Payroll Tips | QuickBooks for Contractors blog

02Jun 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip – Replacing a Lost Employee Paycheck

Payroll Tips

A QuickBooks payroll tip for replacing a lost employee paycheck. I'm sure that you've all run into this situation at one time or another: an employee sheepishly comes to you and tells you that he's lost his paycheck, it was run through the washer, blew out the car window on his way to the bank, he can't find it, etc. - and he NEEDS his money! This situation can create quite a quandary for some business owners and their payroll clerks about how to replace this lost check. The immediate need is to reissue the paycheck. Follow these easy steps to replace a lost employee paycheck: Go the Employee Center, click on the Employees tab and click on the Employees name to display his payroll history Write down the Number…

31May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip – Voiding Paychecks

Payroll Tips

A QuickBooks payroll tip about voiding paychecks - you should be very careful when choosing to void a paycheck because payroll checks have associated tax and other liability calculations and payments that need to be taken into consideration and it will result in changing payroll year-to-date amounts. A common, and acceptable, reason to void a paycheck would be if the employee or someone else in your company notices an error on the check before it is cashed - in this situation voiding the check is acceptable because it will not have a negative impact on payroll liability calculations - because those liabilities have not yet been paid. Be VERY careful about voiding a check if the employee has never picked it up - or it cannot be delivered to the…

25May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

The Benefits of Paying Prevailing Wage Fringes to a Bona-fide Plan

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, Payroll Tips

The benefits of paying the Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefit portion to bona-fide plan is often misunderstood by employers and employees alike. Prevailing wage jobs, those jobs that are subject to the Davis-Bacon Act and/or State Prevailing Wage Laws, require that all laborers and mechanics {including tradesmen such as carpenters, equipment operators, painters, pipefitters, plumbers, etc.) who perform work on the jobsite are to be paid a set base rate of pay PLUS an hourly fringe benefit rate. Union contractors automatically pay the total hourly fringe benefit rate to the union hall on behalf of the employee, usually splitting the full hourly rate into specific "funds" - Health & Welfare, Pension, Vacation, etc. When this happens the Union contractor doesn't pay payroll taxes, worker's compensation, or general liability insurance on this…

23May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Creating a More Meaningful Payroll Expenses Section

Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

QuickBooks, by default, offers a single account called Payroll Expenses in your Chart of Accounts and all of the pre-programmed Payroll Items for wages and taxes are assigned to that one single account. When a business owner runs a Profit & Loss Report, when QuickBooks is set up in this manner, the report doesn't really provide him with any real idea of how much he paid in wages vs. taxes because it’s all just lumped together in a single amount. [caption id="attachment_2183" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Right click on the image to enlarge it"][/caption] I find this to be very frustrating because it means that you have to run additional reports and perform additional calculations in order to determine very basic information. Previously, we covered creating a more functional Payroll Liabilities section…

16May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip-Creating a Functional Payroll Liabilities Section

Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

A QuickBooks Payroll Tip for creating a more functional Payroll Liabilities section on your Chart of Accounts. QuickBooks, by default, provides a limited Payroll Chart of Accounts containing only two accounts - Payroll Liabilities and Payroll Expenses. When you run a Balance Sheet or a Profit & Loss Report (or look at your Chart of Accounts listing) you only see the totals with no details and have to run further reports to find the individual amounts that make up the totals. I find this to be problematic. This article will show you how to add sub-accounts to the standard Payroll Liabilities account so that you can quickly and easily "see" the individual amounts for each payroll liability and how to edit your existing payroll items to accurately point to these…

11May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip-Tracking Employee Advance/Loan Repayments

Payroll Tips

Tracking employee advance or loan repayments can easily become part of your normal QuickBooks payroll function and is a must for companies that do have a policy that allows giving employees advances/loans for personal reasons. Earlier this week, in our post QuickBooks Payroll Tip - Tracking Employee Advances or Loans, we discussed three different ways in which to record an advance or loan that was given to an employee. Today we will discuss how to track repayment of that loan through an agreed upon payroll deduction that will continue until the loan is paid in full by the employee. Create a payroll deduction item to record the loan repayment If your payroll item list doesn't currently have a payroll deduction item to record loan repayments, you will need to add…

09May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip – Tracking Employee Advances or Loans

Be A Better Bookkeeper, Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Corner, QuickBooks Tips & Tricks

Tracking employee advances or loans in QuickBooks on future paychecks is a must for those companies that has a policy that allows giving employees advances/loans for personal reasons. There are three ways in which to record an employee advance or loan: Including it with the employees regular paycheck Writing a regular check Giving the employee cash from the company Petty Cash account Step 1 - Create an Other Current Asset Account to track employee advances/loans The first thing that you need to do - or have in place - is an Other Current Asset type account in your QuickBooks Chart of Accounts to track the money that is given to the employee. If you need to create the account: From the Lists menu -> choose Chart of Accounts Click the…

20Apr 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Another Independent Contractor Red Flag Issue Q&A

IRS Information, Payroll Tips

A nonexempt employee working a second job as an independent contractor for your organization is a red flag for the IRS, the DOL, and state agencies. So, make sure that your employee’s second job really meets the independent contractor criteria or be prepared to pay overtime. -------------------------------------------------------------- Question: We have a nonexempt employee who has offered to do landscaping work outside of his normal 40-hour week for our organization. Can we treat him as an independent contractor when he is doing this work? We would normally hire an outside company for landscaping. Answer: If the employee’s landscaping job meets the criteria for an independent contractor job, then you may classify him as such. If he does not meet the criteria, however, any additional work that he performs for your organization…

18Apr 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Prevailing Wage Fringes-Taking Credit for Company 401k Contributions

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips

Taking a credit against the full prevailing wage fringe benefit for company paid 401k contributions and reporting it correctly on the Federal WH-347 Certified Payroll Report can be very confusing. This question was asked by a reader who recently requested our 4 Ways Contractors Pay Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefits eBook. We are a non-union shop working on prevailing wage jobs; our Company offers a 401k plan and the company contributes 4% of our employee's gross wages to the 401k. We understand that the 401k plan is considered a bona-fide plan, but how do we take an hourly credit when our contributions are based on a percentage of gross? Currently we just look at an employee's gross wages for the month and make the calculations and contributions. ------------------------------------------------ Taking a credit…

15Apr 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Freebie Friday – Free Book – Hire Your First Employee

Payroll Tips

Free book offer - Hire Your First Employee. Written by Rhonda Abrams and Presented by Intuit Payroll. Thinking of hiring an employee? Great! Now what? Right now, you might have more questions than answers, or not know where to start. Rhonda Abrams will help you get it straight – starting with a free copy of “Hire your first Employee”, compliments of Intuit Payroll. This important guide shows you how to select and motivate key employees for your business. You'll learn how to: Find the right employees for your business Handle payroll accurately and on time Minimize the red tape that comes with being an employer Call 1- 877- 813- 5708 for more information OR Click here to request your copy. NOTE: This is a limited time offer - order your…

11Apr 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip-Setting Up General Liability Insurance Tracking

Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

QuickBooks Payroll, when properly set up, is capable of tracking and including the cost of your General Liability Insurance; as well as many of the other things that costly construction software does automatically - with a little more effort on your part and without the big price tag. Tracking General Liability Insurance, when it is based on gross payroll, and getting those costs into Job Costing Reports is vital for many businesses, especially the construction industry. NOTE: The best time to implement this procedure is when your General Liability Insurance Policy period starts. The following instructions will allow you to track your General Liability Insurance costs when it is based on gross payroll and get those costs into your job costing reports without making complex journal entries. It will also…

28Mar 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Are Your QuickBooks Certified Payroll Reports Accurate? How to Check

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Corner, The "Sunburst" Website

Verifying the accuracy of the certified payroll reports that you can generate from QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise versions - IF you also subscribe to Enhanced Payroll, is a must for anyone in the construction industry. I've been watching the posts on the Intuit Community Forums about the alternate, substitute U.S. Department of Labor WH-347 certified payroll reports that can be generated if you have QuickBooks Premier or Enterprise AND an Enhanced Payroll Subscription. It seems like many people want to know how to generate the reports, if the reports are approved through the DOL (Department of Labor), why they have suddenly stopped working, how to issue "No Work Performed Reports", and how to tell if the reports they are generating are accurate. This article will focus on the requirements of…

21Mar 2011 by Nancy Smyth

How to Set Up Timetracking – #QuickBooks Tip

Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

How to set up timetracking and use QuickBooks timesheets is a question that I see nearly every day on the Intuit Community forums. There are several ways in which you can enable timetracking in QuickBooks. When you create a new QuickBooks company file using the File -> New Company option and go through the EasyStep Interview there is a window that specifically asks "Do you want to track time in QuickBooks?" [caption id="attachment_1974" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Right click on the image to enlarge it"][/caption] If your QuickBooks company file wasn't set up using the EasyStep Interview, turning on timetracking and timesheets is an easy task, but you'll find that it is slightly more hidden. Turning on timesheets will require that you be logged into QuickBooks in single user mode as the…

17Mar 2011 by Nancy Smyth

12 Tips for Ensuring Fair Labor Standards Act Compliance

IRS Information, Payroll Tips

Fair Labor Standards Act audits are on the rise, according to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. Most of these audits will reveal that common everyday business practices often result in unpaid “work” hours that 70% of employers have no idea are unlawful, but do in fact, violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Below are 12 tips that you should implement in your business to ensure that you are in compliance, while this is not an all inclusive list these items will help you move in the right direction. Require your hourly employees to accurately record their work hours and to submit a timesheet that they certify as being accurate to a manager or supervisor; in a timely manner. Make it mandatory for supervisors and/or managers to review timesheets submitted…

16Mar 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Are You Unknowingly Violating the Fair Labor Standards Act?

IRS Information, Payroll Tips

Common everyday business practices result in unpaid "work" hours that 70% of employers have no idea are unlawful, but do in fact, violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Below are 5 example of what is considered to be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act: Punching in early (or punching out late) - for example an employee punches in 15 minutes before starting time. If you are audited, you would have to prove that employee who punched in early was not working. The Department of Labor assumes that an employee who has punched in is working. Downtime - for example an employee's normal workday starts at 9, but they have a long drive and have to drop children off in two different places, so they end up getting…

Category: Payroll Tips