Payroll setup interview in Desktop

Learn all about the payroll setup interview in QuickBooks Desktop.

QuickBooks Desktop helps set you up with the right payroll settings. We'll give you an overview of the Payroll Setup interview.

Payroll setup interview

To access the Payroll Setup Interview, go to Employees. Then select Payroll Setup. You’ll be directed to the Payroll setup wizard.

Step 1: Introduction

In this step, QuickBooks Desktop will have to identify if you've issued pay checks or not.

Step 2: Company Setup

This step walks you through setting up your company payroll information. You can add compensation and employee Benefits, including Paid Time Off.

Information needed:

• Compensation information (hourly, salary, tips, bonuses)
• Employee benefit information (health insurance, retirement, paid time off)
• Other payroll deductions and additions (wage garnishments, mileage)

Step 3: Employee Setup

This step walks you through setting up your employees. Including their W-4 information, payroll items, and any benefits that apply. Be sure to include all employees that you've paid during this calendar year. Whether they still work for you or not.

Information needed:

• A W4 for each employee
• Compensation information (hourly rate, yearly salary, commission)
• Direct deposit information for each employee (if applicable).
• Benefits information (401(K), wage garnishment, paid time off)

Step 4: Taxes

This step walks you through setting up all your State and Federal Taxes.

Information needed:

• State Withholding and Unemployment Tax identification/account numbers. (Some states use 1 number for both state withholding and unemployment taxes others have different account numbers for each type of tax).
• State Unemployment Tax rate information

Step 5: Year-to-date payrolls

This step walks you through entering all of your year-to-date payroll history and tax payments starting in January. If you have no payroll history for the year, you can skip this step.

Information needed:

• Year-to-date payroll information (For closed quarters, you need a quarterly report that shows each employee's quarterly earnings. For an open quarter, you need the payroll information for each payroll run for each employee)
• Prior tax and liabilities payments information

Step 6: Data review

This step is made of two sub-steps:

1. Review your payroll data: Walks you through your wage and tax data review. It compares your year-to-date entries to your payroll items and tax items. If you have errors it generates a report for you, so you can correct your year-to-date entries.
2. Reconcile your payroll tax forms to your payroll data: Walks you through entering your 941 form and state agency filed forms. Then it helps you reconcile the data. If you have errors, you'll need to correct your entries.

Information needed:

• The Federal 941 form for each quarter you've filed for the year
• The State agency quarterly forms filed for each quarter you've filed for the year

Step 7: Finishing up