> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bolto.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Creating a Pay Schedule & Payroll Group

> How pay frequencies, pay periods, paydays, and payroll groups work on Bolto.

## Pay schedules

A pay schedule decides how often employees are paid. Create one from **Payroll → Pay schedules → Create pay schedule** with:

* **Name**
* **Pay frequency**: weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly, quarterly, or annually
* **First pay period end date**: the last day of work covered by the first paycheck (see the video below for more info)
* **First payday**: when money lands in employees' accounts (semimonthly schedules take a second payday too)

Opening a schedule shows every upcoming pay period, payday, and approval deadline.

*See the video below for more information on creating a pay schedule.*

<video src="https://mintcdn.com/bolto/34TTNL_9Z40bobKR/videos/How-to-Create-a-Pay-Schedule-in-Bolto.mp4?fit=max&auto=format&n=34TTNL_9Z40bobKR&q=85&s=78bb1c0e3aa0d1155afa6d74ffc1e24a" controls data-path="videos/How-to-Create-a-Pay-Schedule-in-Bolto.mp4" />

### Choosing a frequency

| Frequency | Paychecks a year | Lands on |
| - | - | - |
| Weekly | 52 | The same weekday each week |
| Biweekly | 26 | The same weekday every two weeks. The date shifts each month. |
| Semimonthly | 24 | Fixed dates, usually the 15th and last day of the month |
| Monthly | 12 | One fixed date a month |
| Quarterly | 4 | One fixed date a quarter |
| Annually | 1 | One fixed date a year |

If you want employees paid on the same dates every month, choose semimonthly, not biweekly. Bolto doesn't support pay periods of custom lengths.

<Note>
  Pay schedules can't be deleted once created, but an unused schedule has no effect. If you need different dates, create a new schedule and move employees to a group that uses it.
</Note>

***

## Payroll groups

Employees are paid through payroll groups. Each group has one pay schedule and one bank account. Bolto gives you a default group, and employees go into it automatically, so you don't need to create a group to run payroll. Bolto drafts a payroll for each active group every pay period.

Create more groups from **Payroll → Payroll → Create new payroll group**. You can move employees between groups and deactivate or reactivate groups.

*See the video below for a walk through of creating a payroll group and running your first payroll from it.*

<video src="https://mintcdn.com/bolto/VTZLfHjaLAP9mpJv/videos/How-to-Create-a-Payroll-Group-in-Bolto.mp4?fit=max&auto=format&n=VTZLfHjaLAP9mpJv&q=85&s=a826a9d90e040cd4ce85e91b224ae853" controls data-path="videos/How-to-Create-a-Payroll-Group-in-Bolto.mp4" />

Each group's card shows the current pay period, gross, taxes, and net totals, and a countdown to the approval deadline, in US Eastern Time.

### When to use more than one group

* When salaried and hourly employees are on different schedules
* When one group of employees is eligible for Auto-Pay and another isn't. See [Running Payroll.](/payroll/running-payroll)
* When you want to separate payroll by team or department, e.g. a sales-only payroll group that includes commissions and bonuses.

### Moving an employee to another group

While in the group, click the "X" button next to any employees you want to remove from the group. From your new group, click "add employees" and select one or multiple employees to add.

### Deactivating a group

Groups with history can't be deleted, but you can deactivate one to prevent it from drafting payrolls. Deactivate the old group after you've moved everyone to a new one.

***

## Bank account

Each group debits one bank account. Manage accounts under **Organization → Banking & Payments**. If you change your default account, check which groups are still on the old one before the next approval deadline.


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