Payroll Support

The Basics: Intuit QuickBooks Assisted Payroll

The end of the year is an extremely busy time for small business owners. To ensure your payroll processing goes as smoothly as possible, we?ve compiled this handy list of six key year-end payroll tasks for Assisted Payroll subscribers.

Check these off your list, and you?ll be prepared for another smooth year of payroll processing.

Step 1: Confirm that the names and Social Security numbers match the SSA records.

Employee information

Filing incorrect or incomplete employee information creates problems for both employers and employees. Incorrect information can lead to employees not receiving proper credit for earnings, which can affect future eligibility and/or amounts paid through Social Security programs. In an effort to prevent the problems created by incorrect reporting, the IRS and the Social Security Administration (SSA) have begun a campaign to eliminate mismatched names and Social Security numbers reported on W-2 forms. The SSA will send letters to companies that have a large number of mismatches. If you receive such a letter, please contact a payroll service representative for further assistance.

To minimize errors, employers can verify that an employee's name and Social Security number match the SSA's records. To do this, employers can take advantage of the SSA's Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS). This service allows employers to verify an employee's name and Social Security number with the SSA. You can verify up to 10 names and SSNs (per screen) online and receive immediate results.

Visit the Social Security Administration's EVS Web site for more information about EVS.

http://www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnv.htm

Ensure that data that appears on your employees W-2s is correct.

Names and Addresses

If the name and/or address on the W-2 are incorrect, you can fix it in QuickBooks. To change employee information in QuickBooks:

1. Go to the Employee Center.
2. Click the Employees tab.
3. Double-click on the name of the employee to access the Personal Info tab.
4. Edit the name, or address, as appropriate.
5. Click OK to save your changes.

Social Security Numbers

If the social security number and/or payroll amounts on the W-2 are incorrect, you can request a correction or amendment. To request a correction or amendment to change employee information prior to 2009 filling go to:

https://secure.payroll.com/support/w2/verification.html

Company Legal Information

Company legal information changes generally require a signature from the primary principal of your company. Submitting your request will notify our Payroll Service team to expect one of the request forms below:

https://secure.payroll.com/support/w2/verification.html

• Legal Name Change: Follow the legal name change instructions on the QuickBooks® Assisted Payroll support site found at this link, legal name change.
• Legal Address Change: Follow the legal address change instructions on the QuickBooks® Assisted Payroll support site at this link, legal address change.
• EIN Change: For EIN changes follow the request for entity change packet on the QuickBooks® Assisted Payroll support site at this link, entity change request.

Review Tax forms, annual tax form delivery, etc.

The Payroll Tax Center is your one stop shop for all of the forms Assisted Payroll is filing for you. On January 10, you can log in to view your employee W-2s and on February 5 all of your year end returns will be available for download, emailing and printing.

To log into the Payroll Tax Center, follow these instructions.

• From the Employees menu, select Payroll Center, then the View/Download Tax Forms or View/Print Forms & W-2s link near the bottom of the page
• Enter your payroll PIN when prompted

FAQs

• Payroll Tax Center Support
• When are copies of my filed payroll tax forms available?
• How do I print, save, or email copies of my filed forms?
• What if I see an error on my filed form or need to request an amendment?
• What do I need to know about Year End bonus planning?
•  How do I reprint or replace a W-2?

Step 3: Update Your State Unemployment and State Disability Insurance Rates.

State Unemployment

QuickBooks Payroll subscribers must update their state unemployment insurance (SUI) rates themselves. The QuickBooks Payroll tax table does not include updates to these rates, because states assign each employer a unique rate based on their employment history.

Employers located in states that have state disability insurance (SDI) may also need to update their SDI rates themselves. For some states, however, the state disability insurance rate is supplied by the tax table, and you cannot edit it. If the rate changes, check to see if you have the current tax table.

Assisted Payroll does not, however, debit, pay, or file SDI in the states of HI, NY, or PR.

If you use Assisted Payroll, update your rate on or after January 1, but before you run your first payroll of the year.

Do not update your rate before January 1. If you do, your state unemployment (or disability) withholdings for your remaining current year paychecks will use the new rate and will be incorrect.

Update your SUI or SDI rates in QuickBooks by editing the appropriate payroll item:

1. In QuickBooks:
1. Select Lists on the top menu bar.
2. Select Payroll Item List.
2. In QuickBooks Simple Start:
1. From the Payroll Center click on the Setup and Maintain drop-down menu.
2. Select View/Edit Payroll Items.
3. Select your SUI or SDI payroll item. (If your state disability insurance is collected by a private agency, the associated payroll item may be set up as other tax, not state disability.)
4. Click Next until you reach the window that displays your rates, and if necessary, edit your rate.
5. Click Next until you can click Finish.

How do I edit the rate of a user-defined other tax payroll item?

1. From the Payroll Item menu button, choose Edit.
2. Click Next in the Payroll Item Setup wizard until you see the tax rate window.
3. Enter the new rate in the Company rate or Employee rate field.
4. Click Next until you can click Finish.

Step 4: Verify and confirm the yearly limits to your retirement plan.

Retirement Accounts

Remember that retirement accounts have limits that can change every year. So make sure you verify the limits of your plan and that all withholdings are accurate and within the limits.

Please consult your accountant, state agency, federal agency, or plan administrator for more information concerning the limits for 2008 and how they affect your specific retirement plan.

Step 5: Turn on Automatic Updates for QuickBooks Payroll.

Automatic Updates

The best way to make sure you have the latest payroll updates is to turn on the Automatic Updates feature, which tells QuickBooks to check for new payroll updates automatically. Automatic Updates is the easiest way to stay on track with updates.

If you don't turn on Automatic Updates, make sure to check for new updates every time QuickBooks prompts you to. QuickBooks Payroll releases payroll updates as many as 12 times in a year?and sometimes more?because federal and state governments make changes to their tax laws, rates, and forms at any time during the year.

Since the actual number and dates of payroll updates vary depending on federal and state actions, we highly recommend that you connect to the payroll service each time you pay your employees (or at least every 45 days) to ensure that you have the most current tax table and forms available.

FAQs

To learn about the latest payroll update, go to Payroll News and Updates.

For instructions about updating your software and enabling or disabling Automatic Updates, see the QuickBooks Knowledge Base article 'Downloading an update for QuickBooks' for your version of QuickBooks:

• QuickBooks 2008
• QuickBooks 2007

Step 6: Check that you have installed the latest payroll update.

To determine whether you have installed the latest payroll update:

Check whether that is the same update as you have in your QuickBooks:

1. From the Employees menu, choose Get Payroll Updates.
2. The tax table (payroll update) version number is located at the top of the window.
3. If not on the current payroll update, click Download Entire Payroll Update and click the Update button to the right.

FAQs

To learn about the latest payroll update, go to Payroll News and Updates.

For instructions about updating your software and enabling or disabling Automatic Updates, see the QuickBooks Knowledge Base article Downloading an update for QuickBooks for your version of QuickBooks:

The information contained in the Intuit QuickBooks Payroll Year-End Center is meant to provide general information about the payroll process and is not intended to provide tax or legal advice. Always consult your tax professional when preparing tax documents.