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Make changes to pay runs in QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll

by Intuit•2• Updated 1 month ago

Learn how to make changes to an approved payroll, add messages, adjust earnings, include expense reimbursements, and manually add or remove employees in a pay run.

This article is for customers who use QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll.

Before you begin

Before making changes to a pay run, make sure that you have already created and processed the pay run in QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll.

For steps on how to create and finalise a pay run in Advanced or Bureau Payroll, refer to this help article.



Make changes to an approved payroll

If you need to make changes to a previously approved payroll in Advanced Payroll, don’t worry—it’s a straightforward process. Unapproving lets you fix mistakes or add information without starting all over.

Important notes

  • You can only unapprove a payroll if you haven't started the next pay period.
  • Unapproving cancels out the automatic record QuickBooks made when you first approved the payroll.
  • If you've already sent your payroll information (RTI file) to HMRC, you'll need to send it again after making changes.
  • Once you start the next pay period, you can't go back and change old ones.

To unapprove the pay run:

  1. Go to Payroll, and select Pay runs. 
    This will take you to a page where you can view all of your pay runs that have been approved and are awaiting processing. 
  2. Select the employee. A message box will appear. 
  3. Select Remove the approval. This will reopen the pay run.
  4. QuickBooks will automatically create another record to cancel out the first one. This new record will have the same number as the first one, but with an "R" at the end.
  5. Make your changes, and approve the pay run again.
  6. Print the updated payslips and resend your RTI submission to HMRC.


Manually add or remove employees from a pay run

Employees are usually auto-included in a pay run, but you can manually add or remove them when needed.

  1. Open the pay run.
  2. Select Pay Run Actions, then Add Employees.
  3. Enter the employee's name.
  4. Review the reason for their exclusion.
  5. Select Add Employee to confirm.
  1. Open the pay run.
  2. Select the employee to expand their details.
  3. Select Actions, then Exclude from Pay Run.

The employee will now be excluded from the pay run.



Adding employee expenses to a pay run

Expense categories define the different types of out-of-pocket expenses your employees can claim. Because expense reimbursements are not considered to be earnings, they won't be included in net or gross amounts calculated in pay runs or payment summaries generated at the end of the financial year.

If you want to include an expense reimbursement for an employee in a pay run, you can do this by adding expense lines within the pay run.

  1. Make sure you have an appropriate Expense Category defined for this expense.
  2. From the list of employees in the pay run, choose the employee you want to add the expense reimbursement to.
  3. Select Actions.
  4. Select Add Expense. This will add a new earnings line in the Expenses section of the employee's pay run details.
  5. For the new expense line, enter the following:
    • Expense Category (required)
    • Location (required)
    • Notes
    • Tax Code
    • Amount (required)
  6. Save to add the expense line.

Note: Expense reimbursements are not included in net or gross pay calculations.



Add or remove earnings lines in a pay run

If you want to adjust the amount an employee is paid, you can do this by adding (or removing) earnings lines from within the pay run.

  1. Open the pay run.
  2. Select the employee.
  3. Select Actions, then Add Earnings.
  4. Select the Pay Category.
  5. Enter the required details:
    Units (hours/days/units), Rate, Location (optional), Notes (optional)
  6. Select Save.

To add additional earnings lines:

  1. Follow the steps above to add an earnings line.
  2. Repeat the process for each additional earnings line needed.
  3. Each new earnings line will appear under the Earnings section of the pay run
  1. Hover over the line.
  2. Select the red X that appears.
  3. Confirm deletion when prompted.


Add a message to a pay run

You can add messages to pay runs that are currently unlocked. However, if you wish to include a message in a locked pay run, you need to unlock it first. Once a message is added to a pay run, it becomes visible on the payslips of all employees associated with that specific pay run.

  1. Open the pay run.
  2. Select Pay Run Actions, then Unlock.
  1. Go to Payroll, and then select the Pay Run tab.
  2. In the pay run, select Pay Run Actions.
  3. Select Add message.
  4. Enter the message and Save.


What's next?

For more in-depth guidance, check out our additional support articles:

QuickBooks Online Payroll Advanced

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