Payroll Item vs Service ITem

Consider me a detective on the case of that GL accounts, @WG3.

You can go to the Payroll Item List to correct your payroll item's account. Let me walk you through the steps.

1. Go to Lists, then Payroll Item List.
2. Double-click your Hourly item, then Next.
3. Under Expense account, choose the correct GL account you want to use (see image below).
4. Click Finish.

With these steps, you're able to properly classify your types of works. You can learn more about editing payroll items at this link here: Edit a payroll item.

We also have a guide on how to adjust payroll liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop that I'm sure you'll find helpful. It has details on how you can fix incorrect payroll liabilities.

That's all there is to it. Let me know if you have other questions or concerns. I'm always here to lend a hand. Thanks for joining us today and I wish you have a wonderful rest of the week.

This does not answer my question.  I have the payroll item setup. Let me try to rephrase. The payroll item is called hourly wage and gets coded to expense account 5200. But here is where I have an issue. When I setup Service Items, I am also required to enter a GL code. So far this example:

Employee A, has 10 hours coded to Hourly Wage, Service Item Repairs.

Employee B, has 10 hours coded to Hourly Wage, Service Item Warranty.

Because they are both hourly EE's they have the same Payroll Item Code, but they do different tasks, and so have different Service Items. The problem is that both EE's costs are posting to the same GL code based on the PR Item, instead of based on the service item.  How do I correct this?

Thank you for getting back to us, @WG3.

Allow me to provide additional information about the payroll item and service item used for payroll.

When you use service items for payroll, the expense account associated with it won't be applicable for any payroll transactions. Thus, payroll expenses will always follow the expense account of the payroll item.

To correct this, you can utilize our class tracking feature in QuickBooks Desktop. This way, it'll identify your payroll transactions, whether it's for Hourly wage for Repairs or Hourly wage for Warranty. Here's how:

1. Go to the Lists menu, then select Class List.
2. From the Class drop-down menu, select New.
3. Enter the class name.
4. Click OK.

I'm adding this article for more guidance: Set up and use class tracking in QuickBooks Desktop.

Or you can also create different payroll items for each hourly wage. This way, it'll directly report to your associated expense account.

Just in case you want to set up and manage payroll schedules, here's an article you can read for more details: Set up and manage payroll schedules.

Keep in touch if you need any more assistance with this, or there's something else I can do for you. I've got your back. Have a good day.

Thank you Mark, but now I have another question. I prefer to setup multiple payroll items, as the goal is to see separate lines of business on the profit & loss statement. If I setup Hourly Wage Repair and Hourly Wage Warranty...how will this affect the timesheet calculation.  Currently, if an EE goes into overtime in Hourly Wage, Quickbooks will automatically calculate OT when processing payroll.  Will using multiple hourly wage codes cause a problem in the next steps of payroll calculations?

I can shed a light on that, WG3.

The mapping of the payroll item and service item doesn't impact the timesheet calculation. It will only affect your reports. Once you set it up, you'll notice that it will be separated in your reports if you're using different expense accounts. Additionally, it will show as individual lines in your Profit and Loss report.

When you create a paycheck for an employee and enter the hours worked, overtime, or double overtime hours at each rate, the program will automatically perform the calculations for you.

Some companies pay hourly employees different rates for different types of work. Utilizing multiple hourly wage items won't cause any problem as long as the setup of the payroll item and the number of hours entered in the timesheet are correct. Feel free to read this article to learn how to add new payroll item automatically when you create paychecks: Set up an hourly wage payroll item.

If you need to track where your business stands in terms of employee expenses, you can customize payroll and employee reports.

As always, I'm just a post away if you have any other concerns or follow-up questions. Have a great rest of the day.

I am having the same problem and this thread doesn't quite get to what I need (or perhaps it does and I am not understanding it).  

When an employee enters time, both a payroll item and service item exist, yet the time is getting booked, from an accounting perspective, to the GL expense associated with the payroll item, not the service item.  Is there a way to switch this around such that the time gets booked to the the GL expense account associated with the service item?

Thank you

I am having the same problem and this thread doesn't quite get to what I need (or perhaps it does and I am not understanding it).  

When an employee enters time, both a payroll item and service item exist, yet the time is getting booked, from an accounting perspective, to the GL expense associated with the payroll item, not the service item.  Is there a way to switch this around such that the time gets booked to the the GL expense account associated with the service item?

Thank you

Thanks for sharing the details with us, @ghepp.

I’m here to share some insights about the expense accounts used in your service item and payroll item.

Timesheet is a non-posting transaction. Thus, QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) doesn’t generate expense in your service item expense account. The Timesheet will only book the employee’s hours in your payroll.

Thus, when your employees enter their time, QBDT will generate the expense account associated with your payroll item. The expense account link with your service item will be generated if you use the item in creating a Bill or Expenses.

Furthermore, I got you here some articles that you can utilize on managing your Timesheets and item tracking in QBDT:

• Create and print timesheets
• Set up job costing and item tracking

I’ll be around if you have any other follow-up questions. Leave a reply in this thread and I sprint back into action. Keep safe!

Class tracking will not work for our office because we use class tracking by offices and departments. If I set up multiple Payroll items individually linked to the expense account for direct costs and indirect it makes the pay voucher way too detailed. Is there any way to have ALL the hourly wage show on just one line on the pay voucher?

I have the same issue, I know how all the payroll items work to get the expenses to Direct costs of goods sold and indirect accounts, but if I set all these Payroll items up to track the Service item expense I need to track it would be to many payroll items on their payroll voucher. Is there a way to set up Payroll items that have different Expense accounts but show up on one line for Hourly, OT, Holiday, PTO lines on the voucher ONLY?

Hey there, @DBaker22. 

Thanks for following up with us. 

At this time, the option to set up payroll items that have different expense accounts but show up on one line for Hourly, OT, Holiday, PTO lines on the voucher isn't available. I can see how this could be beneficial for you and your business. I've gone ahead and submitted this suggestion to our Product Development Team so that it can be considered in a future update. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I'm always here to lend a hand. Take care! 

This was my reply from Intuit in case anyone else was wondering the same thing:

"At this time, the option to set up payroll items that have different expense accounts but show up on one line for Hourly, OT, Holiday, PTO lines on the voucher isn't available. I can see how this could be beneficial for you and your business. I've gone ahead and submitted this suggestion to our Product Development Team so that it can be considered in a future update"

If Quickbooks would make the service item (already set up and not have to duplicate them in payroll items) associated expense to connect to the payroll their timesheet already (same items) that would make everything perfect. If no subcontractor or vendor is selected then it should just default even on payroll.

This has been a needed issue since I first started using QB many, many, years ago.