Add deductions categories in QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll

If you're using QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll, you can set up deduction categories to automatically deduct money from your employees' salary. In this article, we'll show you set up deduction categories, create recurring deductions and check the status of deductions. Plus, how to remove or restore deleted categories. Let's get started!

Add a deduction category

1. Go to Payroll.
2. Under Payroll Settings, select Deduction Categories.
3. Select Add to create a new deduction category. 
   Note: There are two deduction categories ready for you. You can select the name of the deduction category to make edits if you need to.
4. Name your new deduction category.
5. Select whether it will be a pre-tax or post-tax deduction.
6. Add an external ID.
   Tip: You can switch the 'Unique External ID' setting on or off in your Payroll Settings.
7. Select the impact on National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage.
8. Select Save.

Now that you've setup a deduction category, you can assign it to your to employees.

Set up a recurring deduction category

1. Go to Payroll, and then Employees.
2. Look for the employee to that you want to create the recurring deduction for.
3. Select their name to open their employee record.
4. Select Pay Run Inclusions.
5. Next to Deductions, select Add and complete the following details:
   1. Select the appropriate deduction category.
   2. Enter the deduction amount per pay run. This can be a fixed amount or a percentage of gross earnings.
   3. Select whether the deduction should be paid manually or to a bank account.
   4. Select the appropriate preserved earnings from the dropdown menu.
   5. Add a note if you'd like this deduction to have a note attached on the employee's payslip.
   6. Choose when you want this pay run inclusion to start and when it should end.
6. Select Save.

That's it! The next time you process pay run that includes this employee, the deduction will automatically appear.

If you need to, you can make changes to the deduction category by selecting the pencil icon next to it.

Check the status of a deduction category

To check the status or detail summary of a deduction category:

1. Go to Payroll, and then Employees.
2. Select the employee's name to open their employee record.
3. Select Pay Run Inclusions.

From here, you will see the status of any expiring deductions. The deduction summary will include:

• The payment type setup for the deduction.
• The amount of the deduction. For amount based expiries, the current amount that has been paid.
• The start and end date of the deductions.
• Whether or not the deduction has actually expired.

Delete a deduction category

If you need to delete a deduction that you have already set up:

1. Go to Payroll, and then Payroll Settings.
2. Select Deduction Categories.
3. You will see a list of all the available deduction categories.
4. Select the bin icon next to the relevant category to delete it.
5. Select Delete to confirm.

You can also delete an individual deduction from the Employee's tab. To do so:

1. Go to the Employee's tab.
2. Select the employee's name from the list.
3. Select Pay Run Inclusions.
4. Within Deductions, select the bin icon next to the relevant category to delete it.
5. Select Delete to confirm.

Restore a deleted deduction category

If you accidentally delete a deduction, don't worry, here's how you can restore it.

1. Go to your Payroll Settings.
2. Within Advanced, select Restore Deleted Items.
3. Search for the business category.
4. Select Restore.
5. Select Restore to confirm.