Linda Artesani shows how to issue Christmas bonuses in QuickBooks Online using the Bonus Only payroll option. You can enter the bonus as gross pay with taxes deducted or net pay with a gross-up to guarantee a specific amount. Process bonuses before year-end to avoid support calls.
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Hi there, Linda Artesani, Artesani Bookkeeping. I know I've done a video on this in the past, but I thought it's a good one to revisit. I think I did it last year. It's a good one to revisit, especially if you have QuickBooks Online and payroll. So I'm in the file and I want to run a payroll, and I want to just run the payroll for bonus only. So I'm going to come over here, I'm going to click Run Payroll, but that— I don't want to run payroll, I just want to give these people their Christmas bonuses. So I'm going to hit the dropdown, and that's where the little hidden piece is for Bonus Only. So I'm going to click Bonus Only. You have 2 choices. You can enter the bonus as a gross pay. So if I wanted, for example, give somebody $500 as their bonus, and I don't want them to get $396.27 after taxes, you would select this. You would select as a net pay. And then they'll figure out the total pay to gross it up so that the person actually gets $500. Otherwise, you give it as a gross pay and then they have the taxes taken out. So that's how this particular company wants to do this. So I don't know what's happening with the screen. So this person's getting $500 and this person's getting— $300. $1,000. So I want to preview my payroll, make sure I pick the right selection. So there you go, a $500 pay with her deductions is $430.92. A $1,000 bonus with his deductions is $776.42. And then all I have to do is make sure that the dates are right, and I am paying them today, so dates are correct. I can submit the payroll and it's done. And I can just print the paychecks here. If you're using the online QuickBooks Online, view my paycheck, I don't even need to do that. It goes right into their bank accounts because they're on direct deposit and it's done. So I can finish payroll. That's how simple it is to create a bonus check in QuickBooks Online. But again, one more thing to mention is if you want to get that bonus in, and a lot of times companies will give a bonus based on a specific amount of sales or, you know, how maybe they have a contract with the employee and they want an incentive program. So if you have that particular scenario and you have to wait for the year to close, you can't backdate it. And I suppose you can contact payroll support and have them do it. That's an option. But other than that, you really want to get these bonuses done before the end of the year so you don't have to make that phone call. Because as you can imagine, calling payroll at this time of the year can get to be a little bit hectic. You might be on hold a little bit. The best days to contact payroll support are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Try to stay away from Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Those are the big pay dates that they get a lot of— a high volume of calls. They open very early in the morning. They're open for us at about— I think they open at 6:00 AM. And they're there till 6 PM. They're on the Pacific Coast, so you gotta remember and factor that in as well with the times. But generally, the best time to contact them is around 1 o'clock in the afternoon if you're on the East Coast. So that's a few tips for you. I hope this video is helpful, and if you have any questions or would like more information on bonuses or any other topic, please feel free to reach out to me on Facebook, and I'll provide the link in the blog. Thank you. Bye now.
