Working with taxable and non-taxable items and customers in QuickBooks sometimes just freaks people out and causes them to over think the entire situation. I’m frequently asked how to do this by people who are setting up our AIA billing program – here’s a question that I received recently.
I am getting ready to set the AIA billing program {Construction Application for Payment Solution} up tomorrow and just have a few questions.
Should the income items each be posted to an income general ledger account? Or will I use the subtotal line to point to an income account? If I have to post each income item to an income account – I will have to do 2 sets of them, one for wholesale (no tax) and one for retail (taxable) and I would like to avoid this if possible. I guess though we will have to post them to an income account…..thoughts?
Should we use the group items to setup our labor and materials for the schedule of values? For example, when we bill the customer- we only want DEMOLITION to show up, but for our purposes we have the DEMOLITION broken into labor and material. It seems like this would be a good place to use group items?
Each of your QuickBooks Items/Cost Codes should be set up and linked to BOTH and Income and an Expense/Cost of Goods Sold Account otherwise you’ll never get any decent job costing reports.
Subtotal Items do not link to either an Income or an Expense Account – they simply add up the numbers above it and display the amount on the Estimate and Progress Invoices that you create.
Unless you want to track Wholesale and Retail Income individually on your Profit & Loss Report, there is no need to create two sets of Items. QuickBooks can handle both taxable and non-taxable customers and sales using the same item list. You’ll just want to make sure that you have two Sales Tax Items – one that actually charges the Sales Tax Rate and one that has a 0% rate for Non-taxable sales.
Below is a YouTube video that demonstrates the procedure and shows you what your Sales Tax Liability Report will look like if you do it correctly.
As for using group items to track labor and materials for a specific cost code, there are a couple of different options that you could use, depending upon the amount of detail that you want to track. But group items are definitely the way to go if you want to job cost more information than you want the customer to see.
I hope you’ve found this article to be informative, if so please take a moment to leave a comment or share it with others on your favorite social media network using the buttons below.
Freebie Friday! The work week is just about over (for some of us, that is).
This week’s Freebie is an AIA (G-702/G-703) Billing Training exercise.
Have you ever been asked to complete a G-702 and G-703 billing form and don’t know where to even start? If so, than this training exercise is just what the doctor ordered!
Most anyone will tell you that completing the AIA G-702 and G-703 forms by hand is frustrating and difficult. To fill out one correctly, you pretty much have to:
- forget about any basic accounting principals you’ve ever learned
- ignore change orders that have been submitted or approved, but not processed
- ignore money that is still outstanding from previously submitted applications for payment
You need to realize that the payment applications that you submit are an important piece of your overall cash flow management. When your payment applications get screwed up — bad things happen; none of which put you in “good standing” with the General Contractor or Project Owner, and can ultimately damage your company’s overall cash position.
The point is – you have NO choice except to learn how to fill out the AIA forms correctly!
This training file (zip file) is to be used in conjunction with the “What Is AIA Billing” page on our website, so you’ll want to go and print that page before you request the training exercise. Print What Is AIA Billing now, opens in a new window for your convenience.
IMPORTANT NOTE: To avoid confusion the instructions contained in this articles are instructions for MANUALLY completing an AIA Billing form and HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE USE OF OUR AIA BILLING SOFTWARE.
In order to obtain our free AIA Billing form, we’ll ask you to complete a short request form and then you will have instant access to download the zip file that contains the training exercise.
Request your training exercise here.
Have a great weekend everyone 
P.S. If you’d like to automate your AIA Billing task AND you use QuickBooks; click the green “Free 30 day trial” button on the left menu. Take our Construction Application for Payment Solution (CAPS) program for a test drive — it sure the heck beats filling these out by hand!
We’ve been testing, debugging, and documenting numerous certified payroll and AIA billing updates for the last few weeks – I’ve posted some of the information behind the changes here in our blog.
Today, I just send out a newsletter to over 2,000 construction companies (in all 50 states) who use our software – Glad I use Constant Contact to keep everyone up to date, otherwise they would get me for spamming
Below are highlights from the newsletter.
Certified Payroll Solution Updates:
There are several new enhancements, changes, and requirements available for Certified Payroll Solution; some at the State level for certified payroll reporting and others at the Federal level for EEOC Reporting – each item has a link to our website where you will find complete instructions. Be sure to visit our website to obtain the instruction on how to download & install the updates and implement any new changes that you will need to make.
- California DIR established Compliance Monitoring Unit and requires electronic certified payroll reports via a Labor Compliance Program (LCP) developed by TRS Consultants, Inc. Click here for details.
- New FHWA 1391 & 1392 Annual EEO Reports for Federal Highway Contractors – the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration revised both the 1391 & 1392 in June 2010. The new forms print on LEGAL SIZE paper and require that you report employees who are of two or more races separately. Click here for details.
- Texas DOT Requires Electronic Certified Payrolls {E-Payrolls} – The Texas Department of Transportation, like many other state agencies, is requiring electronic submission of certified payroll reports, through its Electronic Project Records System (EPRS). We have worked closely with representatives of Texas DOT to ensure that CPS will create the required .CSV file. The electronic upload has been tested and approved by Texas DOT. Click here for details.
- Revised Mississippi CAD-880 & CAD-881 Forms – Mississippi Department of Transportation (DOT) has revised their CAD-880 & CAD-881 Forms and updated forms are available to download. The Certified Payroll Report now includes the Race & Gender of each employee. Click here for complete details.
- New York City Housing Department Form Update – The New York City Housing Department is requiring that ALL certified payroll reports submitted on the Federal WH-347 form include the”Public Burden Statement”. Click here for complete details.
- Wisconsin Bug Fixes – corrects DOT Statement of Compliance check boxes and Department of Workforce Development Electronic upload error. Download CPS Version 5.0.440 and then download Wisconsin DOL forms.
- More Missouri revisions – including the ability to print the certified payroll report forms on either standard or legal-sized paper. Download CPS Version 5.0.440 and then download new State of Missouri forms.
- Alaska Electronic Certified Payroll Upload News – Over a year ago we were contacted by the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development to provide an electronic upload for their new on-line certified payroll filing. We worked closely with them to provide them with the correct information and upload type. A couple of weeks ago, we were contacted again and the system is now live. Download this brochure from the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, download this article for setting up CPS to generate the required files.
Construction Application for Payment Solution (AIA Billing Updates)
We’ve also been working on the Construction Application for Payment Solution (for AIA Billing). We’ve added new functionality and forms that have been requested by YOU, our customers. Each new item is listed below, if there are “special” instructions for implementing the new feature – be sure to click the link to visit our website and download ALL of the download & setup instructions that are available.
- Quantities on the Continuation Sheet – Currently this is a tested ALPHA release (Version 5.0.219), which provides Quantity Tracking (estimated, previous, current, stored, previously stored quantities and unit price can be tracked and printed with CAPS). New forms have been added with quantities. In some cases, prior form selection on jobs may be incorrect – check the Form Printing Options for each Job (Edit menu -> Jobs -> select Job -> Edit -> Printing tab -> check selection in the Select a plain paper form for this job. CAPS now provides 22 different plain paper invoicing formats for you to choose from.
- Contractor Qualification Statement – In April we released in BETA a Contractor Qualification Statement as part of the Construction Application for Payment Solution Program. Some, but not all of you have downloaded this update (Version 5.1.214) and it is currently in BETA until we hear more feedback from you.
- Plain Paper 706, 706A, 707 & 707A forms – In March, we released in BETA the ability to create complete 706, 706A, 707, & 707A forms using plain paper – rather than having to purchase AIA originals. Some, but not all of you have downloaded this update (Version 5.0.184) and it is currently still in BETA until we hear more feedback from you.
Sam Subcontractor already uses QuickBooks, he has more complex job costing needs due to certified payroll reporting requirements, payments of prevailing wage fringe benefits and AIA billing. High overhead costs, specialized equipment, materials, labor charges are other things that must be taken into consideration.
QuickBooks Estimating, Job Costing, and payroll needs will vary depending on the type of contractor you will be dealing with, so if anyone dares to suggest that one “Chart of Accounts or bookkeeping method” will work for all contractors – well you just shouldn’t listen to them, and here’s why:
Meet Sam Subcontractor:
I have worked for a lot of “Sam’s” they are great people too. They usually have the same basic philosophy as Harry the Handyman; however, because they have employees and bigger “operations” they realize that they need to consider more things when they go out to bid on a job; but they do not always realize all of what they need to take into consideration.
Sam has overhead costs, employees, specialized equipment, company vehicles, materials, and more that he needs to take into consideration when estimating. He works on private and prevailing wage jobs. When he works on prevailing wage jobs he has to pay his employees a much higher rate of pay plus prevailing wage fringe benefits and submit weekly certified payroll reports. Billing requirements for his jobs include Time & Materials and Percentage of Completion, where he needs to submit AIA billing forms and track retainage.
Sam tells you that he was just awarded a contract on an ARRA funded construction, the job will last about 18 months and he has to pay prevailing wages to his employees, submit certified payroll reports, monthly ARRA reports, and AIA format billings and will need to hire 5 additional employees. He is nervous – his workers comp and general liability insurance premiums are killing him; he knows that part of his high overhead is due to the fact that he is paying the prevailing wage fringe benefit it cash to his employees.
Sam has QuickBooks Pro 2008 and he has used it to run payroll for his employees. He has been using Excel to do his bidding, billing, certified payroll reports, and his job costing. He knows that he has to make sure that he is bidding high enough to make a profit and stay in business; yet not so high that he is no longer competitive.
Let’s look at some of Sam’s costs that you as his bookkeeper, ProAdvisor, CPA should help him identify for estimating and job costing purposes.
- Overhead – rent, phone, electric, trash service, etc.
- Liability Insurance
- Worker’s Compensation Insurance
- Wages (private & prevailing wage jobs)
- Employee Benefits – health insurance (?)
- Tool Purchases
- Materials
- Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefit Costs
- Insurance for vehicles and equipment
- Registration for vehicles and possibly some equipment
- Repairs to vehicles and equipment
- General Maintenance for vehicles and equipment
- Gasoline and/or Diesel fuel to run vehicles and equipment
- Vehicle & Equipment costs on his jobs
As a bookkeeper, ProAdvisor, or CPA with a client like Sam, you are going to have to spend some extra time helping Sam set up his books.
You will find that Sam is going to be more than willing to make changes – but that he is NO bookkeeper! He also knows that he needs to make things easier because he is spending too much time in the office doing paperwork – when he needs to be on the jobsite.
One of your biggest challenges with Sam will be communication – he is going to talk construction and you are going to be talking accounting…..learn his language and help him learn yours.
A basic plan of action for Sam would be to:
- Move his Excel based tasks into QuickBooks
- Turn his Estimating Cost Code list into a QuickBooks Item List
- Teach him to use the QuickBooks Estimate function to do his bidding
- Teach him how to use QuickBooks for Job Costing
- To automate his Time & Materials Billing
- To run Estimate vs Actual Reports so he can tell how much money he’s making & if he is bidding accurately
- Teach him how to job cost his payroll by using Weekly Timesheets
- Teach him to use Purchase Orders to track material purchases
- Implement Workers Comp and General Liability tracking
- Implement Vehicle and Equipment Costing procedures
- Implement a Retainage Tracking system
- Research ways in which to lower General Liability and Worker’s Compensation costs
- Implement QuickBooks integrated applications to deal with AIA Billing, Certified Payroll, and the ARRA Reporting
Sam will feel very overwhelmed and out of his element, he will probably want to hire you for on-going review of his QuickBooks file, just to make sure that he is doing things right – he may even want to hire you to come in on a weekly basis to help him out.
TIP: Paying prevailing wage fringes in cash will increase Sam’s General Liability and Worker’s Compensation costs, especially if they are based on gross payroll instead of gross sales.
Request our free eBook on 4 Ways Contractors Pay Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefits.
An infusion of federal infrastructure funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) have had and will continue to put more contractors and their employees back to work. Federal investment in Public Works projects will create jobs throughout the country and not just construction jobs.
While additional public infrastructure projects will allow the construction industry to maintain their current workforce and will even necessitate hiring more workers. You will also see contractors who have previously worked on other types of construction projects (residential and/or commercial) begin bidding on newly created Public Works projects.
This will also encourage contractors to purchase equipment, thus preserving and creating manufacturing jobs.
As a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor or Accounting Professional who is working with construction clients – you are entering into a very challenging experience!
More demand for construction savvy accounting professionals.
Contractors who will perform work on these government funded public works construction projects will face new bookkeeping, accounting, and compliance issues that they may not have faced before, therefore, they will be seeking help and advice (aka consulting time) from construction savvy accounting professionals who support QuickBooks – specificically in the areas of improved job costing and the preparation and submission of certified payroll reports; which are required on government funded construction projects valued over $2,000.00.
The terms “construction and contractors” are vague and widely misused terms which cover everyone from the local handyman who makes repairs/improvements on your house to the contractor who is building or repairing a bridge on your local highway.
Let’s talk about construction projects
In general, there are three types of construction projects that contractors can be involved in, each having their own unique accounting and compliance issues:
- Non-Residential Building which includes the actual process of building, creating, or repairing commercial, manufacturing, educational, religious, administrative, recreational, hotel, dormitory, and other actual buildings. These types of project may require the submission of AIA format billings and/or certfied payroll reports – in order for the contractor to be paid.
- Residential Building which includes the actual process of building, creating, or repairing single family homes, multi-family homes, and apartments and other buildings of this nature. These types of projects may require the submission of AIA format billings – in order for the contractor to be paid.
- Heavy/Highway, Industrial, or Non Building construction which includes the building or repair of streets, highways, bridges, dams, reservoirs, river and harbor developments, sewage and water supply systems, missile and space facilities, airports, utilities, public works projects, and communication systems; just to name a few. These types of projects may require the submission of AIA format billings and/or certified payroll reports – in order for the contractor to be paid.
AIA format billing is a “standardized” method of billing developed by the American Institute of Architects.
