Getting Started with Jebra Payroll: A Step-by-Step Onboarding Guide

Setting up payroll for the first time can feel like a lot — tax IDs, pay schedules, bank verification. This guide walks you through the entire Jebra onboarding flow, step by step, so you know exactly what to expect and what information to have on hand before you start.

The whole process takes about 15–20 minutes if you have your business details ready. Here's everything you'll go through, in order.

Before You Start

Have these on hand to move through onboarding without stopping to look things up:

• Your business's legal name and EIN (as they appear on your IRS confirmation letter)
• Your primary work location address
• Your state tax/EDD account number (if you already have one)
• Your company bank account details
• Whether you've paid any workers already this year (for tax history import)

Important Notice

• Lead Time: For your first payroll run with Jebra, there is a 4-business-day lead time for fraud prevention and compliance. For example, if you run payroll on Monday, your workers will be paid on Thursday. After your first successful payroll, we can reduce the lead time to 2 business days.

Step 1: Getting Started

When you first open Jebra Payroll, you'll land on your employer dashboard. This is your home base — from here you can see your setup checklist and jump into any step in whatever order works for you.

Click Let's get started on the checklist to begin, or Setup Employer from the top right to jump straight in.

Step 2: Basic Setup Questions

Next, Jebra asks a few quick questions to configure your account correctly:

• Do you have employees, contractors, or both? This determines which forms and tax rules apply to your team.
• Have you paid any workers this year already? If yes, Jebra can import your payroll history so your tax filings stay accurate for the full year — you don't have to start your records over from scratch mid-year.
• How did you pay them? (e.g. check, direct deposit, third-party service)
• What's your first payday with us? This sets the anchor date for your payroll calendar going forward.

None of these answers lock you in permanently — they just help Jebra pre-configure things correctly from day one.

Step 3: Add Your Work Location

Here you'll enter the physical address where your team actually works — not your tax filing address (you'll confirm that separately in Step 5). This matters because work location determines state and local tax obligations.

Fill in:

• Street address 
• Apt/unit number, if applicable
• City, state, and ZIP

You can also mark this as your default work location (used automatically for new hires) and your primary business address (where company mail and pay stubs reference back to).

Step 4: Set Up a Pay Group

A pay group is basically a calendar template - it tells Jebra how often you intend to pay your team (weekly, biweekly, twice a month, or monthly) so it can remind you ahead of paydays and flag upcoming bank holidays that might affect a deposit.

This is a placeholder, not a commitment. You're not locked into these exact dates going forward — you can run payroll on your own schedule any time. The pay group just gives Jebra something to calculate reminders and holiday conflicts against, so fill it in as accurately as you can, but don't stress over getting it perfect.

Step 5: Fill In Your Tax Info

This is the information Jebra uses to file payroll taxes on your team's behalf, so accuracy here matters. It's broken into a few short sections:

• Legal business name — enter this exactly as it appears on your IRS EIN confirmation letter (Form CP 575 or SS-4 approval)
• Tax filing address — defaults to your work location, or you can specify a different one
• EIN and federal deposit schedule
• State tax details — your EDD account number (or indicate you don't have one yet), your unemployment insurance rate, and your employment training tax rate. If you're not sure of your exact rate, Jebra offers a safe default you can update later.

Step 6: Add Your Company Bank Account

The final step connects the account you'll actually pay your team from.

You have two options:

1. Connect with Plaid — instant verification if your bank supports it.
2. Add manually — recommended if you're not familiar with Plaid or prefer not to link accounts directly. You'll sign a bank authorization form afterward.

Along with your bank details, you'll also review and sign your company documents (Federal Form 8655), which you can preview before signing. Note: you must own 25% or more of the company to be eligible to sign on the business's behalf.

Once your account is linked manually, Jebra sends two small micro-deposits to your bank account. You'll need to check your bank statement in a day or two and enter those amounts back into Jebra to verify ownership and complete setup.

You're All Set

Once your bank account is verified, your Jebra Payroll account is fully live — you're ready to add your workers and run your first payroll. If anything comes up during setup, contact support or revisit any step from your onboarding checklist at any time

.