How can I use Tags with Payroll?

Hello there, brettrwp. Welcome to the Community forum.

Tags feature can be used for some transactions such as invoices, expenses, and bills within your QuickBooks Online account. There isn't an option to use this with payroll. As a workaround, you can utilize the Memo field to enter additional information for your paycheck. Here's how:
 

1. Go to the Payroll menu.
2. Within the Employees tab, click the Run payroll button.
3. Select a pay schedule for this payroll.
4. Enter the details you want in the Memo column. If you don't see this column, just click the Customize table to include it.
   

Also, I recommend visiting our blog website to stay current with our updates and innovations. Lastly, you can run payroll reports to get the information you need: List of payroll reports. 

Please let me know if you have other questions. I'm just around to help. Take care always.

Hi brettrwp,

Hope you’re doing great. I wanted to see how everything is going about using the Memo field as an alternative way of using tags in the payroll. Was it resolved? Do you need any additional help or clarification? If you do, just let me know. I’d be happy to help you at anytime.

Looking forward to your reply. Have a pleasant day ahead!

Greetings, 

Trying to track payroll between different grants (State, federal, private foundations) and can't seem to find a way to assign a tag to payroll and in some cases split payroll between two grants. Tried projects, but it doesn't seem to work with payroll that runs through a third party. Any suggestions on how to work around this issue? Thank you,

Greetings, @Grand Piano. 

Thanks for joining in on this thread about using tags with Payroll. Allow me to give you additional information on this subject.

I can see how using tags with Payroll would be beneficial for you and your business. However, like my colleague stated, with the Tags feature  it can be used with some transactions such as invoices, expenses, and bills in your QuickBooks Online account.

As a workaround, using the memo field to provide some additional details for the paycheck. For further updates on what's new in the product, check out our Blog site.

If you have any other questions, you can always leave them in the comments below. I'll be here to address them. Stay safe!

Thank you. How does the "memo field" help me pulling individual grant reports and seeing income and expenses for a particular grant? Is there a memo report? I need to be able to see income and expenses against different grants. 

Please let me know how it would work using memo. Thanks, M

Thanks for coming back, Grand Piano.

The option to run a Grant report is unavailable in QuickBooks Online (QBO). We can run the Profit and Loss Detail report and include the Memo column on the report. Here's how: 

1. Go to Reports from the sidebar menu.
2. Under the Business overview section, choose Profit and Loss Detail.
3. Click the Customize button. 
4. Set the appropriate reporting date and accounting method.
5. Under Rows/Columns, choose Memo.
6. Tap Run report. 

To learn more about this one, see the Customize reports in QuickBooks Online article. We can also export the report to Excel to modify the columns and come up with the data you need. On the report, click the Export icon and choose Export to Excel. Once you have the perfect set of filters, save them so you can run the same report in the future. Here's how: 

1. After you customize a report, select Save customization.
2. Give your report a name.
3. Select Save.

Feel free to visit our Reports page for more insights about managing and running your financial reports in QuickBooks.

I want to make sure everything is taken care of for you, please let me know how it goes or if you have any other issues or concerns. Just leave a comment below and I'll get back to you. You have a good one.

"Memo" is not helpful at all if one needs to keep track of payroll in either grants or PPP. Tags and Projects are the only way and they can't be used with Payroll. So how is a memo solution at all a viable one? It's simply is not! Sorry.

I hope QB will figure this out quickly because I have a feeling there are plenty of really frustrated customers who are trying to keep track of their payroll for PPP and other federal grants in QB and they can't!

I also need help with this!

Hi there, @ea68.

I can see the importance of using tags on your payroll transactions. The option is not yet available at this time. However, you can temporarily follow the suggested steps given by my colleague SarahannC to enter the information under the Memo field.

I would also recommend sending feedback about this feature to our product developers about this feature. Rest assured they're working nonstop to enhance the product and deliver the best experiences to all QuickBooks users.

Here's how:

1. Select the Gear icon at the top, then Feedback.
2. Enter your comments or product suggestions. 
3. Select Next to submit feedback.

Your valuable feedback goes to our product development team to help improve your experience in QBO. You can track feature requests through the QuickBooks Online Feature Requests website.

For additional resources about tags, you can check out these articles:

• What are tags and why should I use them?
• Tag transactions in QuickBooks Online

You can also keep track of your payroll entries through this link: Help on common payroll topics.

Please let me know if you have any other follow-up questions about tags or payroll. I'm always here to help. Have a good one!

Hi,

Adding info in the Memo is not helping at all.

We do run a transport company, we have tags for every truck in order to track the expenses and the income by truck, how can we get a specific employee pay goes toward a specific truck expense ?

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, @Matar.

You're on the right track, tags are currently unavailable for tracking payroll transactions and a memo is used as a description only.

Therefore, I've got you other ways to track expenses for your payroll transactions. Classes allow you to assign a label to every payroll entry created.

This way, wages paid to employees go towards the specific truck expense you've set up. Learn more about this feature: Turn on Class Tracking for Online Payroll.

I'm adding some relevant links to help you out with the payroll transaction tracking and reporting: Run Reports by Class in QuickBooks Online Payroll.

Post again if you have other transaction tracking concerns in QuickBooks Online. I'll be right here to help anytime. Take care always!

This doesn't help on the payroll side as soon as you have someone who works across different classes.  QB should allow assigning multiple classes or locations or tags to each employee and/or payroll item.

Hi there, echester.

I know that being able to assign multiple classes to your employees is helpful for you. That way, you can keep track of their work across different classes or location.

For now, I suggest submitting feedback directly to our product engineers. They may look into this suggestion and consider adding the option in the future update. To submit feedback, you can go to the Gear icon and select Feedback.

You might also want to visit our feedback forum to check the recent updates made in QuickBooks.

Please know that the Community forum is always open if you need further assistance running reports in QuickBooks Online. Have a good one.