05Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Think You Can’t Afford to Pay Your Payroll Taxes-Think Again

Think You Can’t Afford to Pay Your Payroll Taxes-Think Again

IRS Information, Payroll Tips
  Failing to remit payroll taxes is a big mistake!  Sometimes a business owner will let the payment of payroll taxes slide in favor of paying other vendors OR perhaps will make a partial payment, thinking it will be ok -- not a good idea ----- always remit the full amount of your payroll taxes before paying other bills.  Here are a couple of examples why.  If you have check writing authority and it can be shown that you were aware your company or client paid other expenses when payroll taxes were due, the IRS can come after you for the taxes, penalties and interest. D and her husband were equal owners and sole corporate officers of a business. After they separated, they continued to run the business.  The firm…
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01Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/25 – 5/31/2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/25 – 5/31/2012

News You Can Use
  Weekly wrap-up of news and information from around the web – there’s so much information out there that 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.  I'll try to be consistent and organize the information into the same categories each week. Accounting & Taxes In an effort to help Kansas City Siamese Rescue, L & R Tax Preparation is going to be offering tax p https://t.co/VWxCSEB7 -> IRS issues guidance on $2,500 health FSA contribution limit https://t.co/268MCUzQ -> Self-Proclaimed Alabama Governor Sentenced for Tax Fraud https://t.co/EOiWNZW5 -> ARTICLE: What to Look for in a Construction…
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25May 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/18 – 5/24/2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/18 – 5/24/2012

News You Can Use
  Weekly wrap-up of news and information from around the web – there's so much information out there that 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. Accounting & Taxes There's a New Kind Of Tax Preparer In Town - https://t.co/9JKFLV41 Even in a divorce, tax planning is important: Excluding Residence Sale Gain: https://t.co/wcm3LZO8 Did you know you can subscribe to the IRS tax calendar? https://t.co/qOipaCuT Is Your CPA REALLY the Right Person to be Completing Your Tax Return? https://t.co/PirWQFHx -> Few Small Businesses Claim the Health Care Tax Credit : The World :: American Express…
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18May 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/11 – 5/17/2012

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 5/11 – 5/17/2012

News You Can Use
  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. Accounting & Taxes  Employee Benefits Uncle Sam Won’t Tax : Money :: American Express OPEN Forum https://t.co/I4vCf3Wi via @OpenForum -> House Approves Mobile Workforce Tax Relief Bill https://t.co/wGReBHco via @sharethis -> Obama Announces Tax Break for Small Businesses : The World :: American Express OPEN Forum https://t.co/ciXYC8P6 via @OpenForum -> Thou Shalt Not Sin? - Tax & Business Counsel Newsletter via @TaxReturnCoach https://t.co/1mN9F9FN -> Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums https://t.co/HRKVhZIs -> Accounting as…
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16May 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Payroll for Work Hours & Drive Time Invoicing Problem

Payroll for Work Hours & Drive Time Invoicing Problem

Job Costing Tips, Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
  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. Hello - I own a residential and commercial cleaning company.  I have several employees.  I pay 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…
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15May 2012 by Nancy Smyth
Deducting the Cost of Lost Equipment from an Employee’s Pay

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

IRS Information, Payroll Tips
  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 great article from HR Matters E-Tips, because the answer depends first on state and federal restrictions and second on how much you want to deduct. Both federal and state laws limit the deductions employers can take from their employee’s wages.  The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which requires minimum wage payments and premium overtime pay for covered employees,…
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11May 2012 by Nancy Smyth

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

News You Can Use
  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. Accounting & Taxes Foreign-bribery crackdown focuses on more than 100 companies https://t.co/I1N5EaOp -> IRS and Social Security Urged to Curb Tax Fraud and Identity Theft https://t.co/d7WO1ubM via @sharethis -> Reasonable-compensation standard creates tax risk for S corporation owners https://t.co/O1GMYyT0 -> Bookkeeping Quiz - Employer provided loans https://t.co/tRTSM1ua -> IRS to demand new reconciliations https://t.co/mHlmPonP -> Construction – Tools & Tax Tips https://t.co/ddQmuS1K -> eBooks, Webinars & Videos eBook: Hiring a Bookkeeper for your construction biz-Test…
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04May 2012 by Nancy Smyth

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

News You Can Use
  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 Accounting & Taxes IRS to Step up Audits of Sole Proprietors https://t.co/yXwtWsHG -> Chimpanzees and Charity - Tax & Business Counsel Newsletter via @TaxReturnCoach https://t.co/CEpZ8ppw -> IRS releases 2013 inflation adjustments for HSAs https://t.co/i58Sjl2U -> eBooks, Webinars & Videos eBook: Learn About AIA Billing & How To Fill Out an AIA G-702/G-703 https://t.co/Hc3o6nJh -> WEBINAR: Certified Payroll Reports - Learn how to fill them out https://t.co/Dkflvo5Z -> eBook: Getting Equipment Costs into QuickBooks Job Costing…
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27Apr 2012 by Nancy Smyth

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

Construction News
  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. Payroll ARCHIVE:: QuickBooks Creating a More Meaningful Payroll Expenses Section https://t.co/jx9eioLw -> ARCHIVE:: QuickBooks Setting up/Creating a Scheduled Payroll Liability https://t.co/nbER1ogk -> EEOC issues update on criminal-background-check policy https://t.co/CnuxPi9Y -> ARCHIVE:: Payroll Tip - Health Insurance Tracking Requirements for 2012 https://t.co/3G1FkmAA -> Use #QuickBooks? Tired of manually calculating overtime? Check out https://t.co/8pIGV5Yo -> Use QuickBooks? Need to change rates of pay for multiple employees? Check out https://t.co/tgn397Dz -> ARCHIVE:: E-Verify Update https://t.co/lruDd54Y -> ARCHIVE:: What's…
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20Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

How To Setup a Scheduled Payment for a Payroll Liability

Free & Fee-Based QuickBooks eBooks, Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers
  Setting up Scheduled payments allows you to see all payroll related liability amounts that you owe for payroll taxes, health insurance, child support garnishments, etc. in the QuickBooks Payroll Center so that you can easily review the amounts and generate the payment.  Finding where you setup the payment schedule can be confusing, if you are new to QuickBooks - see this question from a reader. I have created a Garnishment deduction item, following your instructions step by step, but I did not generate the check to send to the Agency that is collecting the money.  Is there something else that I need to do to get this payroll Liability in the "Pay Schedule Liabilities" or "Custom Liability" box?  Thanks, Luz Hi Luz Usually as soon as you finish creating…
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27Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip: Union Benefits Calculated Against Hours NOT Wages

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers
  Union fringe benefits can be calculated in a number of ways; some are based on a percentage of gross wages while others are a fixed dollar amount per hours worked.  Either way you look at it, it can become pretty complex.  Take this question from a blog reader for example. I have union benefits that are calculated against the employee's hours, not gross wages.  How do I do that in QuickBooks? A.  In QuickBooks you want to set up your union benefits as Company Contribution Payroll Item types. I find it to be faster if you go to the Lists menu -> Payroll Item List -> click the Payroll Item button at the lower left -. choose New -> and Custom Setup -> and Company Contribution. When setting up…
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22Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – One Payroll Wage Item With Different Rates

Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers
  A payroll tip that discusses the hazards of having one payroll wage item in the QuickBooks Employee Record multiple times - with each entry having a different rate of pay.  This question was originally submitted through the "Ask the Expert" form. I have employees who have several different pay rates and, therefore, I have the same payroll item in their QuickBooks employee record multiple times but with different rates of pay.  When I generate Payroll Summary Report, it might show that I paid 20 hours at $60.00 (one of the rates) when I really entered the hours in the Pay Employees Screen at the $30.00.  How can I get the reports to match the hours to the rate that I entered.  I'm so frustrated! Any help or suggestions that…
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20Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – Handling 1 Employee with 2 Union Benefit Packages

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Questions from our readers
  A payroll tip for handling one employee with two different  wage rates and union fringe benefit packages on a single paycheck.  The following question was submitted through our "Ask the Expert" form. How do I setup one employee to be paid weekly, with two entirely different wage and benefit rates, depending on the customer or item; through a single paycheck?  I would like to set it up to just select one rate or the other and have the appropriate wage rate, benefits and contributions be automatically selected.  This is for one employee working with two different unions, so the fringe benefit liabilities go to different parties on different liability checks. Any suggestions would be appreciated. A.  While the expensive construction specific software programs can handle this easily, QuickBooks will…
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01Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Certified Payroll Reports & Bi-Weekly Paychecks

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips, The "Sunburst" Website
Generating weekly certified payroll reports when you issue bi-weekly paychecks to your employees can be difficult unless your accounting software will accurately accrue the wages for each week - QuickBooks doesn't have this ability and quite often this causes problems. Payroll is one of the largest expenses that a company will have.  Most companies, when they start up, will find out what the minimum requirements for paycheck frequencies are for the state that their business resides in - earlier this week we discussed paycheck/payroll frequencies by state - and they will follow those rules.  This will work fine unless you are a contractor who makes the move to Public Works/Government Construction projects and become subject to prevailing wage laws.  This is when problems can occur. Under the Federal Davis-Bacon and…
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