Allocate Payroll expenses to a Customer

Hi again LaterWhen,

I appreciate the explanation of what you're looking to do in QuickBooks Online when it comes to organizing your payroll data and expenditures. I can see that you've already taken a look into what's possible in terms of setting up your payroll expenses, and I can take you the next steps to explain the options.

As you mentioned, QuickBooks Online Payroll does give you the option to use class tracking, but it doesn't have an option in the Payroll Settings for allocating funds to a customer. Even if you were to use classes, this wouldn't attribute the funds to a customer in the way you're looking for.

I'm not quite sure whether you're looking to make these expenses billable to the "customer," but one way to organize data related to a particular thing in your books is to use the Projects feature. What you could do instead is set the grant up as a project, then use the creation tools in that area to make sure all related transactions are organized. You can even run profitability reports for your projects. Learn more about that here: Track income, costs, and profitability by project

When it comes to entering the payroll information in with that project, what you can do is use the option to add time entries to the project. When you do this, even if you don't mark them as billable to the project, the cost will show among the expenses for the project once the pay run is complete. What you'd do is enter the employee's time into the time entry, fill in the details, attribute it to the project, and then hit save. The entry will then show under the project and the time you entered will be used in the appropriate pay run. They won't be applicable retroactively, but you can start using them moving forward. Learn more about timesheets and time activities here.

• Enter a single time activity timesheet

• Enter a weekly timesheet in QuickBooks Online

What I recommend is taking the time to read the articles I've shared and think on how these features might work for you. It may even mean consulting with an accountant to first figure out how to account for the existing payroll expenses that you want to allocate to the grant and second to see if these features will work the way you need them to.

I believe I've shared these details with you previously, but just to be sure you have them, the My Accountant tab is the go-to resource for connecting with an accountant in QuickBooks Online. It gives you the opportunity to invite your accountant as a user to work in your books or you can use the Find a pro to help button to search for professionals in your area who can lend a hand.

I hope this helps you get on your way!