Desktop payroll discontinuation

Hello rjwb,

Thanks for reaching us here and sharing your thoughts. The payroll software is being removed for all Desktop customers at the end of the current tax year. 

We have recently introduced a new Advanced payroll into our Online software which covers the limitations of our previous Online payroll products, and includes many additional features to fit business needs based on customer feedback, including automated pay-runs, the ability to submit pension figures directly to the pension provider using 'PensionSync', and holiday rostering.

You can view our Advanced Payroll Hub which covers setting up and using the payroll, and you can take a free trail of our Online subscriptions from our website if you'd like to put it to the test.

Please let us know if you have any further queries!

Thanks for the pointers. I just wish there was a clear statement that compares the functionality of QBD (accounting + payroll) with QBO, so I can make an informed decision. I found last time that the features of the QBO ledger, not just the payroll, were sorely lacking. It would be much quicker to find this out in advance rather than going through a lengthy process of signing up for another trial, importing the QBD ledger across, manually typing in all the payroll records, and then finding out that various features are just not provided in QBO.

No disrespect to you guys trying to help us, but after the umpteenth time of being told the click the cog and submit a feedback request, you are mightily fed up!

i would like to second these thoughts - I can't believe that as a pro advisor we haven't even been told this is happening!  a features list would also have been useful.  we run a payroll bureau service - the cost of QBO payroll is cost prohibitive - it means a QBO sub plus the additional payroll sub fee - that means you will have lost all our business after 20 + years of service - I am I disgusted

Hi lilaccat

We've been contacting all desktop users with notice of the discontinuation and apologise if you have not received communication on this. We know that you may have further questions, so we’ve put together some FAQs that’ll help you understands the updates here. If you have any questions which aren't covered please get back to us below.

Thanks

Quickbooks online is not an option for us due to the limitation on the number of users.  I've just spoken to the Quickbooks sales line who suggested using a 3rd party payroll provider (they suggested Brightpay) or moving to a different accounting software provider completely!!

Thanks for your post bqslave, if the neither of QuickBooks payroll versions are suitable for your business needs I am aware Brightpay does integrate well with QuickBooks Online if you do choose to use that option.

Alternatively if you do decide to move from QuickBooks we can assist with exporting any data required from the Desktop product.

"Quickbooks online is not an option for us"....

I called your sales line & mentioned Brightpay - they had never heard of it!

I would like to echo my frustration about discontinuation of Desktop Payroll. I have been trying to migrate to Quickbooks Online for years now, primarily because our business is not that complicated and it would save me a lot of money. But everytime I have tried, there has been a feature I have in Desktop which was not available in Online. Last time I tried to migrate,  I was forced to return to Desktop because Online Payroll couldn't handle payrolling benefits in kind (something HMRC want you to do!). I have just called the support line again, and they have told me that Online Payroll still can't cope with payrolling benefits in kind. I've been using Quickbooks for 20+ years now and I might need to find another provider, just because Online Payroll doesn't include a simple feature - one that HMRC want you to use! Aargh.....

Hello JaneF

Thanks for contacting us about Payroll for QuickBooks Desktop We will pass on your feedback regarding benefits in kind to our product developers.They do look at what features can be added and work successfully in our payroll products.

The Brightpay third party provider mentioned above may be an option if you did decide to move to QuickBooks Online (we do not make that product but from looking at it,it seems it does support benefits in kind)

All comments posts on this thread are being passed on to senior level as feedback on the changes to Desktop,you can find a FAQ link here as well regarding the changes.

Emma

Thanks for your reply Emma. I did ask for the feedback about Payrolling BiK to be passed on when I last tried to migrate to Quickbooks Online, in 2018. I am disappointed to hear it is still not included in Payroll Online - seems madness when HMRC are encouraging it and it has been around for a few years now, *and* Payroll in Desktop can manage it.

I will take a look at BrightPay as you suggest to see if might work for us.  

I am trying to export my data and get the error stating I don't have excel installed (I do) I don't have enough space (I do) I am not in single user mode (I am) I don't have permission to the folder (again I do)

WHat suggestions do you have to sort this error out?

Hello there, @Johng39.

Let's make sure to your QuickBooks software up-to-date so you always have the latest features and fixes. That way, you can export your data.

Here's how:

1. Select the Help menu.
2. Choose Update QuickBooks Desktop.
3. Click the Update Now button from the Overview tab.
4. Pick the Get Updates button.
5. When the download finishes, restart QuickBooks.

For step-by-step instructions, you can read through this article: Update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release.

Keep in touch if there's anything I can help you with. I'm always around to provide further assistanc

Hi Johng

I wonder if you got things sorted? I wish you luck. After 15 years of using QB desktop with payroll I am incredibly frustrated with the online payroll. I would love to know if anyone has resolved how to run unscheduled payruns. We pay on the last Friday of the month with a payperiod to the previous Friday. In desktop we could select our payday and alter the pay period but in QBO it appears you can only pay weekly or monthly and after initially setting the pay day and period for the first payrun all subsequent dates are set in stone. We cannot be the only ones needing this flexibility. I can't issue payslips with incorrect pay day date and incorrect pay period !Thinking about leaving QB entirely but in the midst of covid a major move like that whilst working remotely and with limited telephone support from QB and presumably any alternative provider we move to is a daunting prospect

I have asked several times about unscheduled payrolls and they can't be done in QBO, even in the 'advanced' payroll product. Unless you live in the USA, where they can be done in QBO.

I don't think Intuit are interested in developing a serious payroll product for the UK market, certainly not one with the functionality of the QB desktop payroll. There are just the 2 low-cost, low-functionality options to choose between in the UK. We are working around at the moment by posting any unscheduled payrolls to a suspense account and then rolling them into the next month's scheduled payroll. But it's not 100% satisfactory, particularly where employees are close to the various NI thresholds, where it will inevitably give an incorrect NI calc as a result. We will have to move to another payroll product eventually.

I moved to Brightpay, from the QB desktop product, it's brilliant. Try the 60 day trial :thumbs_up:

We moved to Brightpay too - wish we had done it years ago!  We still can't do unscheduled payroll though - but Brightpay lets you easily finalise payments for different individuals on different pay days and if someone needs an additional payment during a pay period you can re-open a payslip, add the additional pay, add the net they've already had as a deduction and re-do.

HI

I have now tried BrightPay and found it brilliant! I have customised the payslip so it just shows Period 1, 2 etc and in the notes section that the employee sees on the payslip I enter the payperiod. So it does not matter whether it is a 4 week month or a 5 week month. Very pleased. Tahnk you guys who suggested it!

I give Brightpay a thumbs up! It is flexible enough to cope with my 4 / 5 week payruns. by customising the payslip I can hide the pre populated pay period and just show Period 1 for instance and in the notes on the payslip I enter the payperiod dates for the employee to see. 

Also shows holiday remaining as our guys are used to in QB desktop and can't see in QBO. 

I shall certainly give Brightpay a whirl then - does it integrate to the QBO ledger at all or are the accounting entries all manually done?

Once you've set up the connection journals can be posted direct to QBO.  Posts direct to our pension scheme (NEST) too :)

Essentially we're being forced to leave Quickbooks after 18 years.

Payroll was the only reason to pay the subs - now £2,000 per year for three seats.

They are very keen to promote QB's online but as noted by plenty of others, it still doesn't provide the basics for payroll.

In the UK QB's seem to have accepted the online product isn't up to the job and are recommending Brightpay as an alternative but bugs in QB's IIF exports make this difficult. However Brightpay is fantastic and an example of how software companies can be run.

If I sound hacked off, that's because I've just finished a two hour support call with QB's. It was extremely difficult to get the (kind and pleasant) agent to understand what Brightpay support understood in 2 minutes. The call ended because the agent couldn't get a reliable connection to view my screen and then the telephone line quality went from bad to worse and then dead, extremely frustrating but typical of my experince with QB's over the years.

Overall the situation for Intuit isn't good, Quickbooks desktop 2003 was more feature rich and far better supported than Quickbooks Online 2020. To go backwards in the software world over almost two decades is pretty impressive. It seems that Intuit is owned by a investors who just view their clients as a cash machine and just want to follow a SaaS model because it's more profitable rather than considering what clients would really benefit from.

Hello Completed, 

Welcome to the Community page, 

Thank you for leaving your feedback with us, we have taken all of it on board and will pass this on to our developers.  At Quickbooks, we do make changes and develop our products so it moves with the times and the advances in technology we have in this present day in age. We understand the frustration customers are having to move onto online to run payroll due to it being stopped in Desktop is not ideal. we hope whichever you choose works best for yourself with it is Brightpay or Quickbooks online payroll.   

Yeah, I moved to BrightPay as well.

It does seem bizarre that Quickbooks'understand the frustration'.

If they did surely they would have tried to come up with a reasonable plan.

Discontinuing Desktop payroll support before you have an decent alternative just seems to be bad planning.

Alternatively they may have planned it this way knowing that they would loose many customers in the process but perhaps ther returns on that part of the business just weren't good enough to justify the continued support and development?