How do I record a bonus already given to an employee?

I'd be glad to share some information on how to record a bonus for your employee, @AssetAccounting.

You can pay your employees with bonuses along with their regular pay or through a separate paycheck.

If you choose to pay a bonus along with the employee’s regular pay, add the Bonus pay type before you run payroll. Here's how:

1. Select Payroll, then Employees.
2. Choose your employee.
3. From Pay types, click Start or Edit.
4. In the Common pay types section, select Bonus.
5. Choose Save.

If you choose to give the bonus through a separate check, skip to Step 3 in this article: Pay an employee bonus.

Additionally, I'll be sharing these articles to help manage your employee paycheck in QuickBooks: 

• Add overtime pay to an employee
• Enter paycheck totals for your W-2 employees

Feel at ease to comment below if you have further concerns with adding a bonus to show up in your employee's W2. I'll be around to help always. Keep safe!

@Rubielyn_J  - I don't need to pay them a bonus. The owner already did outside of QB. I need to record that they were paid a bonus. How do I do this?

Hi AssetAccounting,

Thanks for reaching back out.  QuickBooks Online Payroll provides the ability to create a bonus cheque so your employee forms are accurate at year end.  Here's how;

1. From the left menu, open Payroll and then Employees

2. Click on the ▼ dropdown arrow on the Run Payroll button and select Bonus only

3. Choose whether you'd like it calculated as Net pay or Gross pay and hit Continue

4. Select the account you want to Pay from

5. Enter the Pay date

6. Place a checkmark beside the Employee

7. If you have direct deposit enabled, click on it, in the Pay method column and change it to Paper cheque

8. Enter the Bonus amount

9. Type in a Memo, as you feel necessary

10. Proceed by clicking on Preview payroll

11. When ready, hit Submit payroll

12. Enter the Cheque number for reference and then Finish payroll

You're all set!

Feel free to let us know if this is solved.  Your success is our number one goal and we're always happy to help!

I have the same issue where an employee was paid a net bonus outside of payroll. QBO keeps saying that my employee "needs attention" even after I have changed pay type to check. Hopefully I can get some help with this.

Hello Claudia,

We want to help you with your concern about the "needs attention" message in the payroll section. However, we need more information about it to provide the correct resolution and to sort it out promptly.

Can you share the exact message showing in the "needs attention"? This way, we can provide the appropriate solution to get you back on track.

In the meantime, you can check this article for additional guidance on paying an employee bonus using QuickBooks Payroll: Pay an employee bonus.

Please know that you're always welcome to post questions in this space. Have a great day ahead.

I think the real issue is that the check was issued on December 29, 2023 as a year end bonus paid via paper check. When I change the pay date to then, I get a message that states "1 employee profile needs your attention before you can pay them." If I leave the pay date in 2024, I am not seeing this same message.

Thank you for getting back to us, @claudiapsonak.

I'll help you resolve the issue of getting an error message when "1 employee profile needs your attention before you can pay them" when processing a bonus paycheck in QuickBooks Online.

When you receive a notification stating, "Employee profiles require your attention before payment can be processed," it typically indicates missing information in your employees' profiles.

I suggest checking your employee's profiles and ensuring all the information is complete.

Here's how:

1. From the left menu, choose Payroll and select Employees. 
2. Click the employee's name, then check all the information, such as Tax Withholding, Pay types, Payment Method, Deduction, and Contribution section. 

If everything is complete and you have the same issue, we can proceed with browser troubleshooting.

The stored files in your browser are typically the source of unexpected behavior or failures in QBO. Your cache saves the files from many websites you visit, so you can quickly load the pages the following time. The browsing speed of websites like QBO may be impacted if the cache is retaining too much data.

It's a good idea to check for issues brought on by a full cache when browsing anonymously because doing so prevents the cache from recording your browsing data. You may also try to use other browsers.

• Chrome: Press Ctrl + Shift + N
• Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox: Press Ctrl + Shift + P
• Safari: Press Command + Shift + N

If the steps above will not work, you can use supported browsers as an alternative.

If the given procedures are successful, I advise you to clear the cache in your browser to avoid utilizing outdated forms, safeguard your data, and improve the performance of our programs on your computer.

For future reference, I'm adding these articles to help you manage employees and payroll taxes in QuickBooks:

• Set up employees and payroll taxes in a new state.
• Set up local taxes in QuickBooks Online Payroll.
• Set up, change, or delete employee-paid payroll deductions.

Let me know if you have questions about running Payroll. I'm always here to help. Have a great day.

Didi you get an answer to this?

Well, it seems as though QBO has to do a backend adjustment to gross up the pay. I was supposed to get a callback at 3pm last Tuesday, however it never happened. I obviously should have reached out again  but was super busy all week.  

Apparently QBO needs to do a backend adjustment to gross up the bonus since the check was written in December 2023. I was scheduled for a 3pm callback last Tuesday but didn't receive one. My bad. I should have reached out again but got swamped.