Pay multiple hourly rates in QuickBooks Online Payroll

Some companies pay hourly employees different rates for different types of work. For example, a gardening supply store might pay an employee $15 an hour when operating heavy equipment but $13 an hour when performing other tasks (overtime and double overtime are calculated separately).

If you pay an employee different hourly rates, we'll show you how to set up the rates, and then how to enter the employee’s hours when you run payroll.

When you first add your employees, we ask what hourly rates you pay.

Add or update an employee's hourly rate after you set up your payroll

1. Go to Payroll and select Employees (Take me there).
2. Select the employee's name and then select Edit employee.
3. Under How much do you pay the employee, select the edit pencil.
4. Click Add an hourly rate and fill in the info.

Note:

You can add up to eight hourly rates for each employee. The first is always called Regular Pay on the employee's pay cheque. When you add more rates, you can name them whatever you want. Any name you add to an employee's hourly pay, such as Cash Register, will be available for all other hourly employees. You can pay all of the employees the same rate or different rates. For example, an experienced employee might earn a higher rate for working the cash register than a new employee would.

Enter pay for more than one hourly rate

When you create a pay cheque for an employee, enter the hours worked at each rate and enter any overtime or double overtime hours. We base overtime and double overtime calculations on the employee's highest pay rate for the pay period. However, you can change this rate on the Edit pay cheque page.

Calculate sick, vacation, holiday, bereavement, and overtime for multiple rates

When you enter more than one pay rate for an employee, we use the:

• Regular pay rate to calculate sick, vacation, bereavement, and holiday pay.
• Highest pay rate when calculating overtime and double overtime, unless you change that rate on the Edit pay cheque page.