Financial Tips

5 Killer QuickBooks Payroll Hacks You Need to Know

Payroll management can be overwhelming, especially for small business owners and self-employed pros. Not only that do you need to ensure employees are paid on time and with the correct amount, but during tax season, it’s extra important to ensure the appropriate tax calculations have been made, so that the IRS doesn’t pay a visit.

Written by Intuit Blog Team
Published Sep 3, 2018 - [Updated Nov 9, 2022]
2 min read

Luckily, QuickBooks is here to save the day. Here are five payroll features to master and make your job easier and more efficient.

+++++

1. Automatic Payroll Updates

It’s not uncommon for the IRS, the state, or the U.S. government to update or change tax rates, forms, and fees. Luckily, QuickBooks stays current with all the latest updates and changes, so you always have accurate rates and calculations for supported state and federal tax tables, payroll tax forms, e-file, and pay options.

2. No More Manual Tax Calculations

Taxes can be confusing and overwhelming. Especially the ones related to payroll. Using QuickBooks, you’re able to create paychecks with automatic tax calculations, and they’re super easy to print and hand them over to your employees. And you can rest assured that they’ll always show the right number of payroll deductions.

3. Go Paperless with Direct Deposit

Why deal with the stress of delivering paper checks? With QuickBooks, you have the option to deposit your employees’ paychecks directly into their checking or savings accounts. And if you are outsourcing work to contractors, direct deposit for 1099 contractors is also available. Note: nominal per-transaction and per-payroll transmission fees may apply – check out QuickBooks’ payroll support page for more info on requirements, signups, and activations.

4. Set Up E-File and E-Pay

You can set the filing method of your Federal and State forms to e-file – instead of printing and mailing your forms, send them electronically to the appropriate agencies with QuickBooks Desktop. And, you can set the payment method for your scheduled Federal and State tax payments to e-pay, to conveniently pay the appropriate tax agencies. This is available in QuickBooks Payroll Enhanced and to selected states only.

5. Get Live Support from Experts – For Free

When you have questions, our payroll experts are only a chat window or phone call away. We provide the following resources to support you in running your payroll, paying your taxes, and filling your forms:

Tell us about your favorite QuickBooks payroll feature below!