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Set up and track time off in QuickBooks Payroll

by Intuit•238• Updated 2 weeks ago

Set up your paid or unpaid time off policies, then track the accruals in QuickBooks Payroll. You can update these policies anytime. 

For a better experience, open this article in QuickBooks Online. Launch side-by-side view Open this link in a new window

Prerequisites

Note: If you have QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium or Elite, you can set up your time off policies in QuickBooks Time to match your payroll account. You and your team members can track time off using QuickBooks TimeQuickBooks Time, which syncs to payroll.

If you use Intuit Enterprise Suite and have multiple companies, you can see all employees for all of your companies in the consolidated employee dashboard. From any of your companies:

  1. From the Company Switcher dropdown, select Consolidated view.
  2. Go to All Apps A bunch of numbers and letters on a tile wall., select Payroll, then select Employees.

From the employee dashboard, you can:

  • Search for a specific employee
  • Filter the view to see all employees for a specific company
  • Customize the info that shows on the dashboard
  • Make changes to employee info

Set up time off pay policy

Here’s how to set up your time off policies in QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

  1. Go to All apps A bunch of numbers and letters on a tile wall., then Payroll, then Employees (Take me there).
  2. Select your employee.
  3. From Time off, select Start or Edit.
  4. Select Add new [time off pay] policy from the dropdown â–Ľ menu to add a policy for:
    • Vacation Pay
    • Paid time off
    • Sick Pay
    • Unpaid time off
  5. Complete the on-screen fields to create your policy, then select Save.
  6. When finished, select Save.
  7. The policy you created will be available to all of your employees. Select this policy for your other employees, or create a new policy for them.

Set up time off for employees and make managing your team easier with QuickBooks Payroll.

Step 1: Create a time off payroll item

  1. Select Lists, then Payroll Item List.
  2. Select Payroll Item â–Ľ dropdown, then New.
  3. Select Custom Setup, then Next.
  4. Select Wage, then Next.
  5. Select Annual Salary or Hourly Wages, then Next.
  6. Select Sick or Vacation Pay, then Next.
  7. Enter a name for the item, then Next.
    Note: If you use time off you can rename this item to TO.
  8. Choose the expense account you want for the item, then Finish.

Step 2: Add a time off policy to your employee

  1. Select Employees, then Employee Center.
  2. Select the employee name.
  3. Select Payroll Info, then select Sick/Vacation.
  4. Enter the number of hours that are currently available for the employee in the Hours available as of mm/dd/yyyy field.
    Note: This is the total amount of hours available as of the date you add sick or vacation to the employee profile.
  5. Select the Accrual period â–Ľ dropdown menu and choose one of the three accrual periods for sick time listed above.
  6. In the Hours Accrued field, enter the number of hours that will be accrued (based on your selection in step 5).
  7. (Optional) In the Maximum number of hours field, enter the maximum balance of sick hours that the employee can have.
  8. If you do not allow hours to roll over to the next year, select Reset hours each new year?.
  9. Enter the start date of the accrual year.
    Note: Use January 1 for calendar year or hire date if accrual happens on an employee's anniversary date.
  10. Enter the date that sick time should begin accruing.
  11. To specify accrual information for vacation hours, repeat steps 4 through 10 for the Vacation section of the window.
  12. Select OK to record your changes.

Change your time off pay policy settings and balance

When you need to, you can always go back in and update your policy’s accrual period, current balance, and other settings.

  1. Go to All apps A bunch of numbers and letters on a tile wall., then Payroll, then Employees (Take me there).
  2. Select your employee.
  3. From Time off, select Start or Edit.
  4. Select Edit ✎ next to the policy to make changes, or update the Current balance.
  5. Edit the policy, then select Save.
  6. When finished, select Save.

Change your policy settings

  1. Select Edit, then Preferences.
  2. Select Payroll & Employees then go to the Company Preferences tab.
  3. Select Sick and Vacation.
  4. In the Sick or Vacation pay section, you can update the Accrual period, Hours accrued, and Maximum number of hours to accrue.
  5. Select Reset hours each new year? if you don’t let hours to roll over to the next year. 
  6. In the Sick and Vacation Accrual section, make sure to select Sick and Vacation hours paid if you don't want time accrued when paying sick and vacation.

Update your employee’s time off balance

  1. Select Employees, then Employee Center.
  2. Select the employee's name.
  3. Select Payroll Info, then select Sick/Vacation.
  4. In the Sick or Vacation pay section, enter the number of hours that are currently available for the employee in the Hours available as of mm/dd/yyyy field.
    Note: This is the total amount of hours available as of the date you add sick or vacation to your employee’s profile. 
  5. Select OK to record your changes.

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