Intuit | QuickBooks for Contractors blog

02Jan 2017 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks – Print function disabled for W2’s, 1099’s, etc.

Meeting an earlier W-2 and 1099 deadline (now January 31, 2017) just got a little more complicated and time-consuming. A recent QuickBooks payroll update has disabled the print function for W's, 1099's, 941's, 940's, and other year-end payroll tax returns. NOTE: I'm pretty certain it was a payroll update and not a normal QuickBooks maintenance release that did this - mainly because I have not installed the most recent maintenance release so that should not be the cause. First the really bad news. If you planned on printing your W-'s on pre-printed forms - forget about it. If you need to export W-2 and 1099 information to a 3rd party (such as Mag-Filer) - forget about it - as the Print to Text export has also been disabled. Now for…

09May 2015 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Desktop vs Intuit Online Payroll – Free Webinar

Webinars & Training

WHEN: Wednesday May 13, 2015 TIME: 2 pm Eastern (1 pm Central) WHERE: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5365558835222259970 General Overview: Most businesses think the only choices they have regarding payroll management is paying employees by cash or direct deposit. But there are a variety of ways to manage your payroll and the best option should be made based on which is right for you, your business and your skill set. Payroll is one of the most important tasks for any business, you need to make sure that you keep your employees happy by making certain that they are paid correctly and on time! And if you are thinking of using a payroll software product or subscription, you need to identify which payroll method is right for YOUR business. Your hosts: Kim Shannon, President of…

10Dec 2014 by Nancy Smyth

The Great Debate – QuickBooks Desktop vs. QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Corner

There seems to be an incredible debate going on between QuickBooks Desktop vs QuickBooks Online; and it’s really beginning to bug the heck out of me. Let’s start at the top, with Intuit. If you visit the Intuit QuickBooks website at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ what you see advertised is the QuickBooks Online version and unless scroll all the way to the bottom of that page and look under the Products column, you don’t see the desktop versions of QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions, QuickBooks Accountant or even the QuickBooks for the Mac versions! Everything on that page points you to the “all-new QuickBooks” which is the QuickBooks Online product. [caption id="attachment_5316" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Right click to enlarge this image[/caption] The same goes with Payroll, it’s almost impossible to find information…

09Sep 2014 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2015 Announced – Important System Requirements

QuickBooks 2015 - What's New?

QuickBooks 2015 was announced and release to Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors yesterday - which means that end users will have it made available to them either the end of this month or the beginning of October; there are no firm dates as of yet. Before I start talking about some of the new features that I think are ok, good, or great - I want to address system requirements, which I feel is very important. QuickBooks 2015 does not support Windows XP As Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and 3rd party desktop developer, I still have clients and customers using Windows XP and I'm betting that you do too - and that's why I think this is important. Also, if you are running QuickBooks 2012 and need payroll or access to online banking…

18Aug 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Happy 14th Birthday Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.

"Maad" Rants & Other Stuff

14 years ago, on a sailboat in the middle of Flathead Lake in Montana, Ben proposed and we formed Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. (Of course I had no choice but to say yes to the marriage proposal because I was scared to death he’d throw me overboard! LOL) Seriously though, I feel very blessed. One of the first things that we did, before we got too carried away, was to call the Office of the President at Intuit, where we explained what we wanted to do and asked how we could market our software as an “add-on” without getting into trouble. This led to a couple of very lengthy calls with Scott Cook and several Intuit attorneys, before they told us that as long as we stressed that we were…

09Oct 2013 by Nancy Smyth

New Product Announcement: QuickBooks IIF Inactive Cleanup Utility

QuickBooks Add-Ons, QuickBooks Corner, The "Sunburst" Website

We are very excited to announce the release of our newest software program - the QuickBooks IIF Inactive Cleanup Utility! Necessity is often the "Mother of Invention", it's why all of our software programs have been created. We often find ourselves in a situation where we encounter a repetitive task that just screams for the need of automation. I'm fairly certain that the following story will hit home with many QuickBooks ProAdvisors and Consultants: A customer or ours recently hired me to help him start a brand new QuickBooks Enterprise file - his old one was so corrupt that even Intuit Data Repair couldn't fix it and it couldn't be opened/upgraded by the new version of QuickBooks Enterprise that he wanted to use in his company. The file contained nearly…

23Sep 2013 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2014 is available, when should I upgrade – Q & A

Questions from our readers, QuickBooks 2014 - What's New?

QuickBooks 2014 can be purchased beginning today (from what I've heard) directly from Inuit websites or through Authorized Intuit Affiliate links – however, it won’t be in stores until the middle of October. Many companies will want to upgrade right away - some of you may already have access to the new version. It seems that each year when Intuit announces a new version of QuickBooks, I’m overwhelmed with phone calls and emails from clients and customers asking a multitude of questions about the new version. Here is a list of do’s, don’ts and frequent questions. Frequently Asked Questions: Should I/Do I NEED to upgrade to QuickBooks 2014? I’m usually very conservative in regards to this question, especially the last few years with money being so tight for everyone, but…

05Sep 2013 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2014 Announced-Biggest Improvement is COLOR!

QuickBooks 2014 - What's New?

QuickBooks 2014 was announced yesterday by Intuit to the ProAdvisor Community, so if you are a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor you should have received an email yesterday (mine arrived at around 2 p.m. EST). If you are an active Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, you'll be able to download QuickBooks 2014 beginning September 9th, on-line purchases are slated to begin around September 23rd, and you should see QuickBooks 2014 in retail stores starting right around mid-October. In QuickBooks 2014 the most noticeable improvement that you see as soon as you launch it is COLOR! When QuickBooks 2013 was released on of the most controversial topics of conversation when it came to the new version was COLOR - or rather the lack of it! Many people, myself included, really had a hard time working…

18Jun 2013 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Automatic Updates & Critical Fixes-What’s Your Policy?

General QuickBooks News, QuickBooks Add-Ons

A QuickBooks automatic update for QuickBooks Pro 2013, Premier 2013 (all versions or flavors - Contractor, Manufacturing, Professional Services, etc), and Enterprise 13.0 (all versions or flavors) - referenced as simply QuickBooks 2013 for the balance of this article, beginning right around June 3, 2013 with the last round of the update being released today, has created more problems than it fixed for many users and 3rd party developers. The QuickBooks Automatic Update feature has been around for years, you'll find this option when you open QuickBooks -> go to the Help menu -> and choose Update QuickBooks -> and click on the Options tab. Here you'll see the Automatic Update option. In all the versions (Pro, Premier, Enterprise) - EXCEPT the Premier Accountant edition if you are a Certified…

24Apr 2013 by Nancy Smyth

You Get What You Pay For – Do Cheap Bookkeepers Save Money?

"Stuff" that drives me insane, Be A Better Bookkeeper

As a business owner it’s important to watch how much money you spend. When it comes to bookkeeping though you tend to get what you pay for. When you hire a cheap bookkeeper, ten-to-one it’s what they don’t know that is going to cost you big time! As a contractor would you go to the dollar store to buy hammers? Probably not – you’d want your employees to have the best possible tools to perform their job. Hiring a bookkeeper and paying them minimum wage is no different than getting those dollar store hammers! If your bookkeeper (or potential bookkeeper) say they know QuickBooks because: they’ve taken a one-day seminar, watched some videos on YouTube, spent a tax season working in an accounting firm, or worst of all is “self-taught”…

18Apr 2013 by Nancy Smyth

Entering Historical Paychecks – Payroll Taxes and the Accounts They Post To

Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

Setting up QuickBooks payroll and entering historical information can be quite confusing. Thankfully there is a Payroll Setup wizard that will help you through most of the really rough parts. I am entering historical payroll from 2012. Our fiscal year began 10/1/12. It is now 4/12/13. How is best way to enter this payroll and balance month by month until I get to the current info. Also, I am confused on what accounts the payroll taxes post to. I'm not sure I have them set up at this point. Especially on the exact accounts I need for payroll taxes and are they debits or credits. and how do I link them to my chart of accounts. Any help would be appreciated. Debbie Hi Debbie If you are entering historical payroll…

07Nov 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Job Costing Payroll When Using a Payroll Service

Job Costing Tips, Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

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? Thank you – Michelle Hi Michelle I bet you are having trouble getting payroll information charged to individual jobs, that’s one of the…

09Oct 2012 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2013 – Group Item Limit Increase

Customers & Accounts Receivable, QuickBooks 2013 - What's New?

In QuickBooks 2013, the Group Item limit has been increased to 50 in Pro and Premier – this means that a single QuickBooks Group Item can hold up to a total of 50 individual items! I’m a big fan of QuickBooks Group Items, I think that they are a HUGE productivity booster – but I’ve always had one gripe – they could only hold 20 items in previous versions of QuickBooks – which meant that you had to create more group items in order to accomplish what you set out to do. This has changed with the release of QuickBooks 2013. With the increased number of items that a group can hold, these item types will be even more powerful. While some of you may know, I’m not a fan…

27Sep 2012 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2013 Upgrade Do’s, Don’ts & Frequent Questions

General QuickBooks News, QuickBooks 2013 - What's New?, QuickBooks Add-Ons, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

QuickBooks 2013 can be purchased right now directly from Inuit websites or through Authorized Intuit Affiliate links - however, it won't be in stores until the middle of October. Many companies will want to upgrade right away. However, it seems that each year when Intuit announces a new version of QuickBooks, I'm overwhelmed with phone calls and emails from clients and customers asking a multitude of questions about the new version. Here is a list of do's, don'ts and frequent questions. Frequently Asked Questions: Should I/Do I NEED to upgrade to QuickBooks 2013? I'm usually very conservative in regards to this question, especially the last few years with money being so tight for everyone, but typically my answer is: If you are currently using a version of QuickBooks that Intuit…

20Sep 2012 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2013 – Where Have the Colors Gone?

"Stuff" that drives me insane, QuickBooks 2013 - What's New?

QuickBooks 2013 has an entirely new look and I have to admit there are many things about the product redesign that I really like, however, the biggest issue that I have with the redesign is the fact that Intuit has removed the ability to change the color scheme of the software. Where oh where can my QuickBooks colors be, Intuit took them away from me…….ya, I know that sounds like a really bad rendition of an old song that went like this – “Where oh where can my baby be, the lord took her away from me, she’s gone to heaven I’ve got to be good so I can see my baby when I leave this world”. Color is an important part of our daily lives. Did you know that…