Can You Do Payroll on Quickbooks for Mac is a user-friendly payroll management software. It is very easy to start using as there are no interfaces and processes to be trained. The templates can be easily customized as per your requirements. Are you looking for payroll software that provides the ease of doing payroll? QuickBooks for Mac which integrates with the general ledger of QuickBooks Pro, Premier & Enterprise, may be the solution you are looking for.
There is no shortage of payroll software for PC, but what about Mac users? While Windows PC users have tons of options for payroll software, Mac users are stuck using Quickbooks to do their payroll. While Quickbooks is a great accounting software, it just doesn’t cut it for payroll. One of our readers asked in the comments about whether or not there is a way to do payroll on Quickbooks for Mac–so I decided to research this myself and see if it’s possible.
QuickBooks for Mac does not have a built-in payroll service like the Windows version. When you click the Payroll link you are taken to an external website for processing employee checks. Since QuickBooks doesn’t provide a built-in method for manually tracking payroll, employers who want to track payroll for employees in QuickBooks must subscribe and pay a monthly fee to access the online QuickBooks Payroll for Mac service. Before enrolling in the QuickBooks payroll system, make sure each employee’s name is spelled exactly how you plan on spelling it for paychecks. If the data between QuickBooks and QuickBooks payroll don’t match, the program won’t work correctly.
Edit Employee Information
1
Click “Lists” and “Employees.”
2
Double-click the name of any employee you need to edit.
3
Change the First, Middle and Last name as necessary to ensure that your QuickBooks Payroll Services account information matches with the employees in your QuickBooks 2013 for Mac software. Click “OK” to save changes.
Set Up Payroll
1
Click “QuickBooks” and “Preferences.”
2
Select “Payroll” and choose a service from the drop-down menu to use for your payroll services. Click “Edit Account” and sign in or create an account.
3
Select the employees you want to pay from the list of employees by checking the box next to each employee’s name.
4
Enter hours worked and other payment information for each employee. In the Run Payroll section of QuickBooks Payroll for Mac there are fields for regular work, overtime, double overtime, sick pay, vacation pay and fixed bonuses.
5
Click “Create Paychecks” and approve the salaries for each employee.
6
Select the option to print checks by yourself, hand-write checks or send employees a direct deposit of the paycheck for free. Confirm your options and select whether to email employees with a link to the online version of the pay stub.
There are 2 different options for processing payroll on a Mac:
- QuickBooks Payroll for Mac is an online payroll service that integrates with (but does not require) QuickBooks for Mac 2006 and later. QuickBooks Payroll for Mac supports Safari v3.1 and later and Firefox v2.0 or later.
- QuickBooks Online Payroll is an online payroll service that integrates with QuickBooks Online and supports Safari v3.1 and later.
For more information, you can contact our QuickBooks Payroll for Mac department.
Note: Intuit’s desktop payroll solutions (Quickbook Payroll Basic, Quickbooks Payroll Enhanced and Quickbooks Desktop Payroll Assisted) are only supported on Windows. You can use these products on a Mac by utilizing Boot Camp, a program provided by Apple. Apple’s website has additional information and support available for Boot Camp. Windows Parallels and Fusion is supported in addition to Boot Camp, however they are known to have more issues than Boot Camp with regards to QuickBooks Desktop.
Assumptions
You have purchased or are planning to purchase a Mac.
Details
Some keyboard shortcuts will be different on a Mac keyboard. Apple has an article detailing these differences and how to configure them.
How to Setup Payroll in QuickBooks for Mac
QuickBooks for Mac Payroll is “in the cloud” meaning it is stored on Intuit’s server and not on your computer. Thus, setting up your Payroll in QuickBooks for Mac requires (4) steps:
1) Setup your QuickBooks for Mac Accounts for Payroll Data
If you have not yet set up payroll accounts in QuickBooks, Intuit will set them up for you the first time you export data into QuickBooks. Just enter the account names you prefer at the Export Preferences page following the instructions in Step 3 below.
If your QuickBooks company already contains appropriate accounts, you can choose the accounts directly from your QuickBooks Chart of Accounts. If you need to add an account (perhaps for a new deduction), type the name you want for the account in the field and they will be set up in your QuickBooks company the first time you transfer data.
Step 1. At the menu bar select List, then Chart of Accounts.
Step 2. Locate the name of the bank account you use to write payroll checks, the expense accounts for employee wages and employer payroll taxes, and the liability accounts you use for tax and deduction liabilities. (For cash advance and loan repayment, use asset accounts.)
Step 3. If you use sub-categories or sub-accounts, use a colon to separate the category name from the subcategory. For example, Payroll:Gross Wages (no space before or after the colon).
2) Setup QuickBooks classes
If you have not yet set up classes that apply to your employees in QuickBooks, create them now. Once the classes have been set up, write down their names or print the list of classes and highlight the ones you will use for the payroll data.
How to Turn On Class Tracking in QuickBooks for Mac
To turn on Class tracking in QuickBooks for Mac 2009 and earlier:
Step 1. Click on the Company menu and select Company Settings…
Step 2. Click on the Show: arrows and choose Transactions.
Step 3. In the Transactions sections of Company Settings…, click to checkmark Use class tracking.
Step 4. Click Apply.
To turn on Class tracking in QuickBooks for Mac 2010 and later:
Step 1. Click on the QuickBooks menu and select Preferences…
Step 2. In the Workflow Section, click Transactions. You will see a screen with a check box titled Use Class Tracking.
Step 3. Check this box to turn class tracking on.
3) Setup Accounts in Your Intuit Online Payroll Account
Step 1. Click Setup.
Step 2. Under the Export heading, click Preferences.
Step 3. Select QuickBooks for Mac from the software drop down list.
Step 4. In the Checking Account box, enter the name of the bank account or select from the drop-down list.
Step 5. Click Customize to enter the account names exactly as they appear in QuickBooks or select from the drop-down list.
- When entering accounts, read the help topics next to each field to choose the right account type. In general, enter or select an expense account for the Wage and Tax Categories. For the Liability accounts, enter or select the corresponding QuickBooks Liability account.
- If using a cash advance or employee loan deduction, enter or select an asset account to receive the payroll data
- If you use different accounts for different groups of employees, select that option in the wage/tax category section to enter or select different QuickBooks accounts for each employee.
- If you use different accounts for different types of wages/taxes, select that option in the wage/tax category section to enter or select different QuickBooks accounts for each pay type and tax type
Step 6. Specify whether you use QuickBooks classes. (If classes are selected, you will enter them on the next page after clicking OK at the bottom of this page).
Step 7. Click OK. (You will use the Export Preferences page to enter your QuickBooks accounts. Use the exact same names of the QuickBooks accounts you will use for the payroll data.)
4) Export Your Payroll Information From Intuit’s Server to Your Computer
Step 1. From Your Intuit Online Payroll Account, click the Pay Day tab, and select Export to QuickBooks.
Step 2. Next, select the checks and payments you want to export. (If you’re exporting for the first time, checks and payments from the last six months should already be selected. If you do not see your checks, go ahead and change the date range.)
Step 3. Click Export.
Step 4. When you see the confirmation page, click OK.
What Happens When Your Data is Exported Into QuickBooks for Mac
When your payroll data is transferred to QuickBooks, the process creates one transaction in your bank account register for each payroll service paycheck. The Bank account transaction contains splits that affect multiple accounts, depending on the number of accounts you selected to receive deductions:
- A split appears for the Wage Account you specified in the export preferences.
- A split appears for the Tax Account you specified in the export preferences.
- One or more splits appear for each Liability account for federal, state and local taxes owed.
- Additional splits are entered for each deduction/garnishment, one for the employees deduction and one for any company contribution.
When tax payments are exported, they are recorded in the corresponding QuickBooks tax liability account and reduce the liability. These transactions in QuickBooks accounts keep your balance sheet and profit and loss statements up to date.
Conclusion
Yes, you can do payroll with QuickBooks for Mac! QuickBooks payroll software allows you to answer “yes” to the question of whether or not you would like to do payroll on QuickBooks when choosing a payroll service. Not only do we offer solutions that are payroll software specific, but we also offer a variety of different setup options so that no matter how you prefer to run your business, we have the option for you.