Help & Documentation
Everything you need to run payroll and manage your workforce in StagIQ.
Getting started
Create your account
Sign up with your company name, email, and a password — that creates your company and signs you in as its owner. You can also use ‘Sign in with Google’.
The dashboard
After signing in you land on Overview — a snapshot of headcount, annualized payroll, recent runs, pending approvals, and alerts. Navigate with the left sidebar.
Set your profile
Open Settings → Account to set your display name and change your password. Your name and company show in the top bar.
Clients & multi-company (bureau)
What ‘clients’ means
Each company you manage — your own or a client's — is its own isolated space (employees, payroll, reports, branding). Accounting firms and payroll bureaus manage many from one login.
Switching companies
Use the company dropdown in the top bar, or open the Clients tab and click Open on any company.
Add a client
Clients → ‘+ Add client’ (or the sidebar ‘+ Add company’). It creates a new company and switches you into it.
Quick actions
From the Clients list you can Run payroll, Add employee, or jump to Reports for any client in one click. The page also shows a portfolio summary across all your companies.
Employees
Add employees
Employees → ‘+ Add’. Choose W-2 employee or 1099 contractor, salary or hourly, and a pay frequency (weekly/biweekly/semi-monthly/monthly).
Bulk import
Employees → ‘Import CSV’. Download the template, fill it in (or use an HR export), and upload to create many at once. Only first and last name are required.
Edit & deactivate
Use Edit on any row to update pay or details, or set status to Inactive (kept in history, excluded from new runs). Search by name or email.
Self-service portal access
Click ‘Portal’ on an employee to set a portal password. They sign in at /portal/login to view their pay stubs, hours, and benefits.
Time & Attendance
Log time
Time tab → ‘+ Add Time’. Record Regular, Overtime, or PTO hours per employee and date.
Approve
Only Approved entries feed payroll. Approve them from the Time tab.
How it flows to pay
For hourly employees, approved Regular + PTO hours pay at base rate and Overtime at 1.5×, automatically, when you create a run.
Benefits
Create plans
Benefits tab → add a plan (Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Disability, Retirement) with a per-pay-period employee cost.
Enroll employees
Enroll an employee in a plan; the per-period employee cost becomes a payroll deduction automatically.
Pay runs
Create a run
Pay Runs → ‘+ New Run’. Pick the period and pay date, choose which employees to include, then Preview to see computed gross/net before creating a draft.
Adjust a draft
Open a run with ‘View / edit’ to change each employee's gross and deductions (net recalculates), add or remove employees.
Lifecycle
Approve locks a draft; Reopen unlocks it for edits; Cancel deletes it. A Paid run is locked (reversing real money requires payroll processing).
Pay stubs
From a run's detail, click ‘Stub’ on any employee to open a printable pay statement (Print → Save as PDF). Employees can also print their own from the portal.
Direct Deposit (ACH)
What is Direct Deposit?
Direct Deposit lets StagIQ automatically initiate ACH bank transfers to your employees on pay day. Once active, approved pay runs trigger transfers directly to employees' bank accounts — no manual steps required.
Before you begin
You need a U.S. business bank account and a U.S.-registered business. StagIQ uses Stripe Connect to handle bank verification and ACH. Stripe's onboarding takes 5–10 minutes and may ask for your EIN, business address, and the last 4 digits of an owner's SSN for identity verification.
Step 1 — Open Direct Deposit settings
Go to the sidebar → Workspace → Settings and find the 'Direct Deposit (ACH)' card. Click 'Set up direct deposit'. You'll be redirected to Stripe's secure onboarding flow.
Step 2 — Complete Stripe onboarding
Stripe walks you through: business type and legal name, business address and phone, EIN (Employer Identification Number), owner identity verification (name, date of birth, last 4 of SSN), and your bank account routing and account numbers. Complete every step and click 'Continue' on each Stripe page.
Step 3 — Review and confirm
On Stripe's final review page, check your details and click 'Confirm'. Stripe redirects you back to StagIQ. If your information was accepted the card shows 'Active' in green.
Step 4 — If Stripe needs more information
If the card shows a pending message instead of 'Active', Stripe may still be verifying your details or needs supporting documents. Click 'Resume setup' to return to Stripe and complete any remaining requirements.
If the onboarding link expires
Stripe links expire after a short window. If you're redirected back automatically, StagIQ detects the expired link and fetches a fresh one to continue where you left off — no previously entered information is lost.
Employees' bank accounts
Employees add their own bank account through the self-service portal at /portal/login — routing number, account number, and account type (checking or savings). Their account number is encrypted at rest and never visible to admins.
Once Active
When a pay run is approved and its pay date arrives, StagIQ initiates ACH transfers automatically. Employees typically receive funds 1–2 business days after the pay date depending on their bank.
Payroll Estimator
Cost a new hire
Estimator tab → enter a prospective salary/hourly, benefits, and (optionally) revenue contribution. It estimates total compensation and the impact on your payroll-to-revenue ratio.
Employer taxes
It applies an estimated ~9.65% employer tax burden (FICA + unemployment). Exact, state-specific figures finalize with payroll processing.
AI Intelligence
Five agents
Audit (duplicates, anomalies), Overtime, Compliance (incomplete records, gaps), Workforce Analytics, and Forecast — they analyze your payroll and surface findings and recommendations.
How to read it
The AI Intelligence tab shows a severity summary (critical/warning/info), workforce metrics, a forecast, and grouped findings.
Reports
Available reports
Payroll Register, Payroll Summary, Earnings, Tax, Deduction, Headcount, Overtime, Compensation, and Labor Cost.
Export
Pick a report and click ‘Download CSV’ — opens in Excel/Sheets.
Notifications
In-app alerts
The 🔔 bell flags actionable items: runs awaiting approval, incomplete employee records, onboarding gaps, and benefits-enrollment reminders.
If email is configured, owners/admins also get a digest of new alerts.
Team & roles (RBAC)
Roles
Per company: Owner (full), Admin, Payroll Manager (run payroll), HR Manager (manage people), Finance and Viewer (read-only).
Manage the team
Settings is admin-only for branding/danger zone; the Team tab (admins) adds teammates by email and assigns roles. The Audit Log records key actions.
Security
Two-factor (2FA)
Settings → Two-Factor Authentication. Add the key to an authenticator app, verify a code, and 2FA is required at sign-in.
Single sign-on
‘Sign in with Google’ is available on the login and signup pages.
Data isolation
Every company's data is fully isolated; access is enforced by membership and role on every request. Sensitive payroll data (SSNs, bank) is held by the payroll processor, not stored here.
White-label branding
Customize a company
Settings → White-label Branding: set a display name, brand color, and logo. Owners can also delete a company in the Danger Zone.
FAQ
Are taxes filed and employees paid automatically?
Real tax filing and direct deposit run through an embedded payroll processor (Check). Until that's connected, runs compute gross/deductions/net for review; taxes show as estimates.
Can I cancel or adjust a run?
Yes — adjust line items, add/remove employees, or cancel while a run is in Draft (Reopen an approved run to edit). Paid runs are locked.
How do employees see their pay?
Give them portal access (Employees → Portal), then they sign in at /portal/login.
Need more help? Contact your StagIQ administrator.