Payroll schedules are optional. You may have up to 200 payroll schedules in QuickBooks Desktop.
Create a payroll schedule
- Go to Employees, then select Payroll Center.
- Select the Payroll Schedule ▼ dropdown then New.
- Enter a name for the schedule and choose how often you'll pay employees on the schedule.
- Complete the remaining fields, then select OK.
- Select Yes or No if you would like to assign the new schedule to all your employees.
Assign a pay schedule to an employee
- Go to Employees, then select Employee Center.
- Double-click the employee's name.
- Select the Payroll Info tab.
- Select the Payroll Schedule ▼ dropdown.
- Select the Payroll Schedule that you wish to assign to this employee.
- Select OK to save.
Update a pay schedule
If you change the dates while creating payroll from the Enter Payroll Information window, the changes only affect the current pay period. To update all upcoming payroll schedules:
Note: If you use Direct Deposit or QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Assisted, the Process Payroll On date and Check date are adjusted to include transmit lead times and federal holidays.
- Go to Employees, then select Payroll Center.
- Under the Create Paychecks table, select the payroll schedule you want to update.
- From the Payroll Schedules ▼ dropdown menu, select Edit Schedule.
- Make the necessary updates in the Edit Payroll Schedule window.
- Select OK.
Deactivate or delete a payroll schedule
Instead of deleting a payroll schedule, you can make it inactive. This way, you could always make it active again if you needed to do so without setting up a new payroll schedule. To deactivate a pay schedule:
- Go to Employees, then select Employee Center.
- Under the Create Paychecks table, select the payroll schedule you want to update.
- From the Payroll Schedules dropdown, select Edit Schedule.
- Mark Schedule is inactive, then select OK.
If you decide you want to completely delete a payroll, there are two steps:
Step 1: Remove any employees who are on the payroll schedule you want to delete
- Go to Employees, then select Payroll Center.
- Double-click the employee's name.
- Go to the Payroll Info tab.
- Make sure the schedule in Payroll Schedule field isn't the one you need to delete. If it is, select another payroll schedule for the employee or clear the field.
- Follow these steps to check the payroll schedule for all your employees.
Step 2: Delete the payroll schedule
- Go to Employees, then select Payroll Center.
- Go to the Pay Employees tab.
- Under the Create Paychecks table, select the payroll schedule that you want to delete.
- From the Payroll Schedules ▼ dropdown, select Delete Schedule. Note: If you get a prompt saying you can’t delete or make a payroll schedule inactive, you still have employees on it. Follow Step 1 to check all of your employees.
- Select OK.