Migrating and payroll

Hello there, @kutarheel. I'm here to share some insights about what happens when migrating from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

To begin, you can transfer much of the information from your company file without re-entering it manually. However, some data won't convert automatically with your file. As for your payroll information concern, these are the following that will transfer:

• Paychecks will copy as regular checks.
• QuickBooks Online copy's the current year's paycheck information as lump sums.
• Liability refunds, adjustment transactions, and opening balance transactions that affect accounts copy to journal entries.
• Employee addresses copy over. You might need to fix some addresses. 
• Addresses for states outside supported states (such as PR, AS, VI) will be left blank.
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Social Security Number
• Direct deposit account numbers
• Bank names
• Routing numbers
• Employee bank info (for Direct Deposit)

That said, there's no need to enter employee information in Quickbooks Online before migrating your Quickbooks Desktop Pro Plus to Quickbooks Online Essentials with Core Payroll since some information converts. What you'll need to do after migrating is to complete your payroll setup. For more guidance, check out this article and go to Step 3: What to do after you move from QuickBooks Desktop for Windows or Mac to QuickBooks Online.

For additional reference, you can use these articles to learn more ways of handling your QuickBooks data:

• Learn how features and data move from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online
• Fix errors when you move from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online
• Learn about converting from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online

Get back to me if you have further questions when converting your data. I'll be around whenever you need my help. Have a great day.