How Do I pay myself as owner of a Subchapter S

Payroll is very complicated and if you don't know what you are doing, will cost you $$ in penalties for late payments and late filings.  It is correct that you are required to file quarterly, monthly and annual forms related to payroll.  Additionally, you will need to apply form unemployment and state withholding accounts. 

QuickBooks offers varied payroll subscriptions or you can contact a payroll service such as ADP or Paychex to help you out.  As I stated, the penalties for improper payroll transaction is costly.

Hello there, @Jon Hunt.

Welcome to the Community. I can help you set up the Subchapter S Corp pay type in your QuickBooks.

1. Select Employees.
2. Choose the employee's name.
3. Click Edit.
4. In the What additional ways do you pay [employee's name] section, select Show all pay types.
5. Select S-Corp Owner's Health Insurance.
6. You can add an amount or leave it blank. You will have the option to enter the S-corp amount when you run payroll.
7. Select OK.

After that, automatically this deduction is assigned to you. It won't actually start deducting until it is set up within the employee profile. For more details, I recommend checking this article: Set up and record S-Corp health insurance. Please follow the steps for Intuit Online Payroll.

Keep me posted if there's anything else you need about payroll. I'm still here to help you further. Just add a comment below.

With the S Corp having a single employee it doesn't seem practical to pay for a payroll service when I will probably issue only one check for the entire year and submit very few forms to the IRS.

Hi there, Jon Hunt.

Thanks for getting back to us. I'm here to help provide some information about the payroll service in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Since processing check and submitting forms to the IRS requires an active payroll subscription, you may consider changing the payment frequency of your service to monthly. This way, you can cancel if you're not using the service and reactivate it again once you need to process check and annual/quarterly forms for your employee.

To change your billing cycle, here's how:

1. Go to qbo.intuit.com and sign in to your account.
2. Select the Gear icon at the top, then Account and Settings.
3. Select Billing and Subscription. To edit subscription preferences, you have to be an Admin or a Custom User with access to Subscription and Billing.
4. In the Plan details section, select Switch to monthly billing.
5. Select Switch, then Done. You'll receive an email confirming your switch and detailing the charge.

For additional reference, you can check this article: QuickBooks Online billing cycle: yearly and monthly.

Once done, you can check this article for future reference on how to cancel and reactivate your Online Payroll account.

If you need further assistance with the steps, I recommend calling our QuickBooks Online Payroll Support. They have the tools to pull up your account and do a remote session.

Here's how you can contact our phone support:

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company.
2. Select Help (question mark icon) at the top right.
3. Select Contact us to connect with a live support agent.

That'll do it! Don't hesitate to leave a comment below if you have any other questions about the payroll service. wishing you and your business continued success.

@Jon Hunt 

You have to proceed Informed. This is something that is not recommended: "when I will probably issue only one check for the entire year and submit very few forms to the IRS."

A Corporation has the Requirement to pay you, the employee, payroll. You are not allowed to take Draws any time you want to from the corporation. The IRS would examine this Taking as 'in lieu of payroll' which is treated as "attempting to avoid payroll taxes." That opens your business up to penalties and interest.

As @QBsguru pointed out, you Have to Run Payroll. If you want to pay monthly, quarterly, or annually, or only on occasion, that's up to you, but you must follow the rules for Market Wages and you cannot take money, otherwise.

When you decide to do all of your own financial data management, you also need to learn and follow the regulations that apply to your Entity type and your relationship to that entity.

Payroll is something you never want to get wrong or make mistakes or have overlooked something. This is a Fiduciary Responsibility.

My understanding is that is that if I am the only employee I must file a form each quarter even if no compensation is paid. So I can write one check for one quarter, if I chose to and in other quarters file the form with zeros.

@Jon Hunt 

No, this is not True: "My understanding is that is that if I am the only employee I must file a form each quarter even if no compensation is paid."

The reporting is to reconcile Paychecks and withholding. Example: I pay you once a month, in Jan, Feb and March. The 941 is typically "pay by the 15th of the next month for paychecks issued" and the reporting is 941 "due by end of April for the 1st quarter" but that is Only if Paychecks were issued; it is a report of Gross wages and tax withholdings and a reconciliation against payment made during that quarter, and if they were on time or not. Or, the employer is going to file 944 = not Quarterly, but only at year end. The IRS controls your Payment cycle and Filing form # and due dates. And FUTA (Federal Unemployment) is Pay by the time is reaches $500, or at least at year end, and the 940 is an Annual reconciliation form. And then there is your State requirements.

"So I can write one check for one quarter, if I chose to and in other quarters file the form with zeros."

You don't File, if there is nothing to report. And remember: You don't get to take any other money from the business, if you also did not Pay yourself through payroll.

Hi I took the steps you suggested but my QB online did not have the option Pay other ways?

Please advise.

Thank you

Thanks for joining in on the thread, Zahbe2010.

I want to know more about your concern so we can further assist you. What steps did you follow on this thread? What is our concern all about?

Additional details about this would much appreciated.