Intuit‘s October 2026 product update for QuickBooks Online, published October 6, adds a way for businesses moving payroll from ADP or Gusto to import employee records and year-to-date pay history into QuickBooks Workforce. The same update brings Checkr background checks inside the product, starting at $29.99 per report, and lets Bill Pay users apply vendor credits when they schedule payments.

The switching tool is aimed directly at two rivals. According to Intuit’s post, a business that switches to QuickBooks Workforce from ADP or Gusto can import its employee and payroll reports, and AI extracts the data into employee records and a full year-to-date pay history. An Intuit expert then reviews exceptions such as duplicate deductions and tax edge cases, so the customer checks only the flagged items. The post does not say which Workforce tier the import requires or whether it is limited to new customers.

A second payroll change targets manual data entry. QuickBooks Workforce Premium and Elite users can upload a CSV or Excel file of payroll data in the Intuit Intelligence chat window. The company said the assistant extracts the data, asks for clarification where needed and shows a review table, and the data is added to payroll only after the user confirms it.

Background checks and job costing

Background checks can now be run from the hiring workflow, from employee profiles or from a Background checks overview page, through partner Checkr. Intuit’s post says the checks “start at $29.99 per report” and are built into employee onboarding. Some courts and agencies add passthrough fees, which are included in the invoice. The feature requires a QuickBooks Workforce subscription, and Checkr’s terms and additional fees apply.

The update also lets employers track service items by paycheck. Service items entered on timesheets flow into payroll, a single paycheck can be split across several service items, and the details carry through to job costing reports, so payroll costs can be allocated to jobs, customers or projects. Intuit lists the capability for QuickBooks Workforce Premium and Elite, and QuickBooks Online, and says it builds on custom dimension tagging introduced earlier in 2026.

On the payables side, QuickBooks Bill Pay users can now apply vendor credits while scheduling a payment, instead of relying on paper checks, outside tools or partial payments. The Pay bills screen lists each credit with its date, reference number and available balance. Users choose which credits to apply to which bills and how much of each, and the applied credits appear in the vendor’s email and remittance advice.

A business card tied to the books

The post also promotes the Intuit Business Credit Card, which is issued by WebBank. Intuit lists no annual fee, unlimited 2% cash back on everyday purchases, 5% cash back on Intuit products and services (excluding transactional fees such as merchant services) and a $300 bonus after $3,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening. Cash back is paid as a statement credit. The card syncs with QuickBooks bank feeds, matches captured receipts to transactions and allows unlimited virtual and physical cards for staff, with limits and controls. Full terms are set out in the cardholder agreement and rewards program terms linked from Intuit’s post.

Where Workforce fits

QuickBooks Workforce is the payroll and human capital management (HCM) product Intuit described in a product post earlier this year for small and mid-sized businesses in the US. It comes in three tiers that Intuit describes as upgrades of its earlier payroll plans: Workforce Payroll (from QuickBooks Payroll Core), Workforce Premium (from Payroll Premium) and Workforce Elite (from Payroll Elite). The company said Workforce is for eligible QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online Advanced and Intuit Enterprise Suite customers in the US, and that QuickBooks Payroll pays 18 million US workers.

According to that post, Workforce combines payroll, time tracking, time off, benefits administration, performance management, HR workflows, documents, and recruiting, onboarding and offboarding in one system connected to the accounting ledger. A Payroll Agent collects and validates time data, flags inconsistencies and runs payroll. The Elite tier includes tax penalty protection of up to $25,000.

Why it matters

Payroll history is the part of a provider switch that the new import tool addresses: Intuit says it brings over complete employee records and year-to-date payroll history, with an Intuit expert resolving duplicate deductions and tax edge cases. By naming ADP and Gusto in its own product notes, Intuit is addressing the effort of changing providers, not only adding features.

The in-product background checks and the link from timesheets to job costing follow the same pattern of pulling tasks that often sit in separate tools into QuickBooks. Intuit’s Workforce post cites its own estimate that small and mid-market businesses use 7 to 25 different tools, at an estimated $120,000 a year in software, a figure it attributes to its fiscal 2026 investor day and a 2024 survey.

The caveats

The details come from Intuit’s own product blog. The October post describes the features in the present tense but does not set out a rollout schedule, Workforce plan prices or availability outside its US English edition. Background check costs can exceed the $29.99 starting price once court and agency passthrough fees are added. Current plan prices and card terms are published on Intuit’s site.