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What to gather before setting up payroll

SOLVEDby QuickBooks307Updated August 11, 2023

Setting up payroll requires the input of information on schedules, employees, and more. Payroll setup is a smoother process if you can collect the following information first.

Category

Type of information needed

Schedule• The frequency that employees are paid (weekly, every other week, twice a month, or monthly)
• The date you plan to start using Payroll
• The first pay period that you’ll run within QuickBooks Payroll
Compensation, Benefits, Contributions and Deductions• Types of compensation (hourly wages, salaries, commissions, vacations)
• Sick and vacation time policies
• Insurance benefits (health, dental, vision)
• Retirement benefits offered (RSP)
• Additional deductions that the employee wants withheld (for example, child support, repayments of employee advances or loans, life insurance)
• Additions (bonuses, travel reimbursements, employee advances or loans and tips)
Tax Information• Federal tax business number (BN)
• CRA Payroll number
• T4 transmitter number
• RQ payroll information
Employees• Employee names, addresses, and Social Insurance Numbers from your employees’ T4 forms
• Employee withholdings from the employee’s TD1 form
• Employee wages/salaries, additions, deductions, and company contributions
• Sick and vacation time hours and monies accrued
Year-to-Date History (YTD)• You'll need to enter year-to-date payroll information only if you've started using Payroll after January 1st of the calendar year and if you’ve already run payroll using other software or another system at least once since January 1st. If you start using QuickBooks Payroll after January 1st but have not yet run a payroll this calendar year, you will have no year-to-date information to enter.
• Year-to-date information for each employee is available on the employee’s most recent pay stub from the system or software you used before QuickBooks Payroll
• Copies of payroll liability cheques from the beginning of this calendar year to the date you started using QuickBooks Payroll. Note: Once you run a payroll in QuickBooks Online, you'll no longer be able to add or edit year-to-date information. Be sure to add all employees and payroll data prior to running payroll.

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