How do I setup manual payroll in QB2016 pro, Canadian edition. Can't figure out how.

You can easily set up payroll without a subscription in QuickBooks, Saucyshawns.

I'll walk you through with the steps. 

First, let's make sure that your preferences are set up for payroll. Here's how:

1. Click Edit, then choose Preferences.
2. Go to the Payroll & Employees tab, then go to Company Preferences.
3. Under QUICKBOOKS DESKTOP PAYROLL FEATURES, choose Full Payroll. 
4. Click OK.

Next, let's set up the manual payroll. Here's how:

1. Click Help, then go to QuickBooks Desktop Help.
2. In the Have a Question? window, type manual payroll in the search field, then press Enter on your keyboard.
3. Choose Process payroll manually (without a subscription to QuickBooks Desktop Payroll). 
4. Follow the steps provided in the screen.

Here's how it looks like:

You're now set up for manual payroll calculations. Let us know if you need more help. 

Sadly I do not get the option to set up manual calculations. I think there may be a difference in the Canadian version. 

Hi saucyshawns,

Thanks for giving the steps above a shot. You're right, the steps above are for the US version. There an article which you can find from your Help menu. The article will show you how to manually process payroll manually. To find the article, follow these steps:

1. Click Help in the top toolbar.
2. Choose QuickBooks Desktop Help (or skip step 1 and 2 and press F1 on the keyboard as a shortcut).
3. Click the Help tab.
4. Click the Search button.
5. Type "process payroll manually" to bring up the article.

As you know , you'd need to manually process payroll outside the program and manually enter it in QuickBooks. I recommend reaching out to an accounting professional to find the best way to enter the transactions. I've also attached a screenshot of the steps which I share above. Here's the screenshot:

Feel free to ask questions. I'm here to help. :)

Hi Saucyshawns

Hope this reply doesn't come too late... Just joined the community.

I have setup payroll items as an item in the Item List.  You can easily generate a report showing how much you have paid an employee, along with the source deductions and employer's CPP and EI contributions. 

I have the 2019 Desktop version. Why does the american version have the manual setup but not the canadian version and client?

Hello Lupuline,

I'd like to clarify the options for QuickBooks Desktop Canada to make sure that we're on the same page and you can get to recording your payroll manually.

QuickBooks Desktop Canada absolutely does have the option to record payroll manually by setting up accounts and creating manual cheques. You could even enter the pay cheque as another transaction type if you'd like. I recommend checking with an accountant to see which is the best option for you.

If you'd like to do it the way outlined in our system, follow the instructions my colleague JamesM gave above to find the article in-product that goes over this process. The calculations themselves will have to be made outside of the program, but you can enter the transactions in the program using those steps. The only thing you need to do in addition to these steps is make sure payroll is turned off. Here's how.

1. Select Edit from the top menu.
2. Choose Preferences.
3. Click Payroll & Employees.
4. Choose the Company Preferences tab.
5. Select No payroll.
6. Click OK to save.

A useful tool you can consider for your tax calculations is the Canada Revenue Agency's Payroll Deductions Online Calculator. The CRA page has more details on what it's for and how to use it.

To connect with an accountant that's familiar with QuickBooks Desktop, visit our Find an Accountant page. Using your city name or postal code, you can find QuickBooks-savvy accountants in your area.

Let me know if you have more questions!

1. Select Edit from the top menu.
2. Choose Preferences.
3. Click Payroll & Employees.
4. Choose the Company Preferences tab.
5. Select No payroll.
6. Click OK to save.

The issue is number 5.  The aatached scrren shot shows that both radio button are not available.

I appreciate the screenshot! The good news is that from your screenshot, I see you've already got payroll turned off. That means you can simply look up the in-product help article JamesM mentioned and get started with entering your payroll manually.

Regarding your screenshot, a lot of what's greyed out is correct for how it would appear when choosing No payroll in QuickBooks Desktop. The reason you're also unable to choose between Full and No payroll is because you don't have the payroll subscription on your company file. If you were to have that, you'd have the option to turn on the payroll service as well.

I'm here if you need anything else.

Thank you for your time and quick response. 

I've seen 2 videos (2019 Quickbooks desktop U.S. versions) and they have a different options when accessing help, such as "Set up your company for manual calculations". Which when selected will add 2 icons in the payroll section. This line in "Help" does not appear in my Canadian version. 

It seems that the U.S. version is more client friendly to having the purchaser set up their own "Manual payroll".

The U.S. youtube videos explaining the manual payroll are very user friendly it seems.

I hear what you're saying. The US and Canadian products definitely have some differences, including how menus display in some cases and the options available. It appears manual payroll options is one of those differences. For manual payroll entries in QuickBooks Desktop Canada, it means entering the transactions into your books to account for payroll calculations made outside of the program. There wouldn't be extra buttons added to allow for making the calculations in product.

Feel free to leave feedback for our product engineers by going to the Help menu and choosing Send Feedback Online. Many suggestions made there have become product features with new releases of the software.

I hope that helps clear things up.

Thank you! I've sent the feedback and suggestion to Quickbooks.

Let's say I would like to setup manually all the elements and accounts associated to a payroll. Would you have any suggestions to a video or ressources which would guide me step by step in creating all the accounts? The "Help" feature which deals with "Payroll" in Quickbooks is pretty useless.

Great job sending your feedback! Here's an awesome article that will guide you through the steps to create your payroll expense account: Understand QuickBooks Chart of Accounts. 

I hope this helps. Don't hesitate to reach back out if you have further questions. 

Cheers.

sadly we do not have the same definition of Step by step".  The article is about "Understanding Chart of Accounts" not setting up "Manual Payroll without a subscription". The U.S. version is so much more friendly. Maybe the issue is my lack of knowledge with all accounting principals however I believe that this is deliberate on Quickbooks part to force people into paying for the payroll service.

Thank you!

Hello again Lupuline,

I'd like to clarify why my colleague gave you the article she did. As I explained last time, manual payroll in QuickBooks Desktop Canada operates differently than that of the US software. I absolutely hear what you're saying about how it would be much easier to have the sort of setup that still helps with configuration of accounts and so forth. I'm glad to hear you've sent feedback about this!

There isn't an article for how to set up the specific payroll accounts for manual payroll when using the Canadian version of the program. The article AddieC gave was to demonstrate how to set up an account in general in the Chart of Accounts since this is where you'd need to go to do so. It also contains some other information about the types of accounts possible to create, such as a payroll expense account. When it comes to the finer details of the accounts, however, that's something I encourage you to speak with an accountant about if you're not sure how it's done.

For instance, it could be as simple as setting up an expense account and naming it Payroll Expenses, but I know there are more details than that to be taken into consideration for payroll, so I want to make sure you get it right. I know I left you the link before about how to find an accountant, but please let me know if you'd like it again.

I'll certainly share your concerns about this issue with my team. Please let me know if you need further clarification.

I have the same issue as the poster above (both radio buttons are not available), is it possible to turn on the full payroll option without a subscription?

Hey Michael P.

I would be happy to answer this question for you. Having payroll without a subscription isn't something that's possible with QuickBooks Desktop as it's an add-on feature. If you want to track the information in your books, manually entering the payroll data can do the trick.

There's an article in your QuickBooks on how to manually process payroll. The steps to find this article are:

1. Click Help in the top toolbar.
2. Choose QuickBooks Desktop Help (or skip step 1 and 2 and press F1 on the keyboard as a shortcut).
3. Click the Help tab.
4. Click the Search button.
5. Type "process payroll manually" to bring up the article

If the steps in the article don't meet your needs, you can consider entering your payroll information as a journal entry. I suggest consulting an accountant before doing so however to make sure it goes into the correct accounts. If you don't have an accountant you are already working with, you can use our find an accountant page to assist in finding one nearby.

Hope this answered your question.