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lindab2810
Level 3

How do i record commissions to specific jobs and and pay the total commission on my employee's payroll check?

I have a commission only employee who receives commission on several jobs each pay period. I assume the only way to capture the commission for each job, would be to create a journal entry. What accounts would be used in this journal entry to avoid doubling the commission when the payroll check is recorded? The paycheck is currently pointed to Wages:Commission. Should that be changed in the payroll accounts setup? I have asked a similar question previously and only received a partial answer. Surely this must be a common occurrence and someone has a workaround for it. Thanks in advance.
6 Comments 6
lindab2810
Level 3

How do i record commissions to specific jobs and and pay the total commission on my employee's payroll check?

Does anyone have a solution to this?  I need to record sales manager commissions to the correct projects, and pay his commissions via QBO full service payroll.  I'm accumulating this on a spreadsheet for now, but will need to record commissions to the jobs by the end of February.

 

Tori B
QuickBooks Team

How do i record commissions to specific jobs and and pay the total commission on my employee's payroll check?

Hey there, @lindab2810.

 

Thanks for reaching out. I hope you're enjoying this beautiful day. 

 

I'm happy to explain how you can enter in the commission using QBO Full Service Payroll. Let's get started:

 

  1. You'll create a scheduled payroll or an unscheduled payroll for the sales manager. 
  2. Enter an amount in the Commission field. 
  3. Click Preview Payroll, then Submit to Intuit

You'll want to check out, Pay employees a commission for more details.

 

I also recommend contacting our support team as they have the tools available to view your screen and help set everything up for you. Below I've included the steps on contacting support.

 

  1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company.
  2. Select Help (?) at the top right.
  3. Hit Contact Us to connect with a live support agent.

Please let me know if there is anything else that I can assist you with today. I'll be here to help you out. Take care and have a good one! 

 

 

lindab2810
Level 3

How do i record commissions to specific jobs and and pay the total commission on my employee's payroll check?

Thanks for this.  However, I know how to do this piece.

My issue is the commission payment is always for multiple jobs.  How/where do I allocate the commission to those individual jobs.  There is no method within the payroll function to do this, and the allocation is necessary for our job record keeping.

Mark_R
Moderator

How do i record commissions to specific jobs and and pay the total commission on my employee's payroll check?

I appreciate you getting back to us, @lindab2810.

 

You'll want to create a journal entry for the commission accounts to apply to their respective jobs.

 

Here's how:

 

  1. In your QuickBooks Online, click the + New button, then select Journal entry.
  2. On the page, select the appropriate accounts from the drop-down.
  3. Fill out the necessary information.
  4. Click Save and close.

I'm adding this article for more details: Create a journal entry in QuickBooks Online.

 

Also, I encourage seeking help from your accountant. This way, they can offer you some advice on correct accounts to use.

 

You might also want to check out this article to know how to pay commission separately from regular pay.

 

Please keep in touch if there's anything else I can do to help you succeed with QuickBooks. I've got your back. Have a great day.

amanda71
Level 3

How do i record commissions to specific jobs and and pay the total commission on my employee's payroll check?

Did you ever get a solid answer for this or did you figure out a workaround for this?  I have the same issue and I'm wondering what kind of JE I would use to track the commission expense to each job.

TECinc
Level 2

How do i record commissions to specific jobs and and pay the total commission on my employee's payroll check?

Hello,

I ran into the same problem and was looking for a solution before reinventing the wheel but I couldn’t find one so here is how I proceeded.

  1. Optional: Open your Profit & Loss report and take note of the amount you have under your total payroll account. This is for verification purpose.
  2. You can create an account to record your commission separately from your other payroll items, if it’s not done automatically when you do payroll.
  3. Find the account that your commission will be or is recorded in when you do your payroll run. (mine is: Salary)
  4. Create a Journal Entry (my example will use a commission of $10,000 to split over 3 jobs)
    1. Example if you pay the commission in the same period as the jobs are invoiced or if you want to keep it in the same period as the commission was actually paid.

Account                               DT                  CT                           Description                                        Name   

Salary                                                     $10,000                To allocate to Job #                                        

Commissions                     $5,000                                     Comm. Allocated to job #             Select the Job

Commissions                     $2,000                                     Comm. Allocated to job #             Select the Job

Commissions                     $3,000                                     Comm. Allocated to job #             Select the Job

 

  1. Example if you pay the commission in a different period as the jobs were invoiced and you want to allocate the commission in that or those periods. For this example, you will need to create a payroll clearing account under your liabilities in your Balance Sheet and make at least 2 journal entries.

 

Date: same as the paycheck

Account                               DT                  CT                           Description                                                       Name   

Salary                                                         $10,000               To allocate to Job # and proper period                         

Payroll Clearing                 $10,000                                      To allocate to Job # and proper period   

 

Date: same as the invoice (If you have multiple months, make this JE for each different month)

 Account                              DT             CT                           Description                                                       Name   

Payroll Clearing                                   $10,000                To allocate to Job # and proper period   

Commissions                     $5,000                                     Comm. Allocated to job #                    Select the Job

Commissions                     $2,000                                     Comm. Allocated to job #                    Select the Job

Commissions                     $3,000                                     Comm. Allocated to job #                    Select the Job

 

  1. Review your accounts so the total noted in step 1. is the same. If you split your salary and commission with the above JE the sum of both should still be the same. If you used the payroll clearing account, that account should be at $0 in the month the commission was paid.
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