Productivity - Setup Guide

How to set up OnPay

Otto's honest, no-fluff walkthrough. Every step here is what we'd actually do if we were sitting at your keyboard. Real gotchas first, real steps second, and a link to the personalized version at the bottom.

Read these before you start

• OnPay's own Terms of Service state that penalties resulting from a negligent error or omission in performing payroll tax services are subject to reimbursement — worth knowing this exists as a contractual protection, but also worth knowing it exists because tax filing errors are a real, documented risk category, not a hypothetical one
• Better Business Bureau complaints include at least one documented case of a failure-to-deposit IRS penalty (over $500) plus a separate case involving an IRS Notice of Intent to Levy with penalties and interest accruing, tied to disputes over OnPay's tax filing execution and responsiveness in resolving the issue — these are serious, real-money failure modes when they occur, not minor billing gripes (Source: Better Business Bureau OnPay complaints, https://www.bbb.org/us/ga/atlanta/profile/business-services/onpay-inc-0443-28040393/complaints)
• Despite the above, OnPay holds a strong 4.8/5 average across 450+ Capterra reviews, with hands-on support cited as a genuine strength — the tax-filing failure cases appear to be a minority outcome, not the norm, but any payroll provider handling tax remittance carries this category of risk and it should be disclosed, not assumed away
• Because OnPay automates tax filing entirely, an owner who doesn't independently verify filings has less visibility into a mistake until a penalty notice arrives — recommend the client periodically spot-check filed confirmations rather than assuming silence means success

The 7-step setup

1. 1

   Create your OnPay account

   Sign up at the link below. Card required for the paid tier - most plans include a trial period; check the pricing section on this page first so you know what you're committing to.

   Open OnPay signup
2. 2

   Complete the initial onboarding

   Skip the marketing questionnaires when you can. Fill only the fields that actually configure the product - name, timezone, your first workspace or project. If OnPay pushes you into a setup wizard, take it - it usually accelerates the first productive session.

3. 3

   Connect your existing tools

   Wire OnPay into the rest of your stack. The integrations that most people set up first: QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks.. Do these before importing data - clean integration first, data second.

4. 4

   Import your existing data (only what you'll actually use)

   Do NOT bulk-import everything. Import the last 30 days of the ONE workflow you're moving over first. Prove it works. Then import more. Big-bang migrations are how OnPay deployments die in month 3.

5. 5

   Set up your first real workflow

   Pick the single most-frequent task you'll do in OnPay - the daily-driver workflow. Configure it end-to-end. Use it live for a week. Do not touch any other feature yet. Adoption failure comes from teams trying to use everything on day one instead of the one thing that actually pays.

6. 6

   Add your team (if applicable) and set access

   Once your solo workflow works, invite one teammate at a time. Watch them use it. The friction points you missed are the ones they hit. Fix those before scaling to more users. Never invite 20 people at once - you'll get 20 confused people and 0 useful feedback.

7. 7

   Compound with the right pairings

   Recommend OnPay when: the client is a small business (1-50 employees), especially trades, restaurants, or nonprofits, wanting simple flat-rate payroll with tax filing included and doesn't need a broader HR/IT platform. Do NOT recommend as a "set and forget" solution — flag that periodic spot-checking of filed tax confirmations is good practice with any automated payroll tax filer, referencing the documented BBB cases as the reason, not as a reason to avoid OnPay outright (its overall review reco...