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Online Bookkeeping Solutions Blog

The Online Bookkeeping Solutions Blog is an timely collection of interesting and helpful information for those companies who want to outsource their bookkeeping solution and utilize bookkeeping services by subscription. Outsource your bookkeeping to a cloud based solution backed by experienced CPA's.

How To Run Payroll Schedules In QuickBooks

Ray Kirschner - Wednesday, November 9, 2011

As a business owner you are in the driver’s seat when it comes to setting up the payroll schedule for your employees. You can issue payroll on a weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly (ex. the 15th and the 30th), or even on a monthly basis. You can even have different payroll schedules for different employees (ex. salaried v. hourly employees). But it will be important to your employees to know when to expect their paycheck, and to receive it on time. Fortunately, with QuickBooks payroll schedules, this is easy to execute.

If in fact your employees are paid at different intervals, or if some are paid via direct deposit while others receive physical checks, you can streamline the need to classify each employee’s pay date and/or method by creating different payroll schedules and assigning the appropriate employees to the appropriate schedule type. How do you do this? Just follow these simple steps in QuickBooks.

  1. Go to the Home page, and click the “Pay Employees” icon. The Enter Payroll Information window opens, allowing you can to set up the pay period, check date, and which employees to pay.
  2. Select “Employees | Add Or Edit Payroll Schedules.” When the Payroll Schedule List window opens, create a new payroll schedule, and give it a name. Make sure to use descriptive names, so you know what each payroll schedule stands for. For example, maybe you name one schedule “bi-weekly, direct deposit employees”
  3. Proceed to fill in the rest of requested information for this payroll schedule, including: pay period frequency, the next pay period end date, and the next paycheck date.

Keep in mind that for tax purposes, the paycheck date is all that will be relevant. Your 941/W-2 forms use only the paycheck dates. The rest of the information in your payroll schedules is for your convenience in facilitating payroll operations.
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3 QuickBooks Accounting Mobile Apps

Ray Kirschner - Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Mobile apps are extremely popular today. Some are geared at pure entertainment, but many are geared at supporting simple task we do everyday. Intuit has developed several apps that do just that for Quickbooks. They work seamlessly with your QuickBooks accounting software to help facilitate financial transactions from a wide-range of touch points between you, your employees, your customers & vendors, and your financial institutions. Plus, each mobile feature offers the data security that the Intuit name is known for. Below is an overview of three of Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting apps.

ViewMyPaycheck for Mobile

ViewMyPaycheck for Mobile gives all of your employees instant access to their paystub information from their mobile phones. You no longer need to print paystubs for employees, saving you time and paper. You also don’t need to mail or email paystubs to your employees. Plus, this takes the burden off you, should your employee lose or ruin his/her physical paystub.

To sign in to ViewMyPaycheck for Mobile, an employee needs to open a web browser on his/her mobile phone, and go to https://m.vmp.intuit.com/, and sign in using the same user ID and password he/she would use to sign in to the ViewMyPaycheck web application on an actual computer.

ViewMyPaycheck for Mobile is available on any mobile device with a web browser.

GoPayment



With the GoPayment app, you can accept credit card payments on your mobile phone in just seconds. The app comes with a free credit card reader so you can swipe credit cards right on your mobile phone and get paid anytime, anywhere. Integrated with QuickBooks, this app eliminates the need to track and process credit card transactions, issue invoices, and make deposit runs to the bank. Payment information is encrypted securely, and not stored to your phone.

The app accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover Card, and American Express. For more information and to view compatible devices, click HERE.

Quickbooks Mobile



The QuickBooks Mobile app gives you on-the-go access to all of your customer information and work history. You can manage both customers and sales from your mobile phone. The app lets you add, view, and edit customer information. It also allows you to create and view estimates, sales receipts, and invoices. Information added to QuickBooks Mobile is automatically synced with QuickBooks.

Currently, QuickBooks Mobile is available on iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) and Android devices. It is not available to users of the recently released QuickBooks for Macs 2012.
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How To Choose a Payroll Service

Ray Kirschner - Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Doing your own payroll can cost you – both in time and penalties. The IRS penalizes about one of every three businesses for payroll errors. Often times, these penalties are more than the cost of hiring a payroll company. Not to mention, hiring a payroll company frees up hours that you can devote to other important parts of your business.

A good payroll service should do three things for you:

  1. pay your employees on time
  2. pay your payroll taxes on time
  3. file your payroll tax forms on time

Finding a Good Payroll Service

To find a good payroll service, it’s recommended that you get referrals from trusted, knowledgeable sources, such as CPAs or attorneys. You should also try getting references from other businesses within your industry. A good payroll service may let you talk with some of its clients so that you can get more information about the quality of service you’ll be getting.

Use caution, as some large services may try to bundle your payroll package with additional services that you might not need, like other outsourced business functions. This could drive up your costs unnecessarily. To avoid this, make a list of the services you anticipate needing in the upcoming year.

Ask yourself questions like how much you plan on growing, how many employees you’ll have on your payroll throughout the year, and how often you want to issue paychecks. Will you need a company that can handle different state taxes? Will you be offering employees 401(k)s and other deductions? You want to make sure your payroll service can offer the services you need, or else it’s not right for your business.

It can be critical that a payroll service be familiar with your line of work. For example, if you have union workers in your company, make sure you go with a service that is experienced in dealing with union rules. Or if you run a restaurant where your employees need tips, you need a payroll service that knows how to file taxes accordingly.

A Few More Things to Consider

While payroll services can be pared down to the basics, you may want to add some features offered by your payroll service company. For example, you may want direct deposit, online pay stubs, or online time tracking. You also want a guarantee that your payroll service provides an online platform that ensures the data you enter is the data that actually gets processed. Finally, make sure you know whether you’re being charged monthly or by the pay period.

Interview Your Prospective Payroll Service

Never hire the first payroll service company you interview; meet with at least your top two or three choices before making a final decision. Here are some basic questions that should help you get a feel for if the payroll service is right for your company.

  • If the service makes a mistake, who is held accountable, and how is it resolved?
  • Are there extra charges for adding or changing employee payroll?
  • How quick is turnaround?
  • Can the service integrate with your accounting software?
  • What technology does the service use?
  • How often will you receive reports?
  • How available is customer service?
  • Does it cost more to file taxes in multiple states?
  • Are there annual fees and if so, are they subject to change?

While you should make sure your payroll service meets your needs, be leery of buying more than you need. Do not be fooled by an over-zealous salesperson trying to lock you into a bundle package. Get a price quote that is strictly for the services you’ve mapped out.

 
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Employee or Independent Contractor – And How This Impacts Your Payroll

Ray Kirschner - Wednesday, December 22, 2010

On the surface, an independent contractor may not appear different from a formal company employee. Both an independent contractor and an employee may work on the same projects, share the same office space, and work the same hours. But from a tax and payroll perspective, the differences between an employee and an independent contractor are substantial.

What difference does it make to classify a worker as an independent contractor instead of as an employee? Here are some of the responsibilities an employer has towards an employee:

  • Employer Payroll Taxes. Employers owe, and must remit, their own share of payroll taxes, such as FICA and federal and state unemployment insurance, on employee wages.
  • Reporting. Wages paid to employees (along with the amounts of the various taxes withheld) are reported on Form W-2; amounts paid to contractors are reported on Form 1099. Additionally, Forms 940 and 941 (and perhaps others) must be filed for wages paid to employees.
  • Employee Benefits. Employees generally enjoy employer funded benefit programs such as vacations, holidays with pay, health insurance and pension and profit sharing plans; contractors generally do not receive these benefits.
  • Employee Withholding. Employers are responsible for the withholding and timely remittance of federal income taxes, state and local income taxes, and FICA taxes from wages paid to their employees.
  • Labor Laws. Worker’s compensation, working condition, and minimum wage laws all impose on employers certain financial and other requirements for the benefit of employees.

With more and more companies using independent contractors, the IRS and State Unemployment and Revenue departments are growing increasingly suspicious that companies are trying to avoid withholding and payment of payroll. Thus employers need to use caution in the classification of their employees. If an employer misclassifies an employee as an independent contractor with no reasonable basis for doing so, that employer may be held liable for employment taxes and penalties.

The following three guidelines exist to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor under common law:

  1. Behavioral Control – If the business directs or controls how the work is done through instructions, training, or other means, the worker is an employee.
  2. Financial Control – If the business controls the financial and business aspects of the worker’s job, you are dealing with an employee. These questions will guide you to classifying a worker as a contractor:
    • Does the worker invoice the company
    • How the business pays the worker
    • Does the worker have un-reimbursed business expenses
    • Does the worker make his services available to the relevant market
    • Can the worker realize a profit or incur a loss
    • Does the worker invest in the facilities used in performing services
  3. Type of Relationship – How do the parties perceive their relationship? This includes things like:
    • The permanency of the relationship
    • Whether the business provides the worker with employee-type benefits, such as insurance, a pension plan, vacation pay, or sick pay
    • Written contracts describing the relationship the parties intended to create
    • The extent to which services performed by the worker are a key aspect of the regular business of the company
    • The extent to which the worker is available to perform services for other, similar businesses

Simply stated, if you have behavioral control and financial control, you likely have an employee.

 
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