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Payroll Setup Interview
Article ID: 1000408
PrintOverview
QuickBooks will help you set up with the payroll settings that are right for you. This article will give you an overview of the steps to complete the QuickBooks Payroll Setup interview.
Assumptions
You have an active Intuit payroll subscription
Expected Outcome
You will access the Payroll Setup interview and complete the set up process.
Details
IMPORTANT! Do not use the Payroll Setup Interview if you are using Assisted Payroll service.
To access the Payroll Setup interview:
- In QuickBooks Pro/Prem, go to Employees> Payroll Setup.
- In Simple Start:
- Click Payroll> Payroll Center.
At the top of the screen, click Setup and Maintain > Payroll Setup.
Steps in the Payroll Setup Interview
These descriptions of the 6 steps in the Payroll Setup Interview explain what each step involves and what information you need to have available.
Introduction
In this step, QuickBooks will have to identify if you have issued paychecks or not.
Company Setup
This step walks you through setting up your company payroll information.
Here's what information you need to have on hand:
Here's what information you need to have on hand:
- Compensation information (hourly, salary, tips, bonuses)
- Employee benefit information (health insurance, retirement, paid time off)
- Other payroll deductions and additions (wage garnishments, mileage)
Employee Setup
This step walks you through setting up your employees, including their W4 information, payroll items, and any benefits that apply. Be sure to include all employees that you have paid during this calendar year, whether they still work for you or not. Here's what information you need to have on hand:
- A W4 for each employee.
- Compensation information (hourly rate, yearly salary, commission)
- Direct deposit information for each employee (if applicable).
- Benefits information (401K, wage garnishment, paid time off)
Taxes
This step walks you through setting up all your State and Federal Taxes.
Here's what information you need to have on hand:
Here's what information you need to have on hand:
- State Withholding and Unemployment Tax identification/account numbers. (Some states use 1 number for both state withholding and unemployment taxes others have different account numbers for each type of tax).
- State Unemployment Tax rate information
Year-to-date payrolls
This step walks you through entering all of your year-to-date payroll history and tax payments starting in January. If you have no payroll history for the year, you can skip this step.
Here's what information you need to have on hand:
Here's what information you need to have on hand:
- Year-to-date payroll information (for closed quarters, you need a quarterly report that shows each employee's quarterly earnings; for an open quarter, you need the payroll information for each payroll run for each employee)
- Prior tax and liabilities payments information
Data review
This step is made of two sub-steps:
- Review your payroll data.
This sub-step walks you through your wage and tax data review. It compares your year-to-date entries to your payroll items and tax items. If you have errors it generates a report for you, so you can correct your year-to-date entries. - Reconcile your payroll tax forms to your payroll data.
This sub-step walks you through entering your 941 form and state agency filed forms, then it helps you reconcile the data. If you have errors, you'll need to correct your entries.
- The Federal 941 form for each quarter you have filed for the year
- The State agency quarterly forms filed for each quarter you have filed for the year
