Getting the Most out of QuickBooks

Ready for your first sale? There are two ways to record income transactions in QuickBooks Online. In this article, we’ll dive into how to create invoices and sales receipts. Let’s get started!   First, let’s discuss the difference between the two. Simply put,  invoices are created when you expect to be paid in the future, and sales receipts are for payments given to you in that moment. Check out this awesome video below that describes these two workflows in this video.   Let’s cover each of these two ways more in depth.   Invoices   You’ll send your customer an invoice when you plan for the customer to pay for your products or services at a later date. Invoicing is essentially sending your customer a bill. To create an invoice, you will follow the steps below.   Select + New. Select Invoice. Select Add customer and choose a customer from the ▼ dropdown. Make sure all of their info is correct, especially their email address. Review the Invoice date, Due da

Hello friends! Welcome back to another Top 5.  If you’ve been wondering how to go about changing the look of your invoices, or knowing how to close your books, then you’re in the right place. This time around I’m going to be focusing on the top Reporting and Accounting questions directly from our community.   Let’s go through these together. 😊     1. How do I change the template on invoices in QuickBooks Online?   That’s a great question and I’ll guide you in the right direction. The neat part is that customizing invoices can be done using any of the QuickBooks Online subscriptions.   Here's how: 1. Click the Gear icon. 2. Under Your Company, click Custom Form Styles. 3. To create a new template, click the New Style button in the upper right-hand corner. 4. Select Invoice. 5. Go to the Design tab to edit the template name, logo, color, font, and margins. 6. Go to the Content tab to customize the header, body, and footer of the invoice template. 7. Cli

Update:  We have confirmed with our bank partners that banks will remain open for this last-minute holiday. Out of an abundance of caution, we took these steps to ensure all employees received their pay on time. The steps laid out in the communication below remain in place. ***********************************************************   Dear Canadian QuickBooks Customer, On Tuesday, September 13, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that Monday, September 19, would be a one-time Canadian federal holiday in recognition of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. If this becomes a Canadian bank holiday, there may be delays in direct deposit paycheques and tax remittances. Whether your direct deposit schedule is two or five business days in advance, we recommend you create the direct deposit paycheques one business day earlier for the next week. What action is QuickBooks taking for Canadian direct deposit paycheques already dated Monday, September 19?To ensure your Canadian empl

    # 1- The Payday candy bar was invented in 1932. At first, the inventors didn't know what to call their new creation. It happened to be payday, so one of them suggested they call it a Payday bar—and the rest is history!   Who knew?!   Want to make sure you pay your employees on time within your QuickBooks account so they can enjoy a treat? Check out this article here that will help you understand when the best time to send your payroll is based on the lead time you have set up for your direct deposits.   Happy Pay Day!     #2- According to ancient “paystubs,” employees in Egypt and Mesopotamia used to be paid in beer and other commodities.     Getting paid in beer doesn’t sound too bad to me! But I’m sure my bank’s loan officer wouldn’t appreciate a bunch of empty growlers to show my yearly wages instead of a pay stub.   BUT, with “modern paystubs”, employees can access their pay information through a workforce account. You can i

Welcome to National Payroll Week! We have a handful of topics to cover. Let's kick it off with some payroll basics. When you receive your paycheck, it's easy to overlook the calculations that ensure you and the company you work for stay compliant with Federal, State, and Local regulations.   To help explain payroll a little more I put together several blogs and videos to go over: What you need to pay employees Who gets a paycheck How much an employee paycheck really costs When payroll forms are due When payroll taxes need to be paid   Today’s topic: What identification numbers are required before you can pay employees.  Let’s start at the very beginning… before you can hire and pay your employees, what employer identification numbers do you need? In order to pay employees you must have:  A Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN aka EIN)An EIN is kind of like a Social Security Number (SSN) for your business and is used by the IRS to identify a business ent

Have you been wanting to see what bills you’ve paid over the last months and don’t know which report to use? Don’t fret! Today, I’m going to walk you through a few different types of reports as well as some financial reporting tools that are available to you in QuickBooks Online to make this process easier for you.  It’s important to note that reporting is the core of all your accounting! It’s an easy tool that frames all your sales, expenses, and everything else that helps tell a story about the overall health of your business!   Before we start, make sure that you’ve entered the following data into your QuickBooks account: Business income Expenses assets Liabilities   This will ensure that your reports are accurate and useful when trying to gain insight into your business.   Accessing your Reports   Since we’ve made sure that all your data is entered, let’s go ahead and get started on how to access and use your reporting tool.   To find all your repo

QuickBooks Online Payroll constantly strives to make your life easier and provide you peace of mind by ensuring you comply with payroll rules and regulations. We've recently added a new feature that allows you to quickly add employees by uploading an excel spreadsheet to save time! The business owner, Venky, will walk you through this new feature in three easy steps to show you how it works. Only US-Based QuickBooks Online employers can use this feature and must have five (5) or more employees.    Step 1: Preparing the Spreadsheet In this first part, we'll go over what reports you can use from your existing payroll provider or a spreadsheet template that you can use. Add Employees by Uploading a Spreadsheet - Part 1: Preparing the Spreadsheet   Step 2: Uploading the Spreadsheet and Mapping the Data Next, you'll upload the spreadsheet and map the column headers to fields in QuickBooks Online Payroll, so we know where to put the data. Add Employees by Uploading a Spreads

Are you looking for some guidance on how to manage your employees when getting your QuickBooks Online Payroll account set up and running? If so, then you’re in the right place. Today, I will do a deep dive on managing employees so you can make sure they’re set up to get paid correctly! Although today I will just be focusing on employees, the good news is that there is an awesome upcoming webinar for you that will cover everything you need to know when it comes to paying your team. You’ll learn how to: Set up company/tax information Manage Employees Pay taxes File your tax forms Make sure to register for the upcoming webinar event here so you can learn how to set up your payroll from the very beginning! Now let’s go ahead and take a look at how to manage your employees within your payroll account.You’ll first want to navigate to the Payroll tab on the left-hand navigation bar. From there, go ahead and select Employees. Once you’re here, you’ll notice that this is where you can add o

Hello! Welcome back to another Top 5. Are you wondering how to go about deleting a payment, adjusting an overpayment, or fixing printing issues? If so then you’ll want to keep reading as I will be covering some of the most asked questions on the topic of Payments! Let’s go through these together. 🤗   1. How to Delete a Payment in QuickBooks Desktop https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/payments/delete-a-payment/01/184913#M854 If you’re needing a bit of clarification on how to view and delete a payment in QuickBooks Desktop, then you’re in the right place. Let me show you how: 1. Open the affected invoice. 2. There are two tabs on the right panel of the Create Invoices window. 3. Go to the Transaction tab. 4. Under RELATED TRANSACTIONS, it will show the deposit you use as the payment. 5. Click the deposit transaction. It will open the Make Deposits window. 6. Click Edit at the top menu and select Delete Deposit (Ctrl + D). 7. Click OK to confirm the action. Nice work!

Wouldn't you love to be able to look at a single report and see what items brought you in the most income in the past month or even understand which category of sales was highest? If you’re having a hard time getting the data that matters to you most, then we’ve got you covered!  Customized Financial Reports in QuickBooks Online will help get the exact data and details you need about your business.    So why should you customize your financial reports?    It gives you the freedom to make the data make sense to you Allows you to get rid of unnecessary details and focus on account specifics Helps you evaluate each area of your business and the impact that it’s having   Today I will walk you through the different ways you can go about customizing your reports and the reasoning behind them so that you have the information you need to make informed decisions.    Let’s get started with customizing reports!    You’ll notice that most

There's still a misconception that QuickBooks Online Payroll is only a full-service payroll solution, requiring Intuit QuickBooks to pay and file for you. This is not the case! While QuickBooks Core, Premium, and Elite were designed as full-service payroll products, we've upgraded them to give you more control over how your payroll taxes and forms are paid and filed.   With QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium and Elite either: QuickBooks can pay and file your payroll taxes and forms You can pay and file your payroll taxes and forms through our system You can pay and file your payroll taxes and forms outside our system and then just record that they’re done in our system Three very different options - all to give you the flexibility and control you want. You even can change your option if you decide you’d like us to do it or you want to take control.    To see what your current payroll taxes & forms paying and filing status is, or to change it: Log into yo

You may be asking “Why is there a need to review open invoices”?    You want to get paid of course! There is, however, more to it than being able to pay your bills. If you let overdue payments pile up, it can greatly impact the way you run your business. Keeping a close eye on open invoices benefits you greatly when it comes to getting paid faster and on time.       Things you can do to stay on track: Stay organized with your accounts receivable Assign this task to a trusted team member Have a review process in place Create a plan on how to handle late payments    Today, I want to show you how QuickBooks Online automates this process for you through the different tools and techniques you can incorporate into your daily workflow. My goal is to help you feel confident in managing any open or overdue payments by the end of this article!   Let’s get started with reviewing open and overdue invoices! This is super important as it allows you to

UPDATE:Now customers who set up with one form can switch to the other form! As of June 21, 2022, all new U.S. users of QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium, and Elite, both in the standalone version and with accounting turned on, have the option to select IRS Form 943 as their Federal payroll tax form when setting up payroll!    As of April 2023, all U.S. users of QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium, and Elite, both in the standalone version and with accounting turned on, have the option to select IRS Form 943 as their Federal payroll tax form, either when setting up payroll for the first time, or from the Payroll Settings area if they had previously selected another form and need to change it to Form 943.   What is Form 943? Form 943 is the IRS “Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return for Agricultural Employees.” It reports similar information as Forms 941 and 944 do for businesses who do not have employees engaged in agriculture. Who can choose Form 943? All

Hello QuickBooks Community! Welcome back to another Top 5! This week we’re going to cover some of the most popular questions regarding Payroll. You can probably agree that Payroll is one of those tasks that you don’t think about much until you have to do it, which in turn can bring about some last-minute issue or question. So let’s go ahead and get some of the most pressing questions answered!        Let’s get started!    #1 - How do you cancel the payroll that you already ran?  If you’re using a manual paycheck, you can either delete or void this. Make sure to pay attention to your processing time and payroll service as this dictates whether you’re able to cancel the transaction.    For direct deposits, you’ll need to make sure to void this transaction before 5:00 PM PST, otherwise, your payroll will be processed and you won’t be able to cancel.   Let’s take a look at the paycheck list for QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium, and

A very special, and heartfelt, welcome to our Intuit Online Payroll for Accountants and their clients on Intuit Online Payroll and Intuit Full Service Payroll as they are now joining us on QuickBooks Online Payroll!    Just Payroll, Just Accounting, Both or Change it up - You decide! In case you were unaware, you may purchase QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium, and Elite either with accounting or without accounting! In fact, if you purchase both at once but subsequently determine that you only require the accounting or payroll service, you may cancel the other. Of course, you can also add the other too. In either case just log into your product then click on the “Settings” gear icon in the upper right corner followed by “Account and settings” and then “Billing & Subscriptions.” For those of you who still haven’t made the switch yet, let’s walk through how it works and what to do afterwards. Part 1: Switching from Intuit Online Payroll to QuickBooks Online You w

Did you know that you can correct prior payrolls in QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium and Elite?  You are able to void, edit or delete a paycheck based on how the employee was paid and if there aren’t any system blockers*. In fact, in the past 30 days, this feature was used over 100,000 times! While that seems like a lot it's a very small percent of the total number of employees that were paid.   You can: Void, Edit and Delete all paper paychecks Void processed direct deposit paychecks Edit or Delete unprocessed direct deposit paychecks   Here's a video where I explain the feature more and then Priya Kaza, product owner over payroll corrections, demonstrates how it works.   To access payroll corrections: Go to the "Paycheck list" page Go to the paycheck you want to correct Select the down arrow on the far right of that row Once a correction is done the system will automatically recalculate your taxes owed and make any necessary adjustments with the

Hello Community! When it comes to QuickBooks Online inventory, I want you to feel confident that you have everything you need to manage your products and services. I’m here to help you step by step through getting set up so you are more than ready to succeed. Important things to note: The inventory feature is only included in the QuickBooks Plus and Advanced subscriptions.  If you don’t have Plus or Advanced, upgrade your QuickBooks plan to start tracking your inventory.   While adding and managing basic products and services is a fairly straightforward process, the full inventory experience is quite a bit more involved and requires some regular upkeep. No need to stress as I will go over this with you and provide you with some handy resources.    If you are converting from QuickBooks Desktop with existing inventory, there is a different workflow (found here). Note that inventory should be set up immediately after conversion, not later.  Let’s get start

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a way to verify a customer's identity by sending a unique one-time code (“OTP”) to their pre-registered mobile number.    The goal of introducing step-up/MFA is to defer fraud and product  abuse by malicious actors. Applying MFA in sensitive flows in Payroll will enhance the protection and security of our customers (employers and employees) money, sensitive data and identity. To make your data more secure, over the next few months you’ll have to MFA, once per session, when you: Add/Edit - Employee or contractor bank accounts View/Edit - FEIN, SSN, or business number in Tax setup - Employee SSN or date of birth View - SSNs or date of births in reports How it works: Specific sensitive employee and company information will now be masked for security. You will have a toggle to view or edit the information, but you may be required to authenticate your identity once per session to protect your company's and employees' in

Welcome back to our latest Twitter Spaces recap.  The following is a lightly edited transcript of our recent Twitter Spaces chat about moving from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.     You can follow our QBCares Twitter account to learn about the next Twitter Spaces event, or just to keep up with all things QuickBooks.   Starting with a quick overview of both programs:  QuickBooks Desktop is a bookkeeping software that you download directly to your computer and maintain with an annual subscription. It helps you manage invoices, inventory, employees, banking, and the list goes on. It’s been around since the ‘90s but of course, it has evolved with our customer needs over the years, so instead of the original disk downloads, you can now download QuickBooks Desktop easily online. Once it’s downloaded, you can manage some aspects of your books without an internet connection, but most important functions from uploading bank transactions to invo

Getting ready to move from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online?  Or have you already transitioned and are looking for some tips to get up and running smoothly?  We've got you covered.  Below we have several videos specifically focused on helping you through the migration process from end to end.       Moving to QuickBooks Online Watch this recorded webinar to see how to get your data from QuickBooks Desktop into your new QuickBooks Online company and what to expect after.   How to get around in QuickBooks Online Watch this recorded webinar to discover how to: Get around in QuickBooks Online Use lists to organize your data Record transactions Customize reports   Money In Transactions This recorded webinar will demonstrate the unique workflows for recording sales in QuickBooks Online including: Customizing sales forms Keeping track of Products & Services Finding your customers and associated transactions Tracking sales via

Welcome back to our next Twitter Spaces recap.  The following is a slightly edited transcript of our recent Twitter Spaces chat about the recent Payroll Subscription changes and what you can expect from your QuickBooks Payroll subscription going forward. You can follow our QBCares Twitter account to learn about the next Twitter Spaces event, or just keep up with all things QuickBooks. This week we will be sharing a discussion about payroll subscription changes. We had some guest speakers for this event: Cindy Lee, QuickBooks Desktop Payroll MarketingLeah Wetzlel, product leader over QuickBooks Online for Accountants Hi everyone, thanks for joining. My name is Cindy Lee, and I work on the QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Marketing team. Recently, we made an announcement that as of June 1st, 2022 will no longer be selling two QuickBooks Desktop Payroll services. One is Desktop QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll for Accountants, and the other is the QuickBooks Desktop Assisted Payroll.

I attended a QuickBooks event the other day and was surprised to discover how many customers were not aware that QuickBooks Online recently integrated workers’ compensation, health insurance and retirement programs. In my previous post last week, I focused on the retirement option integrated into QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium and Elite when discussing the new California Retirement Requirement. This week I’ve pulled in Kamakshi Kaul to talk about the other benefits we offer - workers’ compensation, employee benefits, and a quick refresher about retirement plans.  Kamakshi is in her 10th year here at Intuit focused on improving QuickBooks Online. She currently oversees the development of the great employee benefits we offer. In this video she goes over the benefits of, and where to find, workers’ compensation, health insurance and retirements plans in QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium and Elite.  As a reminder for customers located  in California, Illinois

Welcome back to our Top Five! Housekeeping items in QuickBooks are essential to managing the day-to-day tasks that come with running a business, so we are rounding up our most asked questions regarding your account. Here’s what the Community has been asking: 1. How do I share custom reports with other users on my account? Sharing custom reports in QuickBooks is a great way to keep important stakeholders in the loop. There are two ways to do this. If you've saved your customized report, you'll want to go to the Custom reports tab. Here's how: Go to the Reports tab. Click the Custom reports tab. Hi the Edit link for the custom report you want to share. Choose a specific name from the drop-down. Click Save and close. Other users will be able to see the shared reports when they go to their Custom reports tab. Another way is to use the Save customization button. Simply open a specific report, then click on the Save customization button. You'll see the Share with drop-down menu again.&nbs

Blase from QuickBooks here - this time going over what you can find and do in Payroll Settings. For this example we'll be looking at a US QuickBooks Online Payroll company that's based out of California. If the company operated in multiple states, then each state would have its own row in Payroll Settings. Things are constantly improving here, so don't be surprised if the look and feel, as well as features available, are different from what's in the video. Payroll Settings is the place to go for all of your critical payroll needs Federal and State payroll information, changing your payroll bank account, seeing your direct deposit funding timing and limit along with other amazing features like Auto Payroll - where QuickBooks runs payroll for you. This is also the place to go to see who is paying and filing your payroll taxes and forms and to switch it so that either you do it, or QuickBooks does it for you.  State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) RateView your State Unemployment Insu

Spring is well underway, and it feels like the perfect time to come back to the much-frequented topic of reconciliation. Just like balancing your checkbook, it’s critical to reconcile your bank and credit card accounts in QuickBooks frequently to make sure they match your real-life bank accounts. If you need a refresher on how to reconcile, you can always check out this article.  Let’s take a look at some of the chatter around reconciliation in our Community! 1.I need to edit some transactions that have already been reconciled. How do I do this without undoing the reconciliation? Good news! Changing anything but the amount and the account on any given transaction won't change its reconciliation status. You can edit the reconciled transaction right in your chart of accounts. Here's how: Click Accounting from the left menu, then select Chart of Accounts. Find the bank account from the list and click View register. Locate and select the transaction you want to change, then clic