Online Payroll export to desktop.

Thank you for such clear instructions

Thanks for being so responsive, @jmg76087. Glad to know the steps have helped you out with your exporting concerns.

Feel free to visit the Community for your other concerns. I'll be there to help you again.

I am using QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium.  Montlhly subscription is paid up.  When I go to Settings>Payroll Settings>   there is no menu option for EXPORT!  General Tax is the top listed option, followed by Federal tax, etc.  Scrolling all the way to the bottom the last two options are "Printing" and "Accounting"  - export is just not there!  I am converting to desktop and the export from QB online essentials that is paired with my payroll included some of my data but didn't include any payroll data!   Looking at the Checking account  register ( in my new QB desktop version) - NO transactions from payroll show up - no wages or tax payments!  None of the payroll accounts imported either so my cart of accounts is strangely a very short list!   QB help people on the phone said there is no way to export the payroll data, I have to re-enter it!!  Help!

Did you get this figured out. I'm having this issue.

Thank you.

I’ll answer you about exporting your payroll data from QuickBooks Online (QBO) to QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), Nat808.

If you purchased your payroll account bundled with QBO. Then the export button is naturally unavailable. Otherwise, the export option is available for the standalone product. It allows the users to get their data to their QuickBooks account.

Moreover, since importing payroll information is unavailable. As a workaround, you can enter them as journal entries. 

Here's how to create a journal entry:

1. Go to the Company menu.
2. Select Make General Journal Entries.
3. Fill out the fields to create your journal entry. Please make sure your debits are equal to your credits.
4. Once done, click Save or Save & Close.

Please know that I'm only a few clicks away if you have any follow-up questions. Hoping your business prospers. Have a good one!

Thank you for your response, however, I have all the payroll data and liabilities in as journal entries currently, but nothing shows up in any historical reports. All is zeros.

Thank you for your response, however, I do have all the payroll data and liabilities in as journal entries, but when I go to run a historical report all is zeros.

Thanks for getting back to us, @Nat808.

Let me help you pull up the right report containing all the correct data.

First off, may I know the exact historical data report? This way, I can replicate this on my end and provide you with an efficient resolution. 

Since you've already entered payroll data and liabilities as a journal entry, let's run the Journal Report. Ensure to double-check that the entries are entered in the correct accounts. Here's how to run Journal Report:

1. Go to the Reports menu and select Accountant & Taxes.
2. Select Journal.
3. Enter the date and utilize the customize option to get the data you prefer to show.

 I've also added some articles to give more information about the Transaction Journal and customizing your report:

• View the Transaction Journal report in QuickBooks Desktop.
• Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop.

Please let me know if you have any other questions while running your reports in QuickBooks. I'll be right here to provide additional assistance. Keep safe!

Such as all the reports under Employees & Payroll. Payroll Summary, Payroll Item Detail, Payroll Liability Balances. Any report that I would need to provide to the IRS, State, DOL, etc.

Thank you.

Thanks for adding a clarification, @Nat808.

Journal entries won't affect your payroll reports. The system would consider them as regular transactions and not payroll transactions. This is the reason why they aren't showing in your payroll history. 

If you haven't created any paychecks yet, you can consider adding your historical paychecks to QuickBooks Online (QBO) Payroll.

Before doing this, I'd suggest deleting your journal entries first. Then, follow these steps to start the setup:

1.  Sign in to QuickBooks Online as the primary admin.
2. Go to Payroll, and select Overview.
3. If you haven’t already, add all of your employees paid this year in the Tell us about your team task. Include all employees that no longer work for you. Make sure to set up each pay item, deduction, contribution and tax showing on their pay stubs or reports.
4. Next to Add your payroll history, click Start.

When you're done, follow steps number 2 to 4 of this article: How to enter your employee’s year-to-date paycheck info, and company totals.

If you’ve already created paychecks, contact us to make changes to your pay history. 

Once your payroll history are in QuickBooks, you can now open your payroll reports and export your files to QuickBooks Desktop. 

I've got you covered if you have questions about your payroll transactions. Please let me know by using the Reply option and leaving a comment below. Take care always!

I am exporting my client's books from QBO to QB Desktop. My client has full payroll in QBO. How do we make sure that the payroll process is not interrupted when switching to the desktop version?

I appreciate you for joining this thread, Nicole. I'd like to provide insights into the transition process from QuickBooks Online (QBO) to QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) and how it impacts your payroll process.

When migrating from QBO to QBDT, it's important to ensure the current payroll schedule is complete to avoid disrupting your payroll processes. Then, you can proceed to run your next payroll using QBDT.

However, please know that QBDT requires its payroll subscription. That said, you'll need to purchase a new one to receive a 16-digit service key that you need to use when activating your payroll. To do that, go to this link: QuickBooks Desktop Payroll. Choose between Monthly billing or Annual billing, then click Buy Now.

Once done, you'll receive a 16-digit service key by email. To activate your payroll, please see this article: Get Started with QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Enhanced.

Moreover, you can run payroll in QBDT, so you can start paying your employees.

Feel free to reach out to us anytime whenever you need additional help running your payroll. We're always available to assist. Stay safe.

How do I get the Export option to show up?

Hello there, N2MOffice. I'll make sure that you'll be able to see the Export option in QuickBooks Online (QBO). 

There are a lot of options regarding the export option. If you want to export your data from QBO, you can use the Export Data feature. To see this, here's how: 

Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear icon located in the upper right corner.
2. Under the Tools column, choose the Export Data option.
3. Click the Pre-selected date ranges dropdown to adjust the date range of the transactions that you want to download.  
4. You'll see the items that you can export from QBO. Press either the Reports or Lists tab.
5. Click the toggle button of each item if you want to export them.
6. Under the items, you can see the Moving to QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) option. Choose this if you want to migrate to QBDT.
7. You can also create a backup by clicking the Making a Backup option
8. Once done, you can press the Export to Excel. 

Additionally, you can access this material for more information regarding exporting your file: Export your payroll data into QuickBooks.

We're still around to help whenever you need us. Just keep us notified, and we'll you in any way we can.