manual payroll calculations
calculate payroll taxes myself
process payroll without QuickBooks Payroll
What we recommend
We strongly recommend that you sign up for QuickBooks Payroll to
make sure that you have the most current tax tables available. In addition to
providing current tax tables, the QuickBooks Payroll provides additional features
that take the worry out of doing your payroll. For information about QuickBooks Payroll, 
go to the QuickBooks Payroll Web site
If you prefer to calculate your payroll taxes manually
If you don't sign up for QuickBooks Payroll, QuickBooks
won't calculate your payroll taxes or provide payroll tax forms. You will
need to manually calculate your payroll tax figures and enter them for each
paycheck.
Companies that don't have a QuickBooks Payroll subscription typically use one of the following methods to calculate payroll figures:
- A spreadsheet, or pen and paper: Intuit strongly discourages this method because it can be difficult to keep track of changes to tax rates and limits. Managing payroll this way can take more time, and there is a chance of introducing errors when double-entering your data in QuickBooks. However, if you still prefer this method, you can set up QuickBooks to let you print paychecks using payroll amounts and deductions you manually enter for each paycheck.
- An outsourced service, such as ADP or Paychex: You or your accountant will need to re-enter payroll figures in QuickBooks to balance your books. With QuickBooks Payroll, you can get the main benefits of an outsourced provider, but spend less money and easily integrate with QuickBooks. If you want to stay with your existing payroll company, you can re-enter payroll amounts and deductions back into QuickBooks as general journal entries.
Set your company file to use the manual payroll calculations setting
Set your company file to use the manual payroll calculations setting.
Important: When your company file is set up for manual payroll calculations, QuickBooks inserts a "zero" amount for each payroll item associated with a tax. What does this mean?
Each pay period you must replace the zero-tax amounts with the appropriate tax for each paycheck.
Payroll tax information for the federal, state, and local
agencies can change at various times throughout the tax year. To avoid
penalties, be sure to consult your tax agencies often for any change.
If you want to reinstate payroll tax calculations in QuickBooks, you must sign up for QuickBooks Payroll.
See also