One of the most important things you can do as a business owner is pay your workers on time. But processing payroll all on your own can be challenging. That's where QuickBooks Payroll comes in. 

With this flexible solution, you can do it all—choose your pay schedules, set up automated payroll runs, manage different pay types, file accurate payroll taxes, and provide employee access—on a payroll platform built for growing businesses.

Discover all the pay types that make payroll easier to manage and the new features that help you save time each pay run—whether you’re paying one employee or a growing team.

Pay types available in QuickBooks

Pay types are categories that show how employees get paid. Some are regular, like hourly or salary pay, and some are supplemental, like overtime or bonuses.

Using the right pay type can help you keep your payroll accurate, monitor your payroll deductions and remittances, and better manage your cash flow.

Base compensation pay types available in QuickBooks Payroll

When you hire a new employee, one of the first questions to ask yourself is, “Should this employee be salaried, hourly, or commission-only?” And rightly so. Selecting the right pay type helps you handle employee compensation fairly and accurately under Canadian labour standards.

Here are the base pay types you can set up in QuickBooks Payroll:

• Hourly: A common pay type for roles where hours can vary week to week. It’s flexible for changing schedules.
• Salary: A fixed amount paid regularly, providing predictable income regardless of hours worked.
• Commission-only: Ideal for positions in sales where pay is solely based on job performance.

Because each pay type should line up with the work arrangements you set up with your employees, choosing the right one can make calculating payroll much easier.

Default and custom pay types

Beyond the base pay types available in QuickBooks Payroll, you can choose from these default and custom pay types:

• Bonuses: Compensation in addition to the amount of pay specified as a base salary or hourly income.
• Allowances: A taxable payment to an employee separate from regular wages
• Reimbursements: Non-taxable repayments to employees for out-of-pocket business expenses
• Statutory holiday pay: Paid time off for statutory holidays
• Overtime: 1.5 times an employee's regular hourly rate for every overtime hour worked
• Double overtime: Twice an employee’s regular hourly rate for every overtime hour worked
• Controlled tips: Tips and gratuities controlled and managed by the employer
• Taxable benefits (cash): Benefits whose amounts are included on a paycheque
• Accrued vacation payouts: Payments that employees receive for any unused vacation time 
•  Other earnings: Taxable payments to employees separate from regular wages (such as retroactive pay increases and severance pay)

You can customize these pay types to fit the way your business pays employees. In addition, you only need to set up recurring allowances or occasional reimbursements once. Then, you can easily use them each pay period.

New features in QuickBooks Payroll

Employers now have more control over how their pay is managed—with new features in QuickBooks Payroll.

Effective dating

Pay rates can change over time, and handling them last-minute can be stressful. With effective dating, you can set up pay type changes in advance, which gives payroll administrators more control.

Pay rate and allowance changes are applied automatically at the start of the next pay cycle unless the user selects a future date for the update.

Additional compensation combinations

Some employees may take on extra work beyond their regular duties. You can combine their base salary with an additional hourly rate to ensure they’re compensated correctly for overtime or one-off projects, keeping your payroll compliant and fair.

Pay type account mapping

Each pay type—both base and additional—now clearly shows which account in your chart of accounts it maps to. If you need to update the mapping, you can do so easily in the accounting settings. This gives you more control over how payroll costs appear in your reports, helping your team gain clearer insights and make more informed decisions about labour costs.

How QuickBooks Payroll makes managing payroll easier

Learning how to set up payroll in QuickBooks can be overwhelming at first, but the right tools can make it much easier. 

QuickBooks Payroll is designed to cut down on manual work and make payroll more straightforward for both employers and employees.

• Set up faster: Streamlined pay type setup lets you configure payroll quickly, so you can get up and running without delays.
• Automate runs: Run payroll automatically for employees with consistent hours or recurring schedules, saving time each pay period. 
• Provide access: Your employees can access their pay stubs, year-end forms, and tracked hours online on the Premium and Elite plans.
• Combine systems: Combining payroll, accounting, and time tracking (on the Premium and Elite plans) makes it easier and more accurate to report.
• Sync records: A built-in reconciliation feature syncs payroll transactions with your accounting automatically. 

Together, these features make setting up your payroll system simpler—just by automating every manual task you manage today.

With QuickBooks Payroll, you can reconcile all your payroll transactions in one place, keeping your books accurate and up to date.

Get started with QuickBooks Payroll

It doesn't have to be complicated to manage your payroll. QuickBooks Payroll helps you pay your employees in a smarter way, offering you a choice of pay types and new features like Effective Dating.

The right tools can make managing your payroll easier. With QuickBooks Payroll, you can choose how to pay your employees, map your accounts, and reduce errors.

Try QuickBooks Payroll today to simplify your payroll process and provide your employees with access to the pay information they need.

Sign up for QuickBooks Payroll and start saving time and money every pay run.

Disclaimer

Money movement services are provided by Intuit Canada Payments Inc.

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