For many accountants, helping clients meet their payroll obligations and staying compliant has often taken a back seat to providing other accounting and tax services. But now, with QuickBooks Online’s new expanded suite of automated payroll services, that’s a thing of the past.
The new expanded suite goes beyond payroll, delivering real value-add for you and your practice, saving you and your clients valuable time. Already packed with the standout features in QuickBooks Online Payroll Core and Premium, QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite (a brand new offering) provides benefits that will enable any practice to offer payroll, benefits, and HR services without pain points. Now, accountants and small businesses can protect their business with end-to-end setup, certified HR support and tax penalty protection, all within QuickBooks.
Here are more details on the benefits of QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite:
White Glove Customized Setup: Have the option to leave payroll setup in QuickBooks’ hands. US-based experts will handle everything for you, ensuring your clients are set up to have the most accurate payroll possible.
Auto Payroll*: Set up payroll just once, and you’re done! Once the initial setup is complete, this feature allows clients with only salaried employees to run Auto Payroll on direct deposit, review and approve payroll before paychecks are sent, and easily add additional compensation, such as commission and bonuses. For all other workers, business owners can run payroll in less than five minutes from anywhere. Payroll is also automated in the Core and Premium offerings.
Manage Projects and Track Time On the Go: Through the TSheets mobile app included with QuickBook Online Payroll Premium, clients have mobile time and location tracking, allowing workers to clock in or out anywhere, on any device; GPS tracking to get a more complete picture of who’s working where; and the ability to review, edit, and approve employee hours right inside QuickBooks.
Ratcheting things up a notch, QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite also has geofencing and project planning. Now clients can better manage projects and track time on the go by tracking project hours and labor expenses in real-time, tapping into geofencing that alerts workers to clock in or out when entering or leaving the job site. They will also enjoy an activity feed that lets team members add and view notes, photos, and project updates from anywhere.
Professional HR Advisor: Human resource questions inevitably arise, and finding someone to answer them can be challenging. Now, with QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite, your clients will be able to consult one-on-one with HR advisors! This offering, powered by Mammoth, enables clients to consult with certified HR advisors by phone or online, receive professional guidance on critical HR issues, and obtain custom handbooks and policies for compliance with relevant laws. Mammoth HR advisors provide actionable HR solutions tailored to each client’s diverse needs. They listen, educate, and coach with respect and empathy, knowing HR is a different experience for everyone.
Tax Penalty Protection**: Tax penalties are not just alarming, but potentially detrimental. QuickBooks stands behind all the calculations of customer paychecks, tax payments and forms and helps ensure they are accurate and on time. Additionally, with QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite, Intuit will pay your IRS penalty fees and interest – up to $25,000 per year – regardless of who caused the error. In addition, QuickBooks Payroll’s tax resolution team will work on your clients’ behalf to help resolve any payroll tax or filing issues with the IRS.
Automated Taxes and Form Filings on All Products: QuickBooks will handle all payroll taxes. With our automated features, federal, state, and local payroll taxes are calculated, filed, and paid automatically. In addition, W-2s are prepared and mailed to employees, and annual W-2s are filed for the client. In addition, your clients can automatically file state new hire paperwork to stay compliant.
These are just some of the best benefits of QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite. You may be wondering when these changes will take effect and how they’ll affect your experience. However, before getting into the specific dates for when QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite will be available, it’s first important to acknowledge that you won’t have to do anything on your end.
Rather than “moving” you and your client accounts to the new suite, QuickBooks will be releasing the new features into your existing accounts to make this transition as smooth as possible.
Upon logging in for the first time after the transition, you and your clients will experience no disruption to your business processes, no barriers to running payroll or filing/paying taxes, and no data to transfer. That’s right – all of your payroll history is already there!
Here’s how QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite will be rolled out for accountants:
If you use or plan to use Quickbooks Online Payroll for your own firm through QuickBooks Online Accountant, your account will transition to the new suite lineup on or after Feb. 1, 2020.
● All QuickBooks Online Accountant users will have access to QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite for their firms free of charge.
● If your firm currently uses TSheets, your account will transition on or after May 1, 2020.
As for your clients, here is their transition plan:
● Client accounts will transition to the new lineup on or after March 1, 2020. More details on timing were shared via email to clients in January.
● Client accounts will transition to the more robust version of their existing product to ensure the most seamless experience. This means that those on Enhanced (Self-Service) move to Core, Full-Service become Premium, and Tsheets customers also go to Premium. Note that clients currently on Self-Service payroll who also have a TSheets account will transition to the QuickBooks Premium offering, as Premium time-tracking by TSheets is included in this product and will offer the best value and experience.
For information on pricing, FAQs, and more, visit https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payroll/.
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* Auto payroll is available if setup for employees and the company is complete, all employees are salaried employees, all employees are set up on direct deposit, bank verification, e-services is enabled, all employees are located in the same state and the company is not a multi-state company, and the account has not been on hold in the last 6 months.
** If you receive a tax notice and send it to us within 15-days of the tax notice we will cover the payroll tax penalty, up to $25,000. Additional conditions and restrictions apply. See more information about the guarantee here: https://payroll.intuit.com/disclosure/
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Tags: Payroll, Small Business
