One 8 Solutions is a big proponent of QuickBooks Online and integrated QuickBooks Online Payroll, especially when it comes to Job Costing. I have worked with Intuit’s payroll solutions, starting with QuickBooks Desktop and tax tables, to the current Payroll Elite solution with QuickBooks Online. When we found out a few years ago that QuickBooks Time now comes included with payroll’s Premium and Elite subscription, it was a game changer for our firm and our clients.

We like the flexibility of the payroll offerings because they can handle the easiest ones, such as salary with only tax deductions to more complicated payrolls that involve time tracking, multiple deductions, and accruals. For simple payroll runs, auto pay feature allows us to set it up once and run automatically for each pay period. For the more complex ones, the time tracking functionality available with Premium and Elite speeds up payroll processing, since you don’t have to punch in the time in for each employee.

Elite Payroll gives you all you need for:

• Running payroll.
• Filing and paying taxes.
• Time management: calendar/scheduling.
• Human resources.
• Benefits administration.

Another reason this works well is that payroll is fully integrated with QuickBooks Online, so you don’t think about it as a separate program or app. All you need is just a mouse click away in one place.

Workforce management

That brings me to how QuickBooks Online Payroll and its suite of connected tools have helped One 8 Solutions’ clients with a holistic workforce management solution. From onboarding, time tracking, benefits, and, of course, running payroll for employees, it covers everything.

We recommend the Elite option to our clients because of the high level of support Intuit provides with setting up a new payroll account or migrating from a different provider. Setting up payroll is tedious and worrisome work at times. You may find you need some guidance on what type of accounts, such as what entities you need to register for. These include withholdings, unemployment, family Leave, and state/county/municipal.

Intuit support will guide you on how to set up your employees with the proper pay rates, deductions, and contributions. We have moved clients from solopreneurs to mid-size employers, such as a 25-person plumbing company, using QuickBooks onboarding payroll team. The onboarding team will ensure it is set up correctly, especially mid-year conversion where history is extremely important.

Setting up new employees

When you or you clients need to set up a new employee, QuickBooks makes it super easy, and literally starts with their workforce services. All you have to do is click "Add An Employee" and choose "Employee Self-Setup."

The employee does the rest, filing out the W4, direct deposit information, and related details. You no longer have to send employees an invitation to fill out the form and can make sure it is returned to you securely. If you need an onboarding checklist, I suggest you use your built-in access to HR resources.

All of this speeds up onboarding activities and helps you stay in compliance with the multitude of rules and regulations.

Once you have them onboard, the next thing to implement is time tracking. Again, QuickBooks Online Payroll support provides a lot of guided help, if needed. They will help you set up groups and schedules, as well as show you how to do it for a team. 

The employee can clock into just the company, or to a client/job or project, and that time/payroll cost with taxes will automatically be assigned to them for Profit and Loss by customer/job/project to review. You can also track accruals, such as vacation and sick time.

The biggest benefit is having time tracking that automatically feeds into payroll, so there is no manual entry and no potential of making mistakes. Running payroll is the most stressful aspect of an accounting solution; and with QuickBooKs Online Payroll, you can be worry-free.

Completing your payroll

Once you have the time captured, all you need to do is push a few buttons and the rest is taken care of by QuickBooks support, including direct deposit, filing 941s, and automatically completing your payroll tax payments.

We have worked with many companies over the years, and have learned that you can’t rely on the owner/office manager to file and pay them in a timely manner. It is an unfortunate fact, and could be a massive problem with the IRS and other agencies.

More workforce benefits

In addition to the benefits listed above, you can also access a full suite of HR, health benefits, worker’s comp and many more services. Intuit has built-in partnerships that make them directly available within the QuickBooks Online Payroll platform:

• Pay-as-you-go worker’s comp. No longer do you have to pay for an entire year up front or pay the insurance company to let you pay monthly. It is calculated with every payroll—and it is accurate. You also do not need to update the employee setup with the worker’s comp code.
• Benefits or Health Insurance. Offer medical, dental, and vision insurance nationwide. Free benefits administration is also an option.
• 401k plans. A huge pain point is having to calculate the company matching, update the providers portal, and then fund it. With an 401K plan integrated into Payroll, it will do it for you.
• HR resources. These are directly available to you when you have QuickBooks Payroll Premier or Elite.

As a ProAdvisor, you also get a ton of discounts you can pass onto your clients. You can give 30% off the first year to clients, especially those who are moving from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online, or offer a lifetime discount. 

QuickBooks Online Payroll is one of the best values out there, and most importantly, it is flexible enough to meet your firm's and client’s needs. With most third-party payroll providers, you have to import the payroll as a journal entry and risk losing a lot of easy to access insight.

Added up, QuickBooks Online Payroll and connected Workforce tools are great solutions. One 8 Solutions is a strong advocate for using them.