QuickBooks Payroll Desktop is a powerful payroll processing tool designed to work more effectively with QuickBooks Desktop accounting software. It provides powerful tools to businesses for making financial management easy. If you run a small business or a growing enterprise, it provides you with the tools to run payroll with accuracy without using third-party integration.
QuickBooks Payroll Desktop provides different levels of service that can adapt to a wide range of payroll needs, from basic paycheck to complete tax management. In this Blog, we will discuss what QuickBooks Payroll is, its features, QuickBooks Payroll Desktop pricing, and plans.
What is QuickBooks Payroll Desktop?
Payroll in QuickBooks Desktop is a service in QuickBooks Desktop that works for payroll management in a firm. It helps businesses in calculating paychecks, withholding taxes, and paying employees through direct deposit and check payment. This application offers automation of payroll functions that are often complicated and time-consuming.
You can prepare e-file tax forms and even have Intuit make tax payments, depending on your plan. It is geared towards businesses that need a reliable, on-premises payroll system that integrates closely with their accounting process.
Key features of QuickBooks Payroll Desktop
Here are some key features of QuickBooks Payroll Desktop. You can check below.
Accurate Paycheck Calculation
It also automatically calculates pay, deduction, and the final amount each employee gets. This helps minimize human errors and ensures paychecks are correct every time.
Automating Tax Calculating
The software stays up to date with the latest federal and state tax rates, so it can automatically calculate payroll taxes for you. It provides social security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance.
W-2 and 1099 Form Preparation
When tax payment arrives, QuickBooks Payroll Desktop can generate and print W-2s for employees and 1099s for contractors. This process reduces the need for manual tasks and paperwork.
Direct Deposit
QuickBooks Payroll Desktop helps pay employees electronically through direct deposit. This process is secure, fast, and more convenient than paperwork for every pay period.
E-filing and E-payment
Required for the plan, QuickBooks can help you electronically file payroll tax forms and submit payments to tax agencies on your behalf.
Time Tracking Integration
QuickBooks Payroll Desktop can be integrated with QuickBooks Time Tracking(formerly Tsheet) allows you to track employees’ hours more accurately and streamline payroll calculations.
Built-in Payroll Report
QuickBooks provides detailed payroll reports so you can keep track of labor costs, check tax liabilities, and keep an eye on employees’ earnings at any time.
Pros and Cons of QuickBooks Payroll Desktop
There are some pros and cons to QuickBooks Payroll Desktop:
Pros
- Payroll QuickBooks Desktop helps to data flows smoothly into your accounting records. It helps to have no manual entry and keep your reports accurate and up to date.
- It provides reliable and stable performance because it runs locally on your desktop.
- QuickBooks Payroll Desktop provides a customizable payroll feature that helps to set up benefits, manage employee pay, and more.
- It provides multiple payroll plans, which have different service levels, like enhanced, depending on how much support you want with tax filing.
Cons
- QuickBooks Payroll Desktop has limited cloud access; this version ties you to the desktop where it is installed.
- It is a learning curve for new users because if you are not familiar with QuickBooks Desktop, the interface might feel a bit outdated.
- Updation must be installed manually because you will need to regularly install tax table updates and software patches to stay in compliance.
Plans and Pricing of QuickBooks Payroll Desktop
QuickBooks Payroll Desktop should offer three types of plans and pricing, can shown below.
Basic Plan
The basic plan is ideal for businesses that prefer doing their own payroll manually but need some guidance.
- This plan calculates employee wages and deductions based on work hours, salary, and commission.
- Prepare a paycheck, and you can also print a paycheck directly from QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.
- You can manually calculate payroll tax, and the software automatically calculates federal and state tax.
- In this plan, they do not offer any pricing if you want to use more features than change your plan from basic to enhanced.
Enhanced Plan
Enhanced plan is ideal for small businesses and offers robust features for payroll tax calculation and filing capability.
- It calculates payroll tax but takes it a step further by automatically updating the tax table in order to remain compliant with evolving law.
- Enhanced plans can generate W-2 for employees, 1099 for contractor forms for your employees at year’s end to make tax season easier.
- Its enhanced plan helps to minimize the chance of late filing and penalty because it advances payroll filing of your federal and state payroll tax on your behalf.
- They provide pricing plans according to monthly and yearly based plans like per month plus per employee and per year plus per employee.
Assisted Plan
Assisted Plans offer full-service (hand-off) options for businesses that prefer payroll fully managed by experts.
- This plan not only calculates and files your payroll tax, but it will also make payment on your behalf.
- If the year ends, W-2 and 1099 forms are automatically generated and ensure accurate filing.
- If employees have questions about their pay, taxes, and other then they have US-based support for payroll issues.
- They charge higher monthly fees for their enhanced features and full-service payroll.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Desktop offers a range of plans that suit businesses of different sizes and payroll requirements. If you are a small business owner who wants to do payroll yourself or you want a completely hands-off option, then QuickBooks has a plan that suits your business. You can choose any plan according to your business, which effectively works for your business.
