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Set up pay schedules in QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll

by Intuit3 Updated 2 years ago

This article will show you how to add, edit, delete and restore pay schedules in QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll.

Pay schedules are used to set up pay runs. The pay schedule's settings are used by each pay run to calculate which employees to pay and what pay run warnings to display.

There is no limit on the number of pay schedules you can create. You can configure a pay schedule for any combination of pay frequency which means you can have multiple weekly, fortnightly and monthly pay schedules all running at the same time.

To access Pay Run Settings, go to:

  1. Select the gear icon, then under Your Company click Payroll settings to open the settings window.
  2. In Pay Run Settings, select Pay Schedules.
  1. In the Pay Run Settings, click the Add button located in the top right.
  2. Enter the following details:
    • Name.
    • Frequency - choose from weekly, fortnightly, monthly, four weekly, quarterly or annually.
    • Included employees - Choose from either None, Employees with this pay schedule as their default or Employees with timesheets in the following locations. Note: If you choose the latter you must enter a location.
    • Payslip message - This note will appear in the payslip message area on all pay runs for this pay schedule, and will also show on all employee's payslips included in the pay run.
    • Pay run warnings - You can select (or deselect) what warnings you would prefer to be displayed in the pay run. To open the context panel, click the hyperlinked here text to configure. Learn more about pay run warnings and what they mean.
    • Pay run finalisation settings - The following preferences can be configured to apply to all pay runs in a specific pay schedule:
      • Submit a pay run to HMRC (manually, immediately or at a specific time and date).
      • Publish payslips (manually, immediately or at a specific time and date).
      • Employee notifications (send or don't send to employees). Note: This option will not show if you have selected to publish payslips manually.
      • Report packs (immediately or at a specific time and date). Note: Report packs need to be set up for this option to show.
      • Pension settings (immediately, manually or at a specific time and date).
    • Pay run automation - Here you can choose what components of a pay run you want automated and what components are to be process manually. If you wish to process a pay run manually from start to end then there's no need to change this setting. Learn how to automate a pay schedule here.

In the pay schedule settings, simply select the name of the pay schedule you wish to edit. This will show the details of the pay schedule where you can make any necessary changes.

To delete a pay schedule, hover over the name of the pay schedule you wish to delete. Click the red bin icon to trigger the a delete confirmation window. Select Delete to confirm.

Note: If the bin icon is disabled (this will display in a grey colour), the pay schedule can not be deleted. You won't be able to delete a pay schedule that has been previously used to pay employees so as not to affect ongoing reporting by pay schedule.

  1. Select the gear icon, then under Your Company click Payroll settings to open the settings window.
  2. In Advanced, select Restore Deleted Items.
  3. Select Pay schedule from the drop down list.
  4. Click Restore on the pay schedule you wish to reinstate.

The Monthly payment mode setting calculates the average number of hours per month for employees with advanced standard work hours setup in their profile, rather than paying specific hours per month based on the number of days in the month.

This setting will follow the same principal as basic standard hours. For example, if an employee is set to work 19 hours per week, the monthly calculation of hours will be 19 x 4.33333 and this amount will not vary each month.

If this setting is not selected then the calculation to determine the employee's monthly hours will depend on the days the employee works and how many days are contained in the mont.This means that the employee's monthly hours may vary from pay period to pay period.

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