"Additional" payroll items tracked by job

For this: "I can setup a "additional" payroll item to do this and it gives a box to select to track by job. However when an employee works some hours on a check that go to a job and some that do not it still allocates some of the per-diem total to the no job portion."

The Addition item doesn't have a place for you to Job Track it; it is allocating across all the Job Tracking and lack of Job Tracking from the top left Compensation section. You set it to Track by Job, but there is no field for you to then Allocate and Assign. Some are not going to jobs, because you have time not assigned to jobs. And if you wanted all per diem to only one or two specific jobs, but the Compensation items from the timesheet are allocated to more jobs than this, you didn't get a chance to do your own Direct Allocation. So, let's not use that method. Instead, you want to take Specific control.

Make a Bank account and name it Payroll Clearing.

Use that account to Write Check for that paydate to each employee. List your Per Diem item(s) on the Items tab, job track, and billable or not, using quantity, cost, etc.

Now the Clearing Bank is running negative and you entered every detail for what you owe to each employee name.

Make a Net Pay Addition item with None for tax tracking and it is for "Employee Accountable Plan additions," which will Not be job tracked. Link it Not to expense; link it to that Payroll Clearing Bank account. Use it on the paycheck for each employee, for the amount you owe them. This acts as a Transfer to the paycheck from the regular checking account (increasing the takehome), and is offsetting into the Payroll Clearing Bank, where it appears as a deposit or Refill of value.

If you did this right, Payroll Clearing for that paydate now ends at 0. And everything is there for Job reporting.

And this assumes the per diem allowances are under the terms of An Accountable Plan. If not, then the addition item needs to be Taxable as Fringe Benefit.

qbtechmt:

Can you screenshot these steps within QB, please?  I think I have an understanding of it all, but some steps I'm not 100% clear on how/where to set something up.

Thank you

Thanks for joining the Community, @Tracyele.

I'm here to ensure your concern gets addressed.

To make sure we're on the same page, may I know which specific part of qbteachmt's answer above are you having issues with? Any details on the steps that you've tried would be much appreciated.

However, here are some articles that you can check out about creating payroll items, checks, and clearing account for your reference:

• Set up a clearing account.
• Set up an hourly wage payroll item.
• Edit a payroll item.
• Create, modify, and print checks.

Please get back to me with more details and we'll take it from there. I'll be keeping an eye out for the response on this. Have a good one.

All of those steps work great, except for the Hourly Wage portion.  We are trying to set this up for Per Diem, so it is a non-taxable item.  I've tried this every which way, and anything you set up as a "wage" or "contribution" gets taxed and you can not edit that profile to do anything but that.

Thanks for getting back to us, @Tracyele.

All earnings are taxable, per IRS regulation.

You may override the tax amounts to zero out taxes, then select customer job. Upon sharing this, I still recommend consulting with your accountant for additional guidance.

You can set up non-taxable per diem payroll item. However, you're unable to track its job when running payroll.

Keep me posted on how this goes. The Intuit Community is always around whenever you need help.

I feel your pain. We have been dealing with this for quite sometime and its very frustrating especially when you set up the payroll item to track by job. We have many times pay perdiem in advance for the employees and if they worked on (3) different jobs, when payroll is ran, perdiem will charge a percentage based on the hours for each of those (3) jobs.

When a P&L is ran, those 3 jobs will then have the perdiem charged and the actual job the perdiem was set up will not show anything until later and then you have (4) jobs with inaccuracy job cost. 

This goes the same with any type of reimbursements. 

I'm having the same issue.  Did you come up with a clean solution?

Thanks for checking this up, rouxster.

So far, the answers shared by qbteachmt and other QuickBooks representatives of this thread are acceptable workaround to achieve your goal.

As per qbteachmt, you can create a bank account for Payroll Clearing. Then, use it when writing checks.

To create an account:

1. Go to Lists and choose Chart of Accounts.
2. Click the Account button below and select New.
3. Choose Bank as the account type.
4. Click Continue. Enter your preferred Account Name (Example: Payroll Clearing).
5. Fill in other necessary information and click Save & Close.

For more insights about managing accounts in QuickBooks Desktop, you can refer to this article: Create, edit, or delete account in QuickBooks Desktop.

Now, you can use this account when you write checks. Then you can enter a List of your Per Diem item(s) on the Items tab and other necessary information.

From here you can create a Net Pay Addition item using None as the tax tracking and it is for "Employee Accountable Plan additions".

Check this article on how to create the Net Pay Addition item: Set up an hourly wage payroll item.

Also, I'd recommend consulting with your accountant for more expert advice on other ways on how to zero out taxes. You can find an account by clicking on this link: Find an accountant.

The Community is always open if you have other questions. I'll be around to help. Wishing you a great day ahead!

Has anyone found a solution to this issue yet?

Hi there, karen123456.

Can you share more details about your concern? Are you also trying to set up an addition item that will be tracked per job?

We're asking these questions to make sure that we give you the right information to sort this out. 

Please reply back to us to share more details. We look forward to it.