QuickBooks Payroll Manual Setup Guide
QuickBooks Payroll is a great software but can cost a substantial amount for users who only need to manage a small number of employees. For such employers it would be better to configure QB desktop itself to perform payroll functions.
In QB Payroll the data is set automatically recorded and organized. This reduces the amount of time required for completing the payroll tasks. The same can be done using QuickBooks Desktop. The catch here is that the user needs to configure these functions of Payroll into this accounting software.
This may not be a viable option for medium or large organizations but can work wonders for managing a small amount of employees.
How to Setup Payroll Manually in Quickbooks?
Any subscription of QB Desktop will work towards allowing users to enter payroll manually.
Here are the steps necessary for manually performing payroll activities in QuickBooks desktop:
- From the menu click on QuickBooks Help. F1 can also trigger the help window to open up on the windows platform.
- Enter Manual Payroll in the search field and hit on search.
- After searching for the query, QB will provide you with various options.
- Go through the options and select Calculate Payroll Taxes Manually. This is a detailed article in QB on guiding users through setting up manual payroll. Here we will use this help article to take us directly to the payroll setup option. This is a shortcut.) You want to select the help topic that reads ‘without payroll subscription.’
- After this you will be able to see the Calculations Setting link. Click it.
- Select the manual payroll calculations link
- A link named Set my company file to use manual calculations will appear on the screen. Click on it and restart QuickBooks.
This will enable you to use the manual calculations and computations in QB desktop. This function will not cost a lot of money and that to at a very little expense of time. If you do not want to spend time manually entering data so that QB can automatically start calculating amounts then you will have to get QuickBooks Desktop Payroll subscription.
There are many complications that can arise in case you opt for this setting despite having a payroll subscription. These complications are easy to resolve but it will be better to avoid them in the first place. If you switched on manual calculations by mistake despite having the payroll subscription then you will not be able to update the payroll software. Your subscription will still remain intact and functional in QB desktop.
How to Enable Full Payroll Options to work with the Manual Computations
You may also need to enable the Full Payroll option before being able to work with the manual computations. For this you can follow the steps given below:
- Goto Preferences in the Edit menu. In case the menu isn’t appearing, click the ALT button. This will activate the hidden menu and make it visible.
- Click on Payroll and Employees. This will bring open a new window
- On this properties window select the company preference tab
- Enable the option for Full Payroll
- Save settings by clicking apply and then Ok.
Cloud Hosted QuickBooks company files create further complications. You may be required to download the whole QB company file to your local desktop before enabling this option. For easily setting up this function, get support from your hosting provided. Most QB hosting providers provide free technical support to their subscribers.
All of these steps can significantly reduce the total cost of performing payroll for a small company. You may be a freelancer or a contractor or even a subcontractor. If you do not have many employees working for you, purchasing a QuickBooks Payroll subscription will turn out to be too exorbitant. This is why we recommend that you follow the steps given above to substantially curtail payroll management costs.
