Payroll Schedules & Direct Deposit
Understanding Processing Times & Deadlines
When you partner with Fireside Tax + Patriot Software, you start on a 4-day processing time for direct deposit.
Submit payroll Monday → Employees paid Friday (for the previous week’s hours).
When you partner with Fireside Tax + ADP
Assuming your pay day is Friday, we will submit your payroll by the Wednesday prior to pay day.
Payroll Submission Deadlines
No matter which payroll partner you choose, we prefer all payroll information to be submitted Mondays no later than 2pm.
All time cards should be approve before Monday morning so our team has full access to process payroll.
Direct Deposit Holiday Payroll Adjustments
For those on 4 day processing time, holidays during the pay week require the payroll to be submitted one business day earlier.
If payday falls on a holiday, payroll must be submitted earlier no matter if the processing time is 2 day or 4 day.
Example: July 4, 2025 (Friday payday) → Payroll must be submitted by the Friday before.
✅ Good news: Many of our clients qualify for expedited processing, keeping all payroll deadlines set to Monday-eliminating most holiday disruptions, however you do need to prepare your payroll funds for earlier withdrawal.
You can avoid all processing time headaches by pre-funding your payroll and building a payroll reserve.
Understanding Your Payroll Schedule
Direct deposit has the added requirement of staying on a routine and meeting deadlines. To help, we can give you a payroll schedule so you know when the bank holidays are, and what to submit when.
| Pay Period Start | Pay Period End | Submit Payroll Info By | Pay Date |
| Example: 7/26/2026 | 8/1/2026 | 8/3/2026 | 8/7/2026 |
| This is when the weekly pay period begins | This is when the weekly pay period ends | This is your deadline to submit payroll info | This is pay day |
Generally, direct deposit is withdrawn on Tuesdays and taxes are withdrawn Thursdays. Make sure your payroll funds are available by close of business on Monday.
Expedited Payroll
For well qualified clients, you can join expedited payroll to have a 2 day processing time instead of 4. What makes you qualified, after you run a few regular 4 day processing payrolls with us and on direct deposit we can apply you for 2 day processing. We still treat deadlines like 4 day processing just toi give enough time to correct mistakes or make adjustments from any involved party. Please consider having a reserve built up for payroll funds and learn how you can slowly achieve that here.
What This Means for You
Previously, our partner Patriot Software required 4 business days to process payroll. This meant that during normal weeks, funds were withdrawn on Tuesday and disbursed on Friday (assuming your pay day is a Friday). During holiday weeks, 5 days were required to ensure timely deposits.
Now, with expedited payroll:
Normal weeks: Processing time is reduced to just 2 business days.
Holiday weeks: Processing time is reduced to 3 business days. (Meaning submit on Monday, we run Monday and your employees are paid on time Friday)
Please continue to report payroll on Mondays (when you would normally report), even if there’s a holiday. With this new feature, you won’t need to worry about submitting on a Friday again—as long as we’re with Patriot and they maintain this benefit at no additional cost.
When your payday is on a different day we just have to take extra time to figure it out and make things work. Sometimes that does mean changing your payday especially when direct deposit is in the mix. We do try our best to keep how you operate as normal as possible.
If payroll falls on a week with a Friday holiday like July 4th, 2025 deposits will occur earlier (e.g., July 3rd). While this holiday change doesn’t technically alter your normal Monday reporting deadline, I will push to process payroll, for those affected, as early as possible to ensure everything runs smoothly.
If you neglect to fund expedited payroll:
You are required to fund the payroll by wire transfer immediately and you are held responsible for all fees. Additionally, you are downgraded to 4 day processing.
If you neglect direct deposit or tax withdrawals more than once:
We have policies in place to remove your company from direct deposit and we will meet with you to discuss issues.
December:
During the last two weeks of the year, Fireside Tax does close the office until the January 2nd (or next business day). Payroll continues to run as usual during this closure. We do like to process as much payroll as we can though before the closure.
• If your pay date is not on a Friday, I’ll follow up to discuss how this change impacts your schedule.
Expedited Amount Limits
There are limits to the total amount you can process per pay period. However, your payroll amounts are usually well within these limits, so this shouldn’t be a concern.