How to Set up QuickBooks Online Payroll

In this article, we’ll help you find the best payroll service for your needs. Here provide you with the steps to set up QuickBooks Online Payroll Service Core, Premium, or Elite. Intuit offers many solutions when it comes to Payroll.

It is quite easy to subscribe to a payroll service, but choosing the correct service is where the complexity lies. Different services cater to different user needs.

How to Set up QuickBooks Online Payroll – Core, Premium, Elite

Find out what information is required and how to set up QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium, or Elite services. With QuickBooks Online Payroll, you can quickly, correctly, and on time pay your team. A few tasks must be finished before you can pay your employees.

Step 1: Get started on your payroll setup

Payroll should be simple for you. Add company and employee information to QuickBooks to instantly generate paychecks, which you can then print or handwrite. You will then return to the setup and complete it.

• Firstly, you have to open QuickBooks Online, and then you have to sign in as the Primary Admin.
• You have to go to Settings, then you have to select Account and Settings.
• Then you have to select Billing and Subscription.
• The second box contains the name of your payroll plan.

QuickBooks Online Payroll Core and Premium

The first step is to enter some important business data.

• Gather the following information.
  • The date of your upcoming paycheck (or the day you want to begin paying your staff in QuickBooks).
  • The location where all or most of your employees are physically located.
  • The name, phone number, and email address of the payroll contact. The main person in charge of paying your team—who might be you—is this.
• Then you have to open QuickBooks Online.
• Now you have to go to Payroll, then you have to select Overview.
• Then you have to select Get Started.
• To enter the necessary information, follow the on-screen instructions.

You can begin adding your first employee once the Business details section has been finished. Not prepared? Simply end the setup and return to the activities later by selecting Overview under Payroll.

QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite

With QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite, you have the option of setting up your payroll yourself or having some or all of it done for you by a payroll expert as part of your plan.

If you want a payroll expert to do all or most of your setup

• First, you have to open QuickBooks Online.
• Then you have to select Payroll and then select Overview.
• Then you need to talk with QuickBooks experts.

What happens next

During the time of your call, a payroll expert will contact you to review your position and needs. After that, you will get an email with the necessary information, documents, and deadlines to start your payroll.

If you want to do all or some of the setup yourself

• Gather the following info:
  • Date of your next paycheck (or the day you want to begin paying your team in QuickBooks).
  • The primary workplace is where the majority or all of your staff are employed.
  • This needs to be a real address. 
  • The name, phone number, and email address of the payroll contact.
  • The principal person in charge of paying your team—who might be you—is this.

• Now you have to open QuickBooks Online.
• Select Overview after going to Payroll.

Step 2: Complete your Payroll Setup Tasks

Since setting up QuickBooks takes time, we have made it so that you may enter information whenever it’s convenient and save it as you go. Almost any order can be used to complete the tasks. If you have already paid your employees this year, there are a few extra tasks.

To do these tasks:

• You have to go to payroll, and then you have to select Overview.
• Then you have to select Start on the task that you want to work on.

Tell us about your team

You will enter the information about your employees in this task, and you can encourage them to enter part of their information using our free QuickBooks Workforce product.

You will require the following details for each employee:

• Completed Form W-4 and, if necessary, any state-specific equivalent forms
• Date of hire
• Date of birth
• Pay rate
• Bank account or pay card info for direct deposit (if applicable)
• Accrual rates for PTO, sick leave, and vacation time (if applicable)

Fill in your tax info

You must enter your federal tax and state payroll tax information in this job.

The details you require are.

• The number for Federal Employer Identification (FEIN).
• State Withholding and/or Unemployment account numbers: Contact your state agencies to register
• Federal and state deposit frequencies: how frequently you must pay your taxes to the state and the IRS
• Rate of state taxes: Paid family leave, state disability, surcharges, and unemployment.

Add your payroll history, if you have already paid employees this year

You must enter the year-to-date salary information for each employee you have paid in this assignment. On W-2s and other payroll tax forms, we will appropriately reflect wages and taxes using the information you provide.

The details you require are:

• For each employee paid in this calendar year, provide pay stubs or payroll reports.
• Payroll reports for the current quarter that provide the company’s totals for wages and taxes for each date of payment.

Add a workers’ compensation policy

You must set up a workers’ compensation policy for your company. To help you find affordable rates or connect to an existing policy through the program, Intuit collaborates with AP Intego.

Connect your bank

To use direct deposit and to enable us to pay and file your payroll taxes, you must complete this activity and connect your payroll bank account. You might be able to instantly connect it so you can start using direct deposit.

The details you require are:

• Name, home address, Social Security number, and date of birth of the principal officer.
• Your username and password for your business’s online banking, or the routing and account numbers of the account you want to use for payroll taxes and direct deposits.

Tell us which taxes you have paid this year, if you have already paid employees this year

Your main principal will electronically sign payroll permission documents as part of this activity, and you will verify and confirm the payroll taxes you have already paid this year.

Information that you will need:

• Documents (tax liability reports, receipts, or statements) that detail the taxes you paid this year and the amounts you paid.
• To answer particular inquiries for the payroll authorization forms, the principal officer is present.

Four Major Payroll Subscription Services Provided by Intuit

• Intuit Online Payroll
• Intuit Full Service Payroll
• QuickBooks Online Payroll
• QuickBooks Online Full-Service Payroll

Intuit Online Payroll

This is a web-based service in which a user can record the working hours of employees, send paychecks directly into accounts, and file taxes. The option to fill and file taxes online is very convenient for users who’ve purchased a subscription to this service. For accountants, Intuit offers Online Payroll for Accounting Professionals.

Intuit Full Service Payroll

This is a slightly more expensive option that provides more features. All you need to do is enter the working hours of the employees, and the rest will be done independently by Intuit. Actions, like filing and filing taxes and paying employees, can be automated through this service. All the time-consuming actions are done automatically behind the scenes.

QuickBooks Online Payroll and Full Service Payroll

This is the option that is best for QuickBooks Online users. The payroll service is activated within the online accounting software. Since the service is built right into the software, activating it doesn’t take more than a minute. In QuickBooks Online, users have the option to go for Online Payroll or full-service payroll. Again, the full-service payroll automates a lot of the manual work, including filing taxes and paying employees.

It doesn’t take more than an hour to set up and get started with QuickBooks Payroll. Although you need to enter essential information like year-to-date payroll data, pay frequency, pay rate, financial year start and end date, and employee w-4 information, everything else is taken care of according to the service you purchased. There’s also a step-by-step guide on setting up payroll in QuickBooks Online.

Now that we’ve discussed the different available options for users, we need to look at the best option for QuickBooks Online users. According to our experts, the best option you should go for is QuickBooks Online Payroll because this is the service that integrates the best with QuickBooks Online. Instead of spending time entering data in two different software, you’ll be able to sync data and work with payroll from inside your accounting solution.

How to Add Payroll to a Client’s Company File in QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA)

This will explain what to do if you need to add payroll to a client’s company file in QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA).

Turn on payroll

Make sure that payroll is turned on before adding payroll to a client’s company file.

• You have to select Open QuickBooks for your client from the toolbar.
• Choose the business of your client.
• Select Employees, then Workers.
• Then you have to select Get Started.
• After that, you will be directed to choose the Payroll you want.

Option I: Select if you want to file your taxes yourself

Following the activation of payroll, you have two choices. If you wish to file your taxes on your own, the first choice is for you. This is how to accomplish it.

• Click on see your plan, and examine the details offered.
• Select Next if you agree. (If not, choose Back and choose the alternate choice.)
• Your payroll has started. To enter the relevant data, choose Get Started with Payroll.
• Fill out the form with the necessary information about your company, then click Continue.
• Select Continue on each of the remaining screens to finish the process.

Option II: Select if you want payroll to do all the filings for you

The second choice is to let QuickBooks Payroll take care of the filings on your behalf. This is how to do it.

• You have to select See Your Plan. Then you have to review the information provided.
• Select Next if you agree.

To check the company address

• Select Account and Settings under Settings.
• If the company address is incorrect, update it before saving.

• To continue, allow the customer to add a fictitious Company Address.
• Go to: to guide the customer through adding a new work location.
  • Select Payroll Settings from the Toolbar’s Gear icon.
  • Then you have to go to Work Locations.
  • Then you have to select Add a Work Location.
• Add the appropriate workplace, then hit Save.
• Switch the right work location to the primary one in the CS Server once the correct address has been added.
• Then you have to walk the customer by deleting the incorrect location by going to.
  • Select Payroll Settings from the Toolbar’s Gear icon.
  • Then you have to go to Work Locations.
• Choose Delete after selecting the incorrect work location.
• Then you have to select Yes to confirm the deletion.

Now that you know how to activate payroll and add payroll to a client’s company file, you may use it.

To boost productivity and cut costs, users should consider shifting to QuickBooks Online Payroll. Any help calls to the QuickBooks consultant team to know more about everything about QuickBooks Payroll.

Frequently Asked Questions