QuickBooksHelpIntuit
Pay employee bonuses
by Intuit•308• Updated 2 weeks ago
Learn how to give your employees a bonus check using QuickBooks Payroll.
Bonuses are a great way to recognize your employees for a job well done. But there’s also some things to consider when it comes to paying them. We’ll show you how to pay bonuses in QuickBooks.
Note: Not sure which payroll service you have? Here's how to find your payroll service. |
Step 1: Add the bonus pay item to your employees (if you haven’t already)
Follow the steps below for your payroll product.
Step 2: Pay out the bonuses
You can pay the bonuses on separate paychecks (or a bonus-only payroll), or add the bonuses to your employees’ regular paychecks.
Option 1: Run a bonus-only payroll
- You can use the federal and state bonus supplemental tax rates (recommended).
- You can gross-up the bonus if needed. For example: if you want your employee to receive $1000 after taxes, you can enter this as a net pay amount. You’ll pay the employee portion of taxes.
- If you use QuickBooks Online Payroll:
- Your employees won’t get an email notification about their bonus from QuickBooks Workforce.
- The bonus will only go to one direct deposit bank account. If your employee has 2 accounts, the bonus paycheck will go into their secondary account.
- If you enter the bonus amount as net pay you can't deduct retirement, HSA, or garnishments.
Option 2: Add the bonuses to regular paychecks
- The bonus is taxed the same as the employee’s regular pay.
- Federal income tax may calculate at a higher tax rate. See Section 7 of Publication 15 for more info.
- Deductions set as percentages will come out of the bonus.
Sign in now for personalized help
See articles customized for your product and join our large community of QuickBooks users.
More like this
- Set up and pay New York Health Care and Mental Hygiene Worker Bonusby QuickBooks•2•Updated May 10, 2024
- Gross up a paycheckby QuickBooks•246•Updated June 21, 2024
- Pay your employees a commissionby QuickBooks•155•Updated 1 week ago
- Set up your company payroll for direct depositby QuickBooks•1098•Updated 2 weeks ago