It is an employer-side tool, used by an owner, office manager, or bookkeeper to run or record payroll for a small team without dedicated software. Its value is that it is free, flexible, and enough for a handful of employees; its limit is that it does not file taxes or keep up with changing rates on its own.
Which Template Should You Use?
Match the template to how you pay. Pick the pay-frequency version that fits your schedule, the hourly-with-overtime version if you have non-exempt (overtime-eligible) staff, the tax-deduction version to see net pay after FICA and withholding, the small-business version to mix hourly and salaried, the contractor version for 1099 payments, and the register to track year-to-date.
Free Payroll Spreadsheets to Download
Download all of them together or grab the ones you need. Each is a real Excel workbook with the example rows showing the gross-to-net math worked out, so you can see the calculation before replacing the samples with your own employees. The pay-frequency workbook has a tab for each schedule; the others are grouped by type.
Basic Payroll Spreadsheet (Weekly, Biweekly, Semi-Monthly, Monthly)
The core payroll spreadsheet with a tab for each pay frequency, so you can match the schedule you run. Each tab shows gross pay, deductions, and net for example employees.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Employee | Hours | Rate ($/hr) | Gross Pay ($) | Deductions ($) | Net Pay ($) | Pay Date |
| 2 | Example: A. Rivera | 40 | 22 | 880 | 96.8 | 783.2 | Fri weekly |
| 3 | Example: B. Chen | 38 | 25 | 950 | 104.5 | 845.5 | Fri weekly |
| 4 | |||||||
| 5 | Total | 1830 | 201.3 | 1628.7 |
Hourly with Overtime and Salaried
An hourly template that separates regular and overtime hours and applies the required time-and-a-half rate over 40 hours, plus a salaried version that divides annual pay across periods.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Employee | Reg Hours | OT Hours | Rate ($/hr) | OT Rate (1.5x) | Reg Pay ($) | OT Pay ($) | Gross ($) |
| 2 | Example: A. Rivera | 40 | 6 | 22 | 33 | 880 | 198 | 1078 |
| 3 | Example: B. Chen | 40 | 3 | 25 | 37.5 | 1000 | 112.5 | 1112.5 |
| 4 | Example: C. Okafor | 35 | 0 | 20 | 30 | 700 | 0 | 700 |
| 5 | ||||||||
| 6 | Total | 2580 | 310.5 | 2890.5 |
Payroll with Tax Deductions
A version with Social Security, Medicare, and withholding columns, using the current 7.65 percent FICA rate, so you see net pay after taxes. Its notes carry the Social Security wage base, which the Social Security Administration set at $192,300 for 2027 ($184,500 for 2026).
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Employee | Gross Pay ($) | Soc Sec 6.2% ($) | Medicare 1.45% ($) | Fed W/H ($) | State W/H ($) | Net Pay ($) |
| 2 | Example: A. Rivera | 1760 | 109.12 | 25.52 | 158 | 0 | 1467.36 |
| 3 | Example: B. Chen | 1900 | 117.8 | 27.55 | 171 | 0 | 1583.65 |
| 4 | |||||||
| 5 | Total | 3660 | 226.92 | 53.07 | 329 | 0 | 3051.01 |
| 6 | |||||||
| 7 | Note | FICA = 7.65% total (6.2% + 1.45%) | |||||
| 8 | Note | Soc Sec wage base: $192,300 for 2027 ($184,500 for 2026) | |||||
| 9 | Note | Fed and state W/H are examples; use IRS tables and the state tables or rate |
Small Business and Contractor Payroll
A small-business sheet that mixes hourly and salaried staff on one page, plus a separate contractor tracker with no withholding and a W-9 check for 1099 payments.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Employee | Type | Hours | Rate/Salary | Gross ($) | FICA ($) | Fed W/H ($) | Net ($) |
| 2 | A. Rivera | Hourly | 80 | 22 | 1760 | 134.64 | 158 | 1467.36 |
| 3 | B. Chen | Hourly | 76 | 25 | 1900 | 145.35 | 171 | 1583.65 |
| 4 | D. Santos | Salary | 2769.23 | 2769.23 | 211.85 | 305 | 2252.38 | |
| 5 | ||||||||
| 6 | Total | 6429.23 | 491.84 | 634 | 5303.39 |
Payroll Register, Summary Report, and Budget
A register that records every pay run and carries year-to-date gross and net, which you need for the Social Security wage base and to reconcile at year end. A bookkeeper will often call the same record a payroll ledger.
The second tab is a payroll summary report: one pay period totaled line by line, from gross wages down to net pay and the employer tax match, which is the shape most payroll reports take. The third is a payroll budget that projects a year of wages plus employer FICA, so you can cost a hire before you make it.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Employee | Pay Period | Gross ($) | FICA ($) | Fed W/H ($) | Net ($) | YTD Gross ($) | YTD Net ($) |
| 2 | A. Rivera | Period 1 | 1760 | 134.64 | 158 | 1467.36 | 1760 | 1467.36 |
| 3 | A. Rivera | Period 2 | 1760 | 134.64 | 158 | 1467.36 | 3520 | 2934.72 |
| 4 | B. Chen | Period 1 | 1900 | 145.35 | 171 | 1583.65 | 1900 | 1583.65 |
| 5 | B. Chen | Period 2 | 1900 | 145.35 | 171 | 1583.65 | 3800 | 3167.3 |
| 6 | ||||||||
| 7 | Note | Track YTD gross toward the Soc Sec wage base: $192,300 for 2027 ($184,500 for 2026) |
Payroll Checklists for Setup, Each Run, Year End, and Audit
Four checklist tabs that sit alongside the calculations: what to put in place before the first run, what to do every pay period, what to close out at quarter and year end, and what to check when you audit your own payroll.
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Step | Detail | Owner | Done |
| 2 | Get a federal Employer Identification Number | Needed before any federal payroll filing | ||
| 3 | Register for state withholding and unemployment | One account set per state where employees work | ||
| 4 | Collect Form W-4 from every employee | Drives federal income-tax withholding | ||
| 5 | Complete Form I-9 for every employee | Employment eligibility verification | ||
| 6 | Collect Form W-9 from every contractor | Needed to issue Form 1099-NEC later | ||
| 7 | Classify each worker as employee or contractor | Write down the reasoning behind each call | ||
| 8 | Pick a pay frequency and publish a pay calendar | Weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly, as state law allows | ||
| 9 | Confirm your federal tax deposit schedule | Monthly or semiweekly, per IRS rules | ||
| 10 | Collect signed direct deposit authorizations | Bank details plus written authorization | ||
| 11 | Set up the payroll spreadsheet | Rates, deductions, and the current tax constants | ||
| 12 | Enter opening year-to-date balances | Only if you are switching systems mid-year | ||
| 13 | Run the first payroll in parallel | Check the math twice before the first real pay date |
How to Create a Payroll Spreadsheet
If you would rather build your own, the structure is the same in every version: set up the columns, calculate gross pay, subtract deductions, then track and total. The four groups below are what every working payroll sheet needs.
Small businesses often go wrong in two places. Overtime must be 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, not over a pay period, and income-tax withholding must follow the official figures rather than a guessed flat percentage. The templates get overtime right in the examples; for withholding, use the current IRS tables and your state's own tables or rate.
Payroll Rules and Tax Numbers
A payroll spreadsheet has to reflect a few current numbers and rules to be accurate. These are the ones that matter most, and the tax figures among them are already built into the templates.
| Item | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security tax | 6.2% each side | On wages up to the wage base only |
| Social Security wage base | $192,300 for 2027 ($184,500 for 2026) | Set each year by the Social Security Administration |
| Medicare tax | 1.45% each side | No wage cap; employees add 0.9% on wages over $200,000 |
| Total FICA rate | 7.65% | 6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare |
| Overtime | 1.5x over 40/week | Federal FLSA; some states add daily overtime |
| E-file threshold | 10 returns total | W-2s, 1099s, and almost all other types combined |
Payroll Checklists: Setup, Every Run, and Year End
A payroll checklist is the short list of steps you work through at a fixed point in the cycle: once when you set payroll up, again on every pay run, and again at quarter and year end. The checklist workbook above has a tab for each, plus an audit tab for a self-check.
| Checklist | What it covers | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll setup | EIN, state withholding and unemployment accounts, W-4s, I-9s, W-9s, worker classification, pay calendar, deposit schedule | Once, then again for each new state |
| Implementation | Moving onto a new system: opening year-to-date balances, rates, deductions, and a parallel first run | Once per system change |
| Every pay run | Approved timesheets, new hires and rate changes, regular versus overtime hours, deductions, totals against the last run, tax deposit | Every pay period |
| Quarter close | Form 941 filed, deposits reconciled, register totals agreed to the return | Four times a year |
| Year end | Names and Social Security numbers verified, wage base checked, W-2s and 1099-NEC issued, Form 940 filed, constants updated | Once a year, across December and January |
| Payroll audit | Classification, overtime math, withholding against the tables, register against the bank, deposit timeliness, record retention | Once or twice a year |
The Year-End Payroll Checklist
Year end is where a spreadsheet either pays off or bites. Start in December: confirm every employee name, Social Security number, and address, check that bonuses and taxable fringe benefits are recorded, and compare year-to-date wages against the Social Security wage base.
Then work the filing dates. Form 941 is due the last day of the month after each quarter ends, and Form 940, the W-2s, and Form 1099-NEC all fall due January 31 (IRS employment tax due dates). Reconcile the register to the four quarterly returns first, because a mismatch found in January is a correction and a mismatch found in April is an amended return.
Contractor reporting runs on the same January deadline but has its own dollar threshold. For payments made on or after January 1, 2026, Form 1099-NEC is required once you pay a contractor $2,000 or more in the year, up from $600, with the figure indexed for inflation from 2027 (IRS instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC). The contractor tab tracks what you paid; the checklist tells you when to report it.
The Payroll Audit and Compliance Checklist
A payroll audit is a self-check on your own records, and on a small team it takes about an hour. Start with the six areas that catch the most errors: worker classification, overtime math, withholding against the current tables or rates, the register against what actually left the bank, deposit timeliness, and who is able to open the file.
Retention closes the loop. The IRS asks employers to keep employment tax records for at least four years after the fourth-quarter filing for that year, and those payroll records are also what defends you in a wage claim or a payroll compliance review. Archive a dated copy of the workbook at each year end instead of overwriting one rolling file. This is general information, not tax advice.
What Format Should a Payroll Sheet Use?
For a US business, a payroll sheet should use a simple spreadsheet format: one row per employee per pay period, with columns running left to right from identity to gross to deductions to net. In order, that means employee name, hours or salary, pay rate, gross pay, each deduction in its own column, and net pay. Add a totals row at the bottom, plus year-to-date columns if you track them.
This differs from a payslip or pay stub, which is the single-employee document you give to a worker each payday showing their own earnings and deductions. The spreadsheet is the working record an employer keeps across all employees; the pay stub is what one worker receives for one line of it. Keep the spreadsheet as your master calculation and record, and generate individual pay stubs from it if your state requires them.
Which Payroll Report Do You Need?
A payroll report is any view you pull out of the working sheet for somebody else to read: an accountant, a bookkeeper, a lender, or yourself at year end. The register workbook above holds three of them as tabs. The table names the six a small business is asked for most often, with the source of each.
| Report | What it answers | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll register | Every employee and every line for a pay period | The Payroll Register YTD tab |
| Payroll summary | One period summed from gross to net, plus employer cost | The Payroll Summary Report tab |
| Payroll budget | A year of wages and employer FICA by staff group | The Payroll Budget tab |
| Tax liability | What you owe and by when you must deposit it | Build from the tax-deduction workbook |
| Payroll journal | The entry your books need for the run | Build from the summary totals |
| Labor cost by group | Where the wage money is actually going | Group the register rows |
Three of the six ship as tabs and the other three are built from the same rows, which is the argument for keeping one workbook rather than a folder of separate files that drift apart. Whichever report you produce, run it after the pay date rather than before it, so the figures match what actually left the bank account.
Running Payroll Without Software
You can run payroll for a small team with nothing more than a spreadsheet, a timesheet, and a way to pay people. A larger company has a payroll team and software; in a small business, one person is often the owner, manager, and payroll department at once, which is exactly who these templates are built for.
The habits that matter most are keeping the register current every pay run, verifying overtime and tax math against the real rules, and storing the file securely because it holds pay and personal data. That discipline is what makes a spreadsheet safe to rely on while your team is small.
When to Move Beyond a Spreadsheet
It is time to move beyond a spreadsheet when you are spending real time on tax filing, when a manual entry causes an error, or when you add employees across more than one state and the tax picture gets complicated. Until then, a spreadsheet is a sound starting point, and these templates work on their own for a small team.
Where FirstHR helps is around payroll: it keeps the personnel records, the signed direct deposit authorizations, and onboarding paperwork organized and stored against each employee profile, so the people data your payroll depends on stays clean. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider, so the pay calculations, tax filings, and money movement run through payroll software or a provider alongside it. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a payroll spreadsheet?
A payroll spreadsheet is a workbook, usually built in Excel or Google Sheets, where an employer works out and records what each employee is paid every pay period. For each person it holds the hours worked or the salary along with the pay rate, then turns those into gross pay, subtracts deductions such as Social Security, Medicare, and income-tax withholding, and arrives at net pay, the amount that actually reaches the employee. Many versions also keep running year-to-date totals. You will see the same file called a payroll sheet or a payroll format; the names are interchangeable. Owners and bookkeepers at very small businesses use one to run or record pay for a handful of employees without buying dedicated software. It does that job well for a small team, but as the business grows it is no substitute for payroll software when it comes to tax filing and compliance. This is general information, not tax advice.
How do I create a payroll spreadsheet?
Start by setting up columns for the employee name, hours or salary, and pay rate. Then calculate gross pay: for hourly staff, multiply regular hours by the rate and add overtime at one and one-half times the rate for hours over 40 in a workweek; for salaried staff, divide the annual salary by the number of pay periods. Next, subtract deductions: Social Security at 6.2 percent and Medicare at 1.45 percent, which together make up the 7.65 percent FICA rate, plus income-tax withholding, using the IRS tables for the federal amount and your state's tables or rate for any state amount. The result is net pay. Finally, add totals for each pay run and carry year-to-date figures forward. The templates on this page already have these columns and worked example rows, so the fastest way is to download one, delete the examples, and enter your own employees. This is general information, not tax advice.
Does Excel have a payroll template?
Microsoft offers some basic payroll templates in its template library, and Excel is fully capable of running a simple payroll for a small team once you set up the formulas for gross pay, overtime, and deductions. The gap in the built-in options is that they are generic and rarely tuned for a specific situation, such as a small business mixing hourly and salaried staff, contractor payments, or the current-year tax constants. The templates on this page are ready-made Excel files built for exactly those cases: the worked examples apply the 7.65 percent FICA rate and pay overtime at time and a half, and the notes list the Social Security wage base, $192,300 for 2027 ($184,500 for 2026). You download the one that fits, replace the sample rows with your employees, and adjust the withholding to your tables. This is general information, not tax advice.
How do I calculate payroll in a spreadsheet?
The core calculation runs gross to net. First find gross pay: hours times rate for hourly employees, with overtime hours multiplied by 1.5 times the rate for anything over 40 in a workweek, or salary divided by pay periods for salaried employees. Then subtract the deductions: 6.2 percent for Social Security, but only on wages up to the annual wage base, and 1.45 percent for Medicare on all wages, which together are the 7.65 percent FICA tax, followed by federal income-tax withholding taken from the IRS tables rather than a guessed flat rate, plus any state withholding under that state's own tables or rate. Gross pay minus all deductions equals net pay, the amount the employee receives. The example rows in each template show this calculation worked out with real numbers, so you can see exactly how each column feeds the next. This is general information, not tax advice.
What is the difference between weekly, biweekly, and semi-monthly payroll?
They are different pay frequencies, meaning how often you run payroll. Weekly means 52 pay periods a year, biweekly means every two weeks for 26 periods, semi-monthly means twice a month, usually the 15th and last day, for 24 periods, and monthly means 12 periods. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey data show biweekly is the most common frequency among US private employers, but the very smallest businesses use all four, which is why this page includes a version for each. The frequency affects how you calculate a salaried employee's per-period pay, dividing the annual salary by 52, 26, 24, or 12, and it affects cash-flow planning, but it does not change how overtime works, since overtime is always based on a single workweek regardless of how often you pay. Pick the frequency you actually run and use the matching sheet. This is general information, not tax advice.
How is overtime calculated in a payroll spreadsheet?
A payroll spreadsheet handles overtime by splitting each employee's hours into regular and overtime, then paying the overtime hours at a higher rate. Federal law sets that rate in the Fair Labor Standards Act: any hour a non-exempt employee works beyond 40 in a single workweek must be paid at least one and one-half times the employee's regular rate. In practice the sheet keeps regular hours, up to 40, and overtime hours, anything above 40, in separate columns, paying regular hours at the base rate and overtime hours at 1.5 times it. The hourly template on this page is laid out exactly that way, including an overtime rate column set at 1.5 times the base. Two traps are worth knowing. Overtime is counted week by week rather than across the pay period, so a biweekly payroll checks each week on its own. And some states add requirements of their own, daily overtime among them, so check your state's rules as well. This is general information, not legal advice.
Is a payroll spreadsheet good for a small business?
For a very small team it can be a sensible starting point. A spreadsheet is free, flexible, and enough to calculate and record pay for a handful of employees, which is why so many owners begin there. Its limits show as you grow: it does not file tax deposits, produce W-2s and 1099s, or update itself when tax tables change, and every manual entry is a chance for an error or a missed deadline. A good rule of thumb is that a spreadsheet works while payroll is simple and small, but once you have more than a few employees, work across multiple states, or notice tax filing taking up real time, moving to payroll software or a provider pays for itself in saved time and reduced risk. Use the spreadsheet now, and plan to graduate. This is general information, not tax advice.
Do I still need to file taxes if I use a spreadsheet?
Yes. A spreadsheet works out and records pay, but nothing in it is sent to the IRS or your state. Depositing the income tax you withhold and both the employee and employer halves of FICA on the required schedule is still your job, and so are the quarterly and annual payroll tax returns, the W-2s for employees, and the 1099s for contractors. The IRS also makes electronic filing mandatory once your information returns reach 10 or more in total, counting nearly every return type together, which a small business can hit with only a few employees and contractors. That gap is the main reason to treat a spreadsheet as a starting point rather than a permanent setup, and why it helps to hand the filings to an accountant or payroll provider even while you keep tracking pay in the sheet. This is general information, not tax advice.