+1-877-790-2297
QuickBooks Payroll users have the ability to enter the paycheques that have been issued before using a payroll service. By entering historical payroll data in QuickBooks, it ensures the right year-to-date (YTD) total on paychecks you are going to write for the whole year. Historical payroll information can be added in both QuickBooks Desktop and Online. To know how to enter historical payroll in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, we want you to go through the following guide carefully.
Why Do You Need to Enter Historical Payroll in QuickBooks Online?
If you are switching to Intuit QuickBooks after using some other payroll service, you may require to enter historical payroll in QuickBooks Online or Desktop. It helps you to make sure that the tax and payroll reports remain accurate and do not miss any information. Also, if you own any tax collected before using QuickBooks, this may be very important for you to make sure that QuickBooks pay the tax agencies so you will not get any penalty for inaccurate or late tax payments.
As you successfully enter all the payroll information from the prior period into your QuickBooks Payroll service, you will be able to manage the benefits of employees, print checks, file taxes, or same/next day direct deposit. Let’s know more in detail how to enter historical payroll data into QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop.
How to Enter Historical Payroll in QuickBooks Desktop?
Users can easily enter the historical payroll information outside the QuickBooks Payroll Setup page. All you have to make sure when you enter the date in the Earliest QuickBooks Payroll Date, this date must fall right after the date of the year-to-date pay period which you will enter in your QuickBooks account.
As an example, if you add the date 5/30/2009 as your Earliest QuickBooks Payroll Date then you will not be able to add in your YTD records that are dated after 5/30/2009. This will also now allow you to apply for entering historical payroll data in QuickBooks using the Payroll Setup window.
That is when users are required to use an alternate method to enter the historical payroll information outside the Payroll Setup screen. Read the following steps to understand the procedure and enter payroll data of the prior years:
- To open the “Setup YTD Amount” screen, you can do the following:
- Go to the “Employee” menu.
- Then, choose the “Payroll Setup” option.
- Select the “Set Up YTD Amounts” option.
- Once the “Set Up YTD Amounts” window opens, you can complete the steps for YTD as well as tax payments.
- After this, you can check for which document you will require to enter the YTD history.
- Once done, click the “Next” button.
- When you are prompted to add the date you want the YTD summaries to affect the accounts, you should add the estimated first payroll date in both the date sections.
- Click the “Next” button to continue.
- At this point, you can add the estimated first payroll date.
- Press the “Next” button.
- In case you have difficulties adding the current quarter YTDs, it will adjust to a later date.
- Once done, you can add the “YTD” summaries per employee. Go through the following details:
- First of all, select the employee on the list.
- Then, choose the “Enter Summary” option to launch the “YTD Adjustment” page.
- Here, you will notice that for prior years, YTDs are entered as a lump sum per employee and for the current quarter YTDs are added per payroll for each employee.
- Now, you can adjust the dates accordingly on the top right side.
- Then, switch to the “Earnings Items” box and add the wage information.
- Go to the “Other Employee and Company Payroll Items” section and add the amount for deductions, additions, tax deductions, and company contributions.
- After that, click on the “Show Wage Bases” and add a column. Doing so, the taxable income amount can be displayed next to every payroll item. The amount will appear in the “Other Employee and Company Payroll Items” section.
- By clicking on the “Accounts Affected” option, you can view the options that show how you would want the YTD adjustment to affect the account (Chart of Accounts). Let’s have a look at the options you might have:
- Do Not Affect Accounts: If your account has correct balances then you can choose this option.
- Affect Liability and Expense Accounts But Not the Bank Account: This option can be selected when you have the correct balance in the checking account. However, this option may cause the YTD adjustments as it will not appear in your bank register.
- Affect Liability, Expense, and Bank Accounts: You can select this option when no account balance is correct. Choosing this option will cause the YTD adjustment to appear in the blank register.
- Once you are done finishing the first entry, click on the “Next Period” option to continue with the next entry. Until you finish all the employees, continue to follow the process. After that, do not forget to save the actions by clicking on the “OK” button.
- This way you can repeat the same process for every employee. If you don’t see the “Pay Period Summary” on your screen then you can change the “First Payroll Date” before to a later date and try again.
- When you are done completing all the YTD entries, click the “Next” button and close the page of “Employee Summary Information”.
- If you want to enter the payments that you have made for the payroll liabilities and taxes from the beginning of a calendar year then you can do that too.
- Once done, click the “Finish” button.
This is how you can update the historical payroll information in QuickBooks Desktop. Please remember that the YTD adjustment can be increased only; by adding a negative amount, you will not be able to decrease the amount of YTD. Yet you wish to decrease the YTD amount then you can make changes to your next paycheck.
How Do I Enter Historical Payroll Data in QuickBooks Online?
In QuickBooks Online, the historical payroll information can be entered in two different scenarios. The data is available for the current calendar year or probably you have not run the payrolls for your employee yet and thus you need to enter the data now. Please note, users cannot upload the historical payroll data in bulls in the QuickBooks account and add past years.
To enter historical payroll in QuickBooks Online, you will have to collect the data, add the employee, and enter the totals from the Employee Paystubs or Payroll Reports. After you finish the input, you can continue completing the next employee. Find out the detailed steps to learn how to enter historical payroll data into QuickBooks Online:
Step 1: Collect the Data
In QuickBooks, you can enter the data for the last pay stub for each employee. Therefore, you will first have to gather the data so you can enter it for your employee. You can find these details in the payroll report. Let’s have a look at the following information you have to collect:
- Last time when you paid the employees
- Regular wages
- Overtime
- Deductions (Company Pays)
- Deductions (Employees Pays)
- Social Security Taxes withheld
- Federal Income Taxes withheld
- Medicare withheld
- State Disability Insurance
- State Income Taxes withheld
- Net Pay
Step 2: Start Adding the Employee
- Click on the “Payroll”.
- Then, select the “Overview” section. (Or probably you are already on this tab).
- Here, you will have a task as your “To-Do” to complete.
- You can click on the “Let’s Go” button to add the employee.
- To add the employee, you need to hover the cursor over the “Payroll” menu on the left.
- Then, click on the “Employees” option.
- Here, you can choose the employee from the list you want to add.
Step 3: Add the Totals from the Employee Paystubs or Payroll Reports
This should be noted that one should not enter the historical payroll information until later in the process of setup. Here, the Employee page opens along with the details you have to add for payroll. It will prompt you to add historical data.
Please note: If the numbers do not match according to QuickBooks’s expectations then the procedure will not begin until you correct these numbers.
Step 4: Finish the Process and Continue the Same with Next Employee
- Once you are done entering the necessary information for QuickBooks Online historical payroll, click the “Done” button located at the bottom left.
- Doing so, QuickBooks will update and show the ross pat, net pay to date, and taxes withheld. Make sure you press the “Done” button to finish the employee.
- To add the next employee, you can click on the “Overview” page.
- Then, hit the “Let’s Go” to set up the next employee.
This is how you can enter historical payroll in QuickBooks Online. All you have to ensure that the details such as employee, date, and amount you add should be correct and match the record.
Final Verdict
Entering historical payroll data in QuickBooks becomes necessary especially if you have switched from other payroll services to QuickBooks payroll. To keep your tax and payroll reports remain accurate, it is also important to add the payroll information of prior years along with the valid details. In this guide, we have already shared easy steps for updating the QuickBooks Online historical payroll information including the software version.
To know more about QuickBooks such as online data and supplier credit notes, read the following guides you may find helpful: