QuickBooks for Contractors blog

Payroll for Work Hours & Drive Time Invoicing Problem

Nancy Smyth — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:36:49 +0000

Entering payroll for normal employee work hours and drive time and passing only the work hours through to client invoices is not only important but confusing. The following question was submitted by a reader who pays from the start of the first job till the end of the last job of the day (not including lunch break). I have my employees fill out a time tracker sheet each day that shows the time started at the first job till the end, drive time in between jobs, so on and so forth. I enter this into QuickBooks but I can't figure out where to enter in drive time to pay the girls their hourly wage on payroll but to not invoice anyone for drive time.

Deducting the Cost of Lost Equipment from an Employee’s Pay

Nancy Smyth — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:24:27 +0000

Can you deduct the cost of lost equipment from your employee’s pay? As a business owner I'm betting that on more than one occasion you have had an employee who has lost his company provided cell phone more than once and you've have to replace it.

Perhaps you want to recover the cost of the phone via a payroll deduction - before you do, read the rest of this article, because the answer depends first on state and federal restrictions and second on how much you want to deduct.

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/4 – 5/10/2012

Nancy Smyth — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:30:24 +0000

There is so much news and information floating around the web – it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. See what's in store this week!

QuickBooks Payroll Important System Maintenance Announcement

Nancy Smyth — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:13:49 +0000

An important QuickBooks Payroll System Maintenance Announcement - a system-wide upgrade will start at 6 p.m. on Thursday 5/24/2012 and continue through 5 a.m. on Tuesday 5/29/2012 - Direct Deposit will also be effected and don't forget that this is also the Memorial Day holiday weekend!

QuickBooks Payroll will not process direct deposit checks dated for Monday, May 28, 2012 due to the Memorial Day holiday. In order for your employees to receive their paychecks before Monday, May 28, you should change your paycheck date to Friday, May 25 and send your payroll by 5pm PT on Wednesday, May 23.

Construction Payroll, Should I Do It In-house or Outsource It?

Nancy Smyth — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:29:29 +0000

Construction payroll can be complex and many business owners wonder if they should hire a payroll clerk and issue payroll in-house or if they should outsource it. As a contractor a significant portion of your job costs involve payroll and labor burden (payroll taxes, worker's compensation insurance, general liability insurance, company paid fringe benefits etc.) and you need to have these numbers included in your job costing reports so you can analyze your bidding practices and know whether or not you made a profit on the job. If your payroll is not run through your accounting software you loose this vital piece of job costing information.

Penny Wise & Dollar Foolish Over QuickBooks 3rd Party Apps

Nancy Smyth — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:26:48 +0000

Are you being penny wise and dollar foolish over QuickBooks 3rd party apps and their price? Don't be ashamed, it happens to a lot of people. Many times a QuickBooks user will look at the cost of a 3rd party application and think - why should I spend the money on a third party application when I can just as easily do this task using Excel or some other way! This is insane, I've already spent a lot of money just to purchase QuickBooks. Ya, I get it - money is tight and we are all looking for ways to trim unnecessary dollars from our budgets - but are we sometimes being penny wise and dollar foolish? Many times I think that answer is "Yes". Here is a real situation that I was involved in just last week, I was talking with this gal who works for a contractor and she told that she had just spent a total of 7 1/2 hours RE-DOING and RECALCULATING 28 (twenty-eight) AIA billing in Excel for a project that they were working on because of a number of changes that had taking place along the way.

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 4/27-5/3/2012

Nancy Smyth — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:20:25 +0000

There is so much news and information floating around the web - it's difficult (at best) to keep up! I've added a Wordpress plug in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. This weeks news includes news about payroll, job costing, videos, accounting/taxes, social media/marketing, accounts payable, quotes, certified payroll/prevailing wage, QuickBooks, organization/productivity, small business, accounts receivable, technology, hiring, Excel, construction, QuickBooks 3rd party applications, and website/blog creation.

Merging Two Offices – Each Needing Access to QuickBooks

Nancy Smyth — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:15:06 +0000

What is the best way to have QuickBooks 2012 running at 2 different locations and having all staff able to use it regardless of location? I would recommend that you look into having your QuickBooks data file hosted by a reputable QuickBooks Hosting Provider. The Intuit Hosting Program allows end-users to have their licensed copies of QuickBooks desktop software installed on servers in an authorized remote hosting facility, and then access that software over the Internet on a virtual desktop via a secure connection and a web browser. Intuit has created a special program to authorize certain Commercial hosting companies. This article also contains a list of Intuit-Authorized Commercial Hosts.

Entering Bills or Checks in QuickBooks – Items vs. Expenses

Nancy Smyth — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:26:20 +0000

Your business spends money on a wide variety of things - employee payroll, payroll taxes, office supplies (such as paper and envelopes), utility bills, things that you purchase to resell to others, and goods or services from others are just a few examples. In essence every penny that your business spends is an expense to your business - but how you record the purchase in QuickBooks does make a difference. When entering bills, checks, or even credit card purchases in QuickBooks you have the choice to use an Items or Expenses tab - choosing the Items vs. Expenses tab will depend on what the money being spent was for.

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 4/20-4/26/2012

Nancy Smyth — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:35:29 +0000

How to Calculate & Display Retainage on an AIA G-702/G-703

Nancy Smyth — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:37:14 +0000

Retainage is a portion of the agreed upon contract price deliberately withheld until the work is substantially complete to assure that contractor or subcontractor will satisfy its obligations and complete a construction project. Retainage or retention can be: a fixed percentage of the contract - such as 10% of the value of the contract, a variable rate - such as 10% of the contract until the contract is 50% complete; at which time it is then reduced to 5%, OR a variable rate - such as retainage is held at 10% on labor and 0% on materials. The amount of retention that is held quite often signifies a portion of the contractors overall profit on the construction project.

Certified Payroll – Employees, 1099 Workers & Subcontractors

Nancy Smyth — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:32:35 +0000

The certified payroll report that your company submits to a general contractor, project owner, or contract administrator should contain information about your W-2 employees, the ones that work directly for you, are paid via payroll checks issued by your company and who you provide a W-2 for wages earned at the end of the year. When you enter into a formal contract for a portion of the prevailing wage/government funded construction project with a subcontractor, the subcontractor will submit a certified payroll report from his company to yours, listing their employees, the work classifications they fell under, hours worked on the project, wages, taxes, deductions, etc.

Messed Up QuickBooks file, Start a New File or Fix the Old One?

Nancy Smyth — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:29:14 +0000

Sometimes a QuickBooks file is just so messed up that you are left wondering should I start a new file or just fix the old one? There are several things that you need to take into consideration, the most important being have tax returns been filed using this information?

QuickBooks & Your Construction Business – What’s Your Gripe?

Nancy Smyth — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:32:10 +0000

We’ve talked with contractors who are frustrated with QuickBooks only to find that they aren’t utilizing many of the features that would provide them with the information that they were looking for. Likewise, we’ve talked with contractors who have taken that step into purchasing new construction-specific software and only use the base features of it because it was too difficult to learn, ended up resenting their purchase and came back to QuickBooks. What are your biggest gripes, problems, or issues when it comes to using QuickBooks in your construction business? Use the comment option to tell us your problems - but you need to be specific! We'll then take these comments and develop some training videos, live webinars, or eBooks.

ASA Seminar Payroll & Tax Strategies for Public Works Contractors

Nancy Smyth — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:07:13 +0000

Cash is "KING"! Public Works Construction and Prevailing Wage projects require advanced financial planning methods and tools along with an understanding of the ever-changing compliance requirements -- so that you get paid on time! I'm thrilled to be joining Steve Kuzmack, President of Fringe Benefit Experts for a comprehensive 2 hour - easy to understand seminar for the American Subcontractors Association - San Diego branch, on strategies for lowering labor costs and complying with certified payroll reporting requirements on Federal and/or State funded construction projects - including the impact of the new Compliance Monitoring Unit {CMU} and the required filing of electronic certified payroll reports.

Employee Social Security Numbers on Certified Payroll Reports

Nancy Smyth — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:35:08 +0000

Displaying employee social security numbers and addresses on certified payroll reports, which are ultimately public documents, causes privacy and identity theft concerns for many employers and employees - not to mention confusion over reporting requirements. Read this question submitted by a blog reader and our response.

Learn To Use QuickBooks In Your Construction Business

Nancy Smyth — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:33:49 +0000

Learn to use QuickBooks in your construction business is a new support and training site provides answers and techniques that are not available in the QuickBooks® Help file or even even QuickBooks® conferences designed for accounting professionals.

Troubleshooting an 80040408 – Could Not Start QuickBooks Error

Nancy Smyth — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:32:39 +0000

Quite often an 80040408 error when using QuickBooks and a 3rd party integrated application is the result of installing/using the two programs under the Windows administrator account on a Windows Vista or 7 computer. Learn how to create a new administrator account and change the original account into a standard user account.

More New Hire Reporting Requirements Go Into Effect 4/21/2012

Nancy Smyth — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:42:05 +0000

New hire reporting requirements are becoming overwhelming and there are new obligations that become effective on April 21, 2012.

QuickBooks Tip: How To Create a Summary Invoice for Customers

Nancy Smyth — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:40:10 +0000

This QuickBooks tip discusses how to create a summary invoice for a customer when you need to track details for job costing purposes.