Adding a Flat Rate payroll item

Hello again Luvmylabs705,

I'll help you out with this. You're right that the commission option will auto-choose which box on the T4 to assign that kind of rate to. Configuring this sort of option in QuickBooks Desktop does require a workaround as it's not built into the product. I recommend confirming with an accountant or the CRA to confirm whether Commission would be the correct payroll item choice or the suggestion I have below.

What you can try is setting up the daily rate using the Wage payroll item and choosing Hourly for instance. Name it Daily Rate, choose the correct account and ROE settings and hit Finish. From there, head on over to the Employee Centre and add it to your employees by double clicking their name and then going to the Payroll Info tab. The key here is to not enter a rate after you've entered the item into the Earnings area, although you can if it's the same daily rate each time.

Now when you run payroll, you'll see that in the options when you need to enter hours. The program will require you to enter an amount of hours in order to calculate, so in this case you can put 1.

Give that a shot and see if it works for you. For more help and information about payroll items, go to the Help menu and click QuickBooks Desktop Help (or use the F1 key as a shortcut). From there, click the Help tab and then the Search button. Using keywords such as "payroll item," you'll be able to find articles about it.

Don't hesitate to ask more questions!

Hi There,

Thanks so much for your reply.  The only downfall I see to  your solution would be the hours.  We need to enter hours or an estimate of hours worked, because that information is needed for the ROE when the time comes.  I just went to do a pretend payroll with the Commission option .  There's a box there for hours, but it won't let me enter anything in that box which I thought was weird.  Or it might boil down to having to do the ROE manually instead of letting Quickbooks Desktop do it (love that feature)

I'm hoping the Commission in Box 42 isn't an issue.  Its included in Box 14, its just shown out as commission on the tax return. But I will look into that further. I even tried to setup an item as an "Addition" which works also, but still can't enter hours.

In order to enter hours, your option may be the best way to go, but I would have to break down the daily rate into hours and and hourly rate and enter it that way.  Not sure at this point what to do.

Great job with what you've done to play around with the options so far. Like I mentioned, speaking with an accountant or the CRA would be best to find out how the Commission option would affect your employees' T4s and ROEs. If you don't already have an accountant, our Find a ProAdvisor tool can help you out. Just type your city or postal code into the search and click Find a ProAdvisor to be on your way. On the next page, there are filter options to narrow your search. An accountant familiar with the program may also have an idea for how to set up this kind of payroll item.

Create an Wage type Payroll Item following the first 5 screenshots. Add the Payroll Item to the employees' profiles, but do not assign a Yearly Salary. When you create a paycheque for an employee using the Daily Wage Item, enter the total $ being paid on this cheque in the Rate column. Enter the number of hours you wish to report for ROE purposes in the Hours column. A different $ amount and # of hrs can be entered on each paycheque. The $ are reported in Box 42 and the Hrs are reported on the ROE. See last screenshot.

Hello. 

I tried to follow the screen shots to create a wage type provided by the Impossible. Does this process work for Quickbooks Online? I can't find any of the screen shown.

Thanks,

Paul