Questions from our readers
Working with QuickBooks® can sometimes be SO FRUSTRATING that you just want to tear your hair out! Especially when you are trying to do a specific task and can’t find any information on how to do it – or the information you find is totally worthless.
This section contains questions that have been submitted by our readers (and you are welcome to submit a question too). Just remember, some questions are easy to answer and others aren’t – ESPECIALLY if you don’t provide enough information!
NOTE: I’m happy to answer most QuickBooks® related questions, however, some questions will end up requiring that you purchase training/consulting time.
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Certified Payroll-Numbering and “No Work” Performed Reports
You should submit and number the certified payroll reports sequentially, beginning with payroll #1 starting on the first week that you actually have employees working on the job site and for every week afterward until you have completed the work that you were hired to do.
"No Work" payrolls should be submitted whenever there is a temporary break in your work on the project and, therefore, you will have no employees on the job site. For example, you have employees working on the job site weeks 1-4; but on week 5 and 6 you have no employees on the job site - then for weeks 5 and 6 you would submit "No Work Performed" payrolls for those weeks.
Continue readingEntering Historical Paychecks – Payroll Taxes and the Accounts They Post To
Setting up QuickBooks payroll and entering historical data can be quite confusing. Thankfully, there is a built in Payroll Setup Wizard that will help you through the rough spots; like creating payroll tax items and accounts and entering historical payroll data.
Still there are choices to make. Will you be processing future payrolls through QuickBooks - if so you'll need a payroll subscription. If you use an outside payroll service and just want to get that payroll data into your company file - then turning on manual payroll might be the way to go.
When it comes to entering historical data, there are a couple of ways to do it. But the method you choose should be based on how valuable job-costed payroll is.
Continue readingHow-to Customize a Report – One Employee for All Jobs Worked
Customizing reports in QuickBooks is often a huge source of frustration for users. Here's a great example of just how frustrating it can be. This question was submitted by a reader of our blog.
This question involves wanting to create a report for one specific employee, on all jobs worked, over a specific time frame.
Continue readingJob Costing Payroll When Using a Payroll Service
Using an outside payroll service, such as Paychecx or ADP, is a popular option for many business owners. While using a payroll service often provides many benefits one of the biggest challenges or drawbacks is for the company that needs job costing. See this question submitted by a reader.
My company uses a 3rd party to do all of our payroll. We receive an itemized report back showing what we spent for the week. I am having trouble trying to get this information charged out to individual jobs. I track all of the hours separately in Excel, with estimated costs. How can I job cost this information?
Continue readingTracking Timesheet Hours vs Hours Invoiced
A reader asks - I'm looking for a report so I can compare hours reported via the timesheet or really hours that have been paid out Vs. the hours that have been paid for or Invoiced.
See what reports we've suggested.
Continue readingBilling Employee Time to Customers
Billing employee time on customer invoices is something that many business need to do - not just contractors who perform Time & Materials Billing. Making sure that you bill all of the time your employee(s) have spent working on specific jobs or tasks for customers is crucial and depends data that you've entered in QuickBooks. Here's a question from a reader.
Continue readingCSI Masterformat Contractor Item List
The CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) MasterFormat contractor item list is a standard item list used for most commercial building design and construction projects in North America. It lists titles and section numbers for organizing data about construction requirements, products, and activities. The latest version, revised in April 2012, contains 48 main categories or divisions. Two readers have asked questions recently about the CSI MasterFormat list - here's what they had to say.
Continue readingReporting Fringe Benefits Paid in Cash on Certified Payroll
Reporting fringe benefits paid in cash on the Federal WH-347 Certified Payroll Report has specific requirements which the built-in QuickBooks report cannot handle. Here is a question from a reader who is using the certified payroll report provided in the QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll subscription asking how cash fringes should be reported because her reports are being rejected because they aren't reporting the cash payment correctly.
This article will explain how any cash paid in lieu of fringe benefits on prevailing wage projects is supposed to be reported on the WH-347 form and why the built-in QuickBooks certified payroll report isn't handling it correctly.
Continue readingWage Restitution and Certified Payroll Revisions
Wage restitution and certified payroll revisions happen when you miss an update to the wage determination which increases the prevailing wage rate and the fringe benefit rate or perhaps you weren't informed until after working on the project for several weeks/months that this project was subject to prevailing wage.
Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of clear guidelines for submitting revised certified payroll reports, however, I've had experience in following two different sets of requirements, which I've outlined in this article.
Continue readingRecording Transactions in QuickBooks
Recording transactions in QuickBooks can sometimes cause a lot of confusion. See this question submitted by a reader asking about how to record payments made on line - such as credit card and EFTPS payments as well as how to record petty cash transactions.
Continue readingCreating a Simple Invoice for Taxable & Non-Taxable Items
Nancy Smyth, Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.QuickBooks Construction & Payroll Expert
I've been using and supporting QuickBooks products since the early 1990's. I've worked with thousands of contractors, assisting them with QuickBooks setup, Certified Payroll Reporting requirements, AIA Billing and Weighted-Average Overtime.
QuickBooks is a powerful product, but learning how to use it in your construction business can be difficult. I hope you find resources available here to be helpful.
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