Reimbursement

Hi Jfkastq,

You'll want to add payroll items to track and account for reimbursements for your employee's expenses. 

Here's how: 

1. Click the List menu on the upper part. 
2. Select the Payroll Item List.
3. Click the Payroll Item button, choose New.
4. Select Custom Setup, click Next.
5. Choose Addition from the item type list and click Next.
6. Choose an expense account. This allows you to set up an account to track the money you owe the employee for reimbursements.
7. Set Tax Tracking to None and click Next. 

8. Select the option to Calculate on Net Pay and click Next.

9.  Enter the default rate and click Next.

After that, add the item to the employee's record.

1. Click the Employees menu from the top of your screen.
2. Select the Employee Center.
3. Double-click on the Employee's information.
4. Select the Payroll Info tab.
5. Select the drop-down menu for Additions, Deductions and Company Contributions. Select the item from the list that you wish to add to your employee's paycheck.

If you want more information about payroll, please click this link for your reference: Employees And Payroll Taxes.

Let us know if you need anything else. We're always here to help.

I saw that answer prior to asking the question.  I want the transaction to reflect the expense against a customer job as an item, or at the least an expense.  I track job costs by item, hence the preference.  At the very least I want to be able to run a report on a job and see ALL expenses.

Good afternoon, @Jfkastq.

Thank you for following up on this thread.

You can create another job for specific expenses and then run a job costing report for that job.

Here's how to access various job reports:

1. Go to the Reports menu.
2. Select Jobs.
3. Choose Time and then click on Mileage.

Once you've created another job for those expenses, you'll be able to track your expenses on one specific report.

That should do it. If you have any more questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to comment below. Happy Tuesday!

I see no way to choose a job when I am adding the reimbursement expense.

Hi, @Jfkastq!

Thank you for getting back here at QuickBooks Community.

You can add your reimbursement under the earnings column in the paycheck, so you can assign it to a customer job and track the expense in your reports. Let me guide you with the steps.

Here's how:

1. From the Lists on the menu bar, select Payroll Item List.

2. Select the Payroll Item button, then select New.

3. Select  Custom Setup and click on Next.

4.Click the Wage item type and select Next.

5. Choose Commission from the item type list and click Next.

6. Enter the name of the item.

7.Select an Expense account to track the money you owe the employee for reimbursement.

8. Hit Finish.

After that, refer to the steps below on how you can enter the payroll item on the paycheck.

1. Select Employees menu, select Employee Center.

2. Click on Start Unscheduled Payroll or Start Scheduled Payroll. 

3. Put a check mark beside the employee's name and Click Open Payment Detail.

4. In the Earnings column, add the expense,add the expense item you created, the rate, and the customer job.

7. Select Save and Close. 

8. Continue to create the paycheck.

You can run the Unbilled Costs by Job Report to track the reimbursement. From here, you can also customize it and export the report.

If you have additional queries, don't hesitate to leave a comment below. Have a great day!​​​​

A reimbursement is not taxable to the employee.  Wouldn't this make it taxable?

You're right, Droybal.

It's taxable once it's set up as an earning item. The answer provided is just an option.

As always, we suggest with conferring with your accountant on the best way to reimburse the employee.

While we can't provide an accounting advice, we're here to answer QuickBooks technical questions. 

I need help with this question as well.  What is a WORKABLE solution to this issue?  I need to be able to charge per diem and mileage to jobs but I also want to run that through payroll without it being taxable.  How can you do this?  I know that if there is labor associated with the reimbursement, the reimbursement will show up on the job cost, but not if it's only a reimbursement and no hours, even with a job selected on a labor line.  Please help.

Hi @BKCks,

I'm here to take care of your query about employee reimbursement.

I suggest following what my colleague @Rubielyn_J mentioned above. If you wish to make it non-taxable, you'll have to consult your accountant or bookkeeper on how you can accomplish this within QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

If you have other concerns, place them in the comments below. I'll be sure to get back to you. 

Thanks Ryan_M, but you really didn't answer my question.  I happen to be a Financial Controller/Certified Public Accountant and so I don't need to know which accounts to book the charge to or the fundamentals of accounting for it properly on my financials,  but rather HOW to get the QuickBooks software to allocate the expense toward a customer job automatically through payroll.  I'm assuming that since you are referring me to an 'Accountant' for answers, that there is really no other help for this except a manual entry...?

Hi there, @BKCks.

Because mileage and pier diem are added in the Other Payroll Items section of the paychecks, we're unable to directly associate them to the job without any entries in the Earnings section.

However, you can follow these steps on how to add pier diem and mileage as non-taxable items in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT). There's also an option to track these payroll items per job while setting them up.

Here's how:
 

1. Go to List and select Payroll Item List
2. Click Ctrl + New, then select Custom Setup.
3. Click Next and select Addition, then click Next.
4. Enter the name of the item and check the box for Track Expenses By Job box.
5. Click Next, then assign an expense account and select Next.
6. Choose None in the Tax Tracking Type drop-down and click Next twice.
7. Select between hours or quantity and then choose gross or net pay.
8. Enter an amount and select Finish.

Please take note that marking Track Expenses By Job won't add a Customer: Job column to the payroll items listed under Other Payroll Items on a paycheck. Instead, in reports, these items are divided based on the division of the earnings items on the paycheck. 

You can check out this article for information:  How to set up job costing and item tracking so you can track payroll expenses by job.

Don't hesitate to tag my name in the comment section below if you have other concerns or questions. I'm always ready to help.

Hi,

I use Quickbooks Enterprise 18.0.  I don't see the check box you refer to in step #4.  Is it not in my version?

Is there another way to accomplish this in my version.

Thanks,

Hi,

I use Quickbooks Enterprise 18.0, I don't see the checkbox you refer to in step# 4.  Is that not in my version?

I there another way to accomplish this in Enterprise 18.0?

Yes, you can perform the steps above on your QuickBooks version, @Bo0923.

To accomplish this, you'll need to turn on the job tracking feature on the Preferences page. Let me guide you how:

1. Go to the Edit menu at the top, and then select Preferences.
2. Choose Payroll and Employees, and then tap the Company Preferences tab.
3. Put a checkmark in the Job Costing, Class and Item tracking for paycheck expenses box.
4. Hit OK to save the changes made.
   
   

Once done, perform the steps again shared by my peer above. Please see screenshot below for visual reference:

To view all the payroll items you've created, you can pull up the Payroll Item Listing report. Here's how:

1. Click the Reports menu at the top, and then choose Employees and Payroll.
2. Pick the Payroll Item Listing report.
3. You may also want to customize this report to personalize its info. Then, memorize its customization for easy access.
   
   

Feel free to leave a comment if you have more questions. Have a nice day.

There isn't a way in payroll that I have found either.  But it is a simple JE out and in to the expense account, adding the job and class on the debit.

Just to be clear, the approach you recommend above does post the reimbursement (Addition) to jobs...but it splits the reimbursement across ALL JOBS where the employee earned WAGES ... so if you are attempting to classify a given reimbursement, for say $150, to a single job, the ONLY way to do that using the above method is for that paycheck to ONLY HAVE WAGES FOR THAT ONE JOB.  But if your employee worked on multiple jobs, then guess what? That reimbursement will be split and posted to all of the jobs! Not really a solution.  And PS, checking the box to track these by job creates a crazy amount of clutter in the books.  It would be great in Intuit came up with a way to actually allow users allocate additions to specific jobs when needed.

Re: Journal entry - This is the method I have used as well.  Simple as it is, it is tedious to do with multiple employees every payroll. 

Thank you for sharing what this function does in the software. I agree, there needs to be a way to apply payroll addition(s) to a specific job for job costing purposes without having to go through the long process of journal entries. We have 70 - 100+ employees working on several projects in one week, the current solution is not practical.  Currently, Per Diem is a nightmare also, we had to create a reimbursed expense clearing account to apply per diem to projects. I am half tempted to do the same thing for regular reimbursements.

I have the same problem.  I have tried entering a zero net bill to allocate per diem & other payroll items to jobs.  I post the amount as a negative number with no job or class and then post it as a positive amount to the job and class.  Unfortunately, it does not work when the report is in cash basis.  Please let me know what I'm doing wrong.

 Thanks for checking in with us, KathyLambros.

The Accrual basis method is the time when you enter a transaction and the time when you pay or receive cash may be two separate events. Also, an accrual basis report shows income regardless of whether your customers have paid your invoices and expenses regardless of whether you have paid all your bills.

If you run a Job Detail report or any Detail reports, they always default to an accrual basis when you create them from the Reports menu. Here's an article you can refer to for more details about the difference between Cash and Accrual basis. To properly track the job costing, class, and item tracking for paycheck expenses, just follow the steps provided by ReyJohn_D.

If the report you are running is not showing the correct data, we can resort the list to resolve any odd behavior. It makes your lists go back to their default order. Before that, we can back up your QuickBooks Desktop company file just in case you ever run into problems, you can use your backup to restore your data. Here's how to re-sort the lists: 

1. From the Lists menu, select either Chart of Accounts, Items, or Classes.
2. Select the All Names checkbox.
3. Tap Edit at the top left of QuickBooks.
4. Select Re-sort List.
5. Press OK.

Feel free to visit our general help topics page. This is where you can find related help articles, Community discussions, video tutorials, and more.

You can always update us after performing the steps as I want to ensure this is resolved for you. Just leave a comment below and I'll get back to you. You have a good one.

Hello to all who have the same question. The way I've handled this is to create a check for the employee (Banking > Write Checks) and enter the Reimbursement under the "Items" tab. You can assign the amount to the job there. I enter direct deposit amounts manually for employees, so I next run a report named "Weekly Payroll Deposit" that is a report of Transaction Type = checks and paychecks for the Payroll Date. I sort it by Employee and then see both the paycheck and the reimbursement check and the total amount to be deposited into their account. If you are using a payroll service or QB payroll for auto deposits, it should still work, but I'm not familiar with that process. I hope this helps.

Here's how we've been going about it:

We enter the Bill as if we were paying the Vendor directly. This includes setting up the Vendor, and selecting items on a Bill (or Purchase Order and Item Receipt if you'd like to use them).

When Paying the Bill, instead of paying by Check of Online Payment, we pay by Credit Card. We have created Employee Reimbursement Accounts for each Employee with an expense allowance, these are Credit Card accounts in QB.

By paying the bill via the Credit Card (Employee Reimbursement Account), we can track what vendors our team is using, track items (including coding and billing them to jobs), and then pay back the employee in an amount equal to the balance of their Credit Card/Employee Reimbursement account at regular intervals (connected to payroll, usually). 

Another option, you can sign up for a free Melio account to reimburse employees as legitimate business expenses. So whether it's for flights or filling the fridge, you can use Melio to reimburse your employees quickly and easily. You can also get $100 cashback to pay the first bill.

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/other-questions/contact-melio-qb-online-payments/0...