I'm trying to set myself (owner) up for salary checks but qb won't let me add myself as an employee saying that I already exist as a customer or contractor.... I don't

Welcome to the Community, @wells225. I appreciate you sharing your detailed concern.

There's no need to add the owner as an employee to set up Salary Checks, instead, we can set up and pay an owner's draw.

An owner's draw account is an equity account used by QuickBooks Online to track withdrawals of the company's assets to pay an owner. Let's get this setup started. 

Initially, you'll want to create an Owner's Equity account first in the Chart of Accounts before you can pay an Owner's draw. Afterward, you're ready to pay the owner, create a regular check-in QuickBooks, not through payroll, and be sure to affect the Owners Equity account you created.

Here's how:

1. Go to + New, then select Check.
2. From the Payee dropdown, select who you want to address the check.
3. On the Bank Account dropdown, select the account you want the money to come from.
4. Fill out the rest of the fields accordingly.
5. (Optional) You can skip this step if you only want to record a check. But if you plan to print the check, you can choose to print it now or later.
6. Please know that if you need to reuse a check number, uncheck the Print Later checkbox. When you save the check, confirm that you’re aware the check number already exists.
7.  Then hit Save and close.

Lastly, I'm also adding here some articles that you can check out about adding a partner to your books, or recoding an owner's contribution:

• Learn how to record capital investments to track money going into your business
• Add an owner or partner to your books

Please don't hesitate to send a reply if there are any additional questions about paying an owner. Have a lovely day!

How you pay yourself will depend on your business structure. Sole proprietor,  LLC, corp etc. You only use an owners draw if you are a sole proprietor.

This is more of my question.... I'm set up as a S-Corp and am the only owner. From my research (which isn't extensive tbh) an owners draw is basically just transferring money from the business account to my personal account without any taxes being withdrawn.  I'd prefer to have the taxes and everything withdrawn like I'm a regular W-2 employee.  Am I wrong in the way im looking at the owners draw?

@wells225 

As @btks mentioned, an owner's draw only applies to a sole proprietorship.  As an S-corp owner who participates in the operation of the business, you need to pay yourself a reasonable salary (what similar businesses pay for the same or similar services).  Any profit remaining after that can be distributed to you as the only shareholder.  The distribution bypasses self-employment taxes which is currently 15.3%.  At that rate, it's easy to see why the IRS scrutinizes an S-corp owner's salary so you want to make sure it's reasonable.        

I appreciate you coming back to this thread, @wells225. I'd be pleased to go into further detail on how QuickBooks Online (QBO) handles Owner's Equity.

Yes, you're right. The Owner's Draw is the way an owner pays himself rather than taking a salary from the business. After covering all business expenses, the money obtained from the company must be deducted from the company's profits. It differs from the situation where an owner receives a salary through a payroll service and employment taxes are automatically withheld.

Furthermore, Rainflurry is correct. Since you own a corporation and are involved in its day-to-day operations, you're unauthorized to take the owner's draw. Such businesses distribute or pay dividends from their profits. That said, you need to pay yourself a salary by adding yourself as an employee and generating payroll. If it prompts an error, I recommend making your name slightly different from the original so the system will no longer detect it. 

As your future reference, I'm sharing this article that will help you generate payroll information, which is helpful during the filing of taxes: Run payroll reports.

Let me know if you need additional information about Owner's Draw in QBO. I'll be more than glad to provide further details. Keep safe and have a great rest of the day!

Great! So back to the original problem, when I try to add myself as an employee it tells me that i can't because I'm already a customer or contractor. I have searched and am not categorized under either, so how do I do this?

"another customer, vendor, or employee is already using this name."  Is the exact verbiage but I looked and my name isn't under any of that.

Hello, wells225. I'm here to assist you in adding yourself as an employee without any errors. 

I know you already looked at your name, and there isn't any under that name. But I want to double-check it again so that you can surpass the error you've encountered. In QuickBooks, If you add a customer, supplier, or employee name into QuickBooks Online and encounter an error message that says, 'Something's not quite right. Another customer, supplier, or Employee is already using this name. Please use a different name,' Don't worry. This means the name you're trying to add or import already exists in QuickBooks Online. 

To avoid this error message, use a different name that is unique and not already being used by another customer, supplier, or Employee. By doing so, you'll be able to successfully add or import the new name into QuickBooks Online without any issues. Example ("John Doe" or "Doe, John") and change their name to Something like "Doe - Vendor, John" or "John Doe - Vendor."

Once you have identified a duplicate name, a couple of options are available to you. You can either modify the name to make it unique, or you can choose to deactivate the profile altogether if it is no longer being used.

Here's how: 

1. Go to Payroll, then select Employee.
2. Choose the employee name and modify it.
3. Save once done.

If there are inactive names that are the same as your new Employee, I'd recommend adding any numbers or letters at the end. This way, it can be recognized by QuickBooks without a match. For more detailed information, please check out this article:: Fix the name supplied already exists error message.

If you still encounter the same problem, we can log into your account using incognito mode. QuickBooks sometimes acts up when your browser has too much cache. This will help us determine whether the issue lies with the browser or not.

Here are the shortcuts for the keyboard:

• Ctrl + Shift + N (Google Chrome)
• Ctrl + Shift + P (Firefox)
•  Control + Option + P (Safari)
•  Ctrl + Shift + P (Microsoft Edge)
   

Once logged in, add the new Employee again to verify the error is resolved. If fixed, please return to your regular browser and press the CTRL+ Shift and Delete keys on the keyboard to clear the cache. Alternatively, trying a different supported browser could shed light on whether the problem is browser-specific.

I wanted to share some helpful articles with you regarding QuickBooks payroll. These articles cover topics such as new hire reporting and making changes to employee payroll.

• Manage worker's and employees payroll
• Get a new hire report

Please don't hesitate to respond below if you have additional concerns about managing employees in QuickBooks. I'm here and fully engaged within the Community, ready to provide any assistance you may require. Wishing you a great day ahead!