Get Started with QuickBooks Payroll
Lesson #1: Navigation and Setup
Welcome to QuickBooks Payroll! Congratulations on choosing the payroll service designed with small businesses
in mind. We look forward to working with you to make your payroll as fast, easy, and accurate as possible.
To help you learn the fundamentals of QuickBooks Payroll, we've designed five weekly e-mail lessons called the
QuickBooks Payroll Starting Points. These lessons will help you get set up and teach you how to perform the key
tasks for managing your payroll in QuickBooks. Before you know it, you'll be processing payroll like a pro.
Each week we will bring you information that will help you:
- Navigate and get your payroll set up in QuickBooks
- Use QuickBooks to pay your employees
- Use QuickBooks to pay your taxes and other payroll liabilities
- Use QuickBooks to prepare and file your payroll tax forms
- Get the most out of QuickBooks Payroll
This week we lead you through the fundamentals of QuickBooks Payroll. To get started, simply click on a link below:
We want your experience with QuickBooks Payroll to proceed as smoothly as possible. Take a few moments to get started
this week, and next week we'll teach you about paying your employees and processing your payroll.
Tips
Make Sure Your Payroll Service Key Is Already in Your Company File
The QuickBooks Payroll service uses a Payroll Service Key and (for subscribers to the Disk Delivery service) a Disk Delivery
Key to activate your subscription in QuickBooks and give you access to payroll functionality and payroll updates.
In most cases, your service key(s) should already be in QuickBooks. If not, you'll need to go ahead and enter it now.
Learn more.
Use the Payroll Setup Interview
By now, you might have already set up payroll in QuickBooks. If you haven't, make sure to use the Payroll Setup Interview,
which guides you through setting up your payroll in QuickBooks. The interview helps you get your first payroll update, set up
payroll taxes for your company, and set up common compensation and benefits correctly. Then it leads you through setting up
individual employees and year-to-date payroll amounts, so you can start doing payroll through QuickBooks.
Learn more.
Make Sure Your Automatic Updates for Payroll Are Turned On
QuickBooks tax compliance experts continually monitor state and federal tax changes, so you don't have to. Save yourself the
hassle of staying on top of all the payroll tax and forms changes and keep the Automatic Updates feature turned on. Automatic
Updates tells QuickBooks to check for new payroll updates automatically. Automatic Updates are turned on by default. If you or
someone else turned them off, it's a good idea to turn them back on now. Learn how.
Have Your Accountant Review Your Payroll Setup
After you finish setting up payroll in QuickBooks, we highly recommend that you have your accountant or tax advisor review your
setup. Your accountant often can catch setup errors that are small potatoes today but that will cause large headaches down the
line. It's time well spent.
If your accountant is not familiar with QuickBooks, you might consider engaging a QuickBooks ProAdvisor® to review your
payroll setup. ProAdvisors are QuickBooks experts. A review by one of them can give you the confidence that you have set up
everything correctly.
Learn more.
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Resources
QuickBooks Resources
Use these valuable resources to get the answers you need:
- QuickBooks Help: Access the program Help within the software for technical or troubleshooting issues. From the Help menu in QuickBooks, select QuickBooks Help.
- QuickBooks Knowledge Base: Get answers to thousands of QuickBooks questions.
- QuickBooks Message Boards: To ask questions of users like you, use the QuickBooks Community Message Boards.
- QuickBooks Payroll News: For a summary of all payroll updates for the current year, go to the Payroll News page.
Additional help options include:
Free Callback Support
As an active QuickBooks Payroll subscriber, you will receive free callback support*
to help you get started and manage your payroll in QuickBooks with confidence.
IRS Resources
Visit the IRS at www.irs.gov for more information about the following:
- Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide
- Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate
- Form W-4(SP), Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate (Spanish Version)
Get Help from a QuickBooks Expert
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors® are usually accounting professionals and consultants who specialize in providing
local one-on-one help to small businesses using QuickBooks. Some QuickBooks Payroll users find it helpful to consult with a ProAdvisor
when they have questions on setting up a payroll in QuickBooks or to review their setup to make sure everything's good-to-go.
Search for a ProAdvisor.
Upcoming Issues
Future lessons will cover:
- Paying your employees and processing payroll
- Paying payroll liabilities
- Preparing payroll tax forms
- Getting the most out of QuickBooks Payroll
Quick Response
Did this e-mail lesson help you? Please let us know by completing this short survey.
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