What This Applies To
These terms apply to Toast Payroll and Team Management, the official name of Toast's core payroll product. It includes payroll processing, employee records, new hire onboarding, time away from work, and more. Use this glossary to look up the most common Toast Payroll terms and acronyms and what they mean. Terms are grouped by topic so you can find the one you need faster.
Some terms apply only to Toast Payroll Pro or to legacy configurations. Those cases are called out in the term's definition.
Pay Schedule and Calendar Terms
These terms describe when payroll runs and when employees get paid.
Term | Definition |
Check date | The day employees get paid. Also known as the pay date or payday. |
Check frequency | How often your employees get paid, also known as pay frequency. Toast has four pay frequencies: weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly. See Toast Payroll: Review Check Frequencies. |
Pay period start and end date | The dates within the payroll (inclusive) that cover the timesheets paid in that payroll. A common setup is Monday through Sunday, paid on Friday. Check with your Onboarding Consultant for a custom pay period and check date. See Toast Payroll: Manage Payroll Calendars. |
Payroll or process date | The date a Toast customer processes payroll. This is most often three business days before employees are paid and must be set in the payroll calendar. |
Payroll calendar | Also known as a payroll schedule, this appears on the Pay Cycle Dashboard. It determines the dates you process payroll for and the check date employees are paid on. Every pay group and frequency can have its own payroll calendar. See Toast Payroll: Manage Payroll Calendars. |
Payroll cycle | The length of one payroll, and the length of time between one payroll and the next. If you process payroll every week, each week is one payroll cycle. |
Payroll deadline | The date and time by which a payroll must be processed, almost always three business days before the check date. A payroll posted after this deadline may be considered late, and direct deposit funds may not appear in employee accounts on the check date. |
Pay groups | Groups in which employees are paid. A pay group may be tied to a location or to a specific group of employees, for example Salaried Payroll versus Hourly Payroll, or Chicago Payroll versus Boston Payroll. See Toast Payroll: Review Pay Groups. |
Work week start | The designated start day that sets weekly overtime calculation. If a work week starts on Monday, weekly overtime is calculated on hours worked Monday through Sunday. This should be the same day in both Toast Web and Toast Payroll, or timekeeping data can appear skewed, especially overtime. Contact Toast Customer Care to check or change this setting. |
Employee and Profile Terms
These terms describe employee records, jobs, and how Toast Payroll connects to Toast Web.
Term | Definition |
Chosen name | An employee's preferred name, which may differ from their legal name or the first name on their profile. By default, updating this in Toast Payroll updates their first name in Toast Web. |
Employee job assignment | A job is the role an employee is assigned to and clocks in as, such as barista, server, or host. Add all jobs from an employee's Toast Web profile into their Toast Payroll profile before integrating both systems. See Toast Payroll: Assign or Change Employee Jobs or Locations. |
Employee mapping | The communication between a Toast Web profile and a Toast Payroll profile. Profiles that are unmapped cannot communicate timesheet and tip values from Toast Web to Toast Payroll. See Toast Payroll: Manage Employee Mapping. |
Position | A set of attributes for an individual in Toast Payroll (not a job). Attributes include TAFW tier, salary or hourly, and overtime exempt or non-exempt. Employees can have more than one position, but this is uncommon. The role an employee clocks into is a job, not a position. See Toast Payroll: Update Positions. |
Position page | The page used to update an employee's profile, including position updates, salary increases, Work Tax Location changes, and Time Away from Work or benefit tier changes. Each employee has their own position page. |
Position update | An update made to a position on the position page. |
Levels | An outline of a company's structure, customizable to fit your organization. See Toast Payroll: Update Positions. |
Document library | A library where the manager or HR+ users can store documents. You determine what an employee can and cannot view. By default, an employee cannot access most documents in their library. See Toast Payroll: Upload a File to an Employee's Document Library. |
Security role | A set of permissions that determine what pages and functions a user can access. The three standard security roles are Employee, Manager, and HR+. The Employee role only lets a user see their own information, such as their profile, paystubs, and Form W-2s. See Toast Payroll: Manage Security Roles. |
Custom security role | A security role with custom permissions, available only with Toast Payroll Pro. Consult with your Onboarding Coordinator or the Customer Care team for details. See Toast Payroll: Manage Security Roles. |
HR+ | The highest level of security role granted to a Toast Payroll user, typically reserved for owners, accountants, bookkeepers, and general managers. Your configuration may differ. See Toast Payroll: Manage Security Roles. |
TAFW | Time Away From Work, also known as Time Off. An absence-tracking capability for time off, sick time, and accrued time off. Employers configure the policy. Your Onboarding Consultant reviews required state policies. Toast Payroll Pro customers can add custom policies beyond state requirements. See Toast Payroll: Get Started With Time Away from Work (TAFW). |
TAFW tier | The tier an employee is assigned to, which determines the TAFW accrual amounts they receive throughout the year. See Toast Payroll: Assign an Employee to a TAFW Tier. |
Termination reasons | The reasons an employee was terminated in Toast Payroll. See Toast Payroll: Create Termination Templates and Reasons. |
Termination template | A step-by-step, customizable process that walks you through terminating an employee. See Toast Payroll: Create Termination Templates and Reasons. |
Note: Toast Payroll uses the term "job" for the role an employee clocks into (for example bartender, cashier, dishwasher, or manager) and the term "position" for an individual's set of payroll attributes. The two terms do not mean the same thing.
Tips Terms
These terms describe how tips are tracked, pooled, and paid in Toast Payroll.
Term | Definition |
Original tips | The tip amounts employees earned from the orders they had ownership of. If the restaurant uses Toast Tips Manager, a portion of original tips may be used to calculate pooled tips. |
Pooled tips | A policy where a group of employees contribute some or all of their earned tips to a pool that is then split and distributed based on the restaurant's configuration. If your employees do not keep all of their tips, those tips are considered pooled. |
Tip pooling | Collecting tips earned by particular jobs and redistributing them within the same group or among additional jobs or employees. See Plan Your Tip Pooling Policy. |
Tip sharing | When a tipped employee shares a portion or percentage of their tips with another employee who assisted with the service. |
Tip makeup | The amount added to an employee's direct wages and tips when those do not equal minimum wage. See Toast Payroll: Get Help With Tip Makeup. |
Non-cash tips | Tips that have already been paid to the employee but still need to be added to payroll for tax purposes. See Toast Payroll: Manage and Integrate Tips. |
Tips - cash / declared tips | Declared cash tips (non-credit card tips) that pull directly into Toast Payroll once they are reported in Toast POS. These amounts appear on employee timesheets. See Toast Payroll: Manage and Integrate Tips. |
Tips - credit card tips | Credit card tips paid out on payroll runs under the corresponding earning code. Whether they appear on a timesheet depends on whether you import, direct sync, or use Toast Tips Manager. See Toast Payroll: Manage and Integrate Tips. |
Tips Manager | A module add-on to Toast Web that helps track tip pooling and tip-sharing policies. This module has limits on how complex a policy can be. See Get Started with Toast Tips Manager. |
Tax Terms
These terms describe payroll taxes, tax locations, and tax filing.
Term | Definition |
FEIN | Federal Employer Identification Number. A unique nine-digit number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to businesses operating in the United States. See Toast Payroll: Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN). |
FUTA | Federal Unemployment Tax Act. Employers are required by law to fund unemployment benefits for those who have lost their job. Unless you add certain account details, Toast Payroll cannot determine how much to withhold, when to withhold, or where to submit payments, which can cause an overpayment or underpayment. |
SUTA | State Unemployment Tax Act. A flat-rate, employer-funded payroll tax on employee wages that funds state unemployment benefits. Unless you add these account details, Toast Payroll cannot determine how much to withhold, when to withhold, or where to submit payments, which can cause an overpayment or underpayment. See Toast Payroll: Register for State Tax Accounts. |
SIT | State Income Tax. An employee-funded payroll tax levied by a state tax agency on the annual earnings of individuals, collected on each paycheck. See Toast Payroll: Register for State Tax Accounts. |
WOTC | Work Opportunity Tax Credit. A federal tax credit available to employers who hire individuals from certain target groups that have consistently faced significant barriers to employment. |
WTL | Work Tax Location. This identifies where an employee works and how they are taxed. See Toast Payroll: View and Update Work Tax Locations. |
Taxable wage base | The maximum amount of wages subject to a particular tax. |
Tax discrepancy | The findings of the Toast Tax team's audit when running parallels. Not applicable if employees were new-hired in Toast Payroll or if Form W-4 settings were not imported. |
TPA linking | Third-Party Administrator linking, which allows Toast to file quarterly taxes and amendments (if necessary) on your behalf. TPA linking is not required for all jurisdictions. See Toast Payroll: State Third-Party Administrator Linking. |
Variances (taxes) | The difference between actual income and expenses and budgeted amounts, shown in the quarterly tax packages. Toast Payroll will either debit or credit you for these amounts. See Toast Payroll: Read Your Quarterly Tax Package. |
ACA | The Affordable Care Act offers incentives, such as tax breaks and tax credits, to small businesses with up to 25 full-time workers making less than $50,000 in average annual wages, to help them provide health benefits to employees. See Toast Payroll: Review ACA Filing Resources. |
ACA dashboard | If you file for the ACA, use the ACA dashboard to manage your filing checklist. Navigate to Benefits > View and manage health benefits > ACA Reporting. |
Third-party sick pay (3PSP) | A disability insurance benefit that provides employees partial or full wage payments during long-term medical leave. Payments are made through an insurance company, union plan, or state temporary disability plan instead of through the employer. See Toast Payroll: Manage Third-Party Sick Pay at Year-End. |
Note: An employee's Work Tax Location (WTL) determines which state taxes are withheld and which state Form W-4 appears in their profile. Employees who work at multiple locations with different WTLs may need to review their tax setup for each location. For help, contact Toast Customer Care.
Onboarding and Setup Terms
These terms describe what happens when you first join Toast Payroll or hire a new employee.
Term | Definition |
Contract start date | The date your software billing begins. For payroll services, billing starts on the contract start date or the date you first run payroll with Toast, whichever comes first. |
New hire onboarding | The process of hiring an employee into Toast Payroll to add them to your Toast ecosystem. The green progress bar shows which step a new hire is on. Employees should follow their checklist in order, as some steps cannot be completed out of sequence. See Toast Payroll: New Hire Employees (Employer Guide). |
RID | Rapid Implementation Dashboard. Brand-new Toast Payroll restaurants complete RID during the onboarding stage. See Toast Payroll: Get Started With Onboarding and Implementation. |
Custom import | A spreadsheet of information imported into Toast Payroll. Custom payroll imports can include earnings, deductions, benefits, or timesheets. Custom employee imports can add or update information in bulk. See Toast Payroll: Configure Custom Payroll Imports. |
Parallels | A type of payroll run used when a new customer starts Toast Payroll mid-quarter. It records pay stubs the employee already received earlier in the quarter from their previous provider. These payrolls are flagged so they do not issue payments, but the earnings still appear in year-to-date (YTD) reports for accurate reporting. See Toast Payroll: Previous Payroll Provider Information. |
Priors | For restaurants that already paid employees in the year they join Toast Payroll, the import of prior pay data from the previous provider so quarterly and year-end numbers tie out. Employees brought on with their priors receive just one Form W-2 at year-end. See Toast Payroll: Previous Payroll Provider Information. |
Parallel variance debit | For customers who join Toast Payroll mid-quarter, a debit Toast takes from the customer's business bank account within two weeks after the first check date to recover taxes the previous provider may not have remitted. It is the customer's responsibility to confirm whether the previous provider withheld or paid any current quarterly taxes on their behalf. See Toast Payroll: Read Your Quarterly Tax Package. |
Deductions, Benefits, and Vendor Terms
These terms describe deductions, benefits, and the vendors that receive deduction payments.
Term | Definition |
Pre-tax | Deductions taken out before taxes are calculated, typically 401K deductions and medical deductions. See Toast Payroll: Get Started With Deduction Codes. |
Post-tax | Deductions taken out after taxes are calculated, most often garnishments, 401K Roth, and other miscellaneous deductions. See oast Payroll: Get Started With Deduction Codes. |
Vendor | A party that receives deduction funds directly. For example, a child support vendor receives the payment and passes it on to the other party. See Toast Payroll: Configure Vendors. |
Benefit tiers | Applies only to legacy customers still using Toast Payroll's Classic Benefit module. All employees must have a benefit tier to obtain available coverage. Without an assigned tier, eligible employees can be missed and never enrolled. Available only with Toast Payroll Pro. See Toast Payroll: Manage Health, Vision, and Dental Benefits. |
Holiday pay | Designated days in the system that give a separate pay rate for a holiday employees typically receive off, such as Christmas Day. These days can be set up in Toast Payroll. See Toast Payroll: Add Company Holidays. |
Holiday worked | Pay for work when an employee works on the actual holiday, for example clocking in on Christmas Day. See Toast Payroll: Add Company Holidays. |
Retroactive pay | Pay for time worked in a previous pay cycle. This must be applied to both regular and overtime hours. See Toast Payroll: Make a Pay Change. |
Payments, Banking, and Corrections Terms
These terms describe how employees are paid, how bank accounts are verified, and how payments are corrected.
Term | Definition |
Paycheck delivery option | The setting that determines how an employee is paid when they do not opt into direct deposit or the Toast Pay Card. Toast cannot require employees to opt into direct deposit; you can make it a company policy, but Toast cannot enforce the setting. If you choose the Toast-printed option, add a shipping address in addition to assigning the location. See Toast Payroll: Review Paycheck Delivery Options. |
Prenote | When direct deposit is set up for a business (not an employee), a prenote or prenotification is sent to your bank to verify the account information transferred from your previous provider to Toast Payroll. |
Return of funds | Funds returned to Toast Payroll because the bank could not identify the account or routing number. Toast will contact you to determine where the funds should be sent. See Toast Payroll: Unsuccessful Direct Deposits. |
Quick calcs / manual checks | A payment recorded manually or after a regularly scheduled payroll posts. The output of a quick calc is a net pay amount. Quick calcs do not apply to a payroll run unless you specifically apply them, so they can be used to calculate sample net pay amounts. See Toast Payroll: Issue Manual Checks (Quick Calcs). |
Void | A payroll void, used either as a verb (the act of nullifying a payroll transaction) or as a noun (the nullified pay record itself). See Toast Payroll: Request a Void. |
General ledger | Also known as GL, a list of accounting entries of debits and credits. |
To Do's | Payroll To Dos are reminders for earnings, deductions, benefits, or other items that need to be added to or adjusted on a specific payroll. Employee To Dos are notifications you can send to your employees through Toast Payroll. |
Reports Terms
These terms describe common Toast Payroll audit reports.
Term | Definition |
PEPAR | Payroll Employee Payroll Audit Report. Pulls all employee earnings, taxes, and deductions for a corresponding pay period. See Toast Payroll: Review Common Payroll Reports. |
QEPAR | Quarterly Employee Payroll Audit Report. Pulls employee earnings, taxes, and deductions for each quarter and year-to-date (YTD). See Toast Payroll: Review Common Payroll Reports. |
Toast Pay Card Terms
These terms describe the Toast Pay Card and same-day pay features.
Term | Definition |
Toast Pay Card | A payroll debit card offering same-day pay for tips and wages. The restaurant must contract with Toast to offer it, and employees sign up through the MyToast app. In eligible states, employees can access a percentage of their wages and tips before payday. The whole setup process takes 30 or more days and requires action by both employers and employees. To get started, select Toast Pay Card and PayOuts in your Payroll Onboarding Checklist. See Toast Payroll: Get Started With Toast Pay Card - Employer Guide. |
Toast PayOut | The portion of earnings employees can choose to receive on their Toast Pay Card before payday. This can be customized by employers. See Toast Payroll: Get Started With Toast Pay Card - Employer Guide. |
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This content is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, HR, or any other professional advice. Please contact an attorney or other professional for advice.