How to cancel Square Payroll

Before you cancel: three things to wrap up

Cancelling is the last step, not the first. Knock out these three and the rest is paperwork.

1. Your final payroll

• Run every payroll you want Square Payroll to handle before you submit the cancellation, including any bonus run or a final check for someone who’s leaving.
• Mind the check date. The day people get paid decides which quarter, and which year, a payroll counts in.³ A pay period ending Dec 31 that pays on Jan 8 belongs to the new year.
• Line it up with your next provider’s first payday so nobody misses a check and nobody gets paid twice. The Switch Planner works backward from that date.

2. Tax filings and year-end forms

• One provider files each quarter. If two providers both file a quarterly return for the same quarter, the second one gets rejected, so agree on who files what.⁴
• Form 941 is quarterly, due by the last day of the month after each quarter ends.⁵ Ask Square Payroll in writing which quarters it will file for you.
• W-2s: 2026 W-2s are due February 1, 2027.⁶ If you leave mid-year for Gusto, Gusto files the full year’s W-2s using your year-to-date numbers, and your old provider shouldn’t file them too.⁴
• See your federal deposits yourself. The IRS suggests employers who use a payroll company enroll in EFTPS, where you can check that deposits were made.⁷

3. Export your records

Download these while you still have full access and keep them in one folder. The IRS asks employers to keep employment tax records for at least four years after the fourth-quarter return for the year is filed.⁸

• Payroll registers and pay stubs for this year and last.
• Year-to-date totals per person, including people who left this year. Your next provider needs these.⁴
• Filed returns and confirmations: 941s, 940, state withholding and unemployment returns, plus tax payment history.⁸
• W-2s, W-3s and 1099s from earlier years.
• W-4s and state withholding forms for every employee.⁸
• I-9s, if your provider stores them. Keep each one for three years after the hire date or one year after the person leaves, whichever is later.⁹

How to cancel Square Payroll

1. Download everything. In Square Payroll, open Payroll history, choose View all, then Download reports: Paycheck Details, Employee Totals, Company Totals and paystubs. Tax forms are under Staff, then Payroll, then Tax forms. Downloads work from a computer.¹⁰
2. Ask Square support which filings it will make for the period it ran, and get the answer in writing. Square suggests asking a former provider exactly which tax payments and filings it will handle when you switch mid-quarter.²
3. Run your last Square payroll.
4. Unsubscribe last. Settings, then Account & Settings, then Pricing & subscriptions, then Unsubscribe from Payroll.¹

Square Payroll is listed as its own subscription under Pricing & subscriptions. Ask Square support if you’re not sure how a change affects the rest of your Square plan.

Notice, fees and timing

• It’s a one-way door. Square says closing Square Payroll can’t be undone.¹
• Want a break, not a goodbye? Square lets you pause payroll for up to nine months instead, with no subscription charge during the pause. Square keeps filing taxes while you’re paused, and the account resumes when you send a pay run or when the nine months end.¹
• Year end is the easy time. Square’s own guide suggests making your last pay date with the old provider fall before December 31 when you switch at the new year.²

Terms vary by plan and by contract. Check your contract, and get the end date and the list of filings Square Payroll will still make in writing.

After you cancel

• Taxes collected but not yet sent? When a switch happens mid-quarter, Square’s guide says the previous provider should refund quarterly taxes it collected but didn’t submit, and the new provider collects them again.² Ask Square to confirm how that works for your account.
• Keep your downloads in one folder with the confirmation from Square support.

Switching, not just stopping?

If you’re moving to another payroll provider, cancel Square Payroll last. Here’s the whole move in order:

• Switch from Square Payroll to Gusto, step by step: what to export, timing and Gusto setup.
• Switch Planner, starting from Square Payroll: a dated plan from your team, states and paydays.
• Square Payroll vs Gusto: pricing and features side by side, including where Square Payroll wins.
• Switching payroll mid-year: what carries over and why a quarter start is easiest.

Every business is a little different, so check with your CPA for your situation. Good CPAs love a clean switch, and they’re on your team.

Your next step

Two moves, in this order. First, let the free Switch Planner turn your team, states and paydays into a dated plan. Then open Gusto when you’re ready. You won’t be doing it alone, and we’ll help you get every step right.

FAQ: cancelling Square Payroll