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QuickBooks 4 Contractors blog

QuickBooks for Contractors blog

  • There is so much news and information floating around the web – it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. See what caught my attention this week in these topics: Accounting & Taxes, eBooks/Webinars/Videos, Payroll/Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, QuickBooks, Small Business/Organization/Productivity, Construction, and Social Media/Marketing/Website Design.

  • Entering payroll for normal employee work hours and drive time and passing only the work hours through to client invoices is not only important but confusing. The following question was submitted by a reader who pays from the start of the first job till the end of the last job of the day (not including lunch break). I have my employees fill out a time tracker sheet each day that shows the time started at the first job till the end, drive time in between jobs, so on and so forth. I enter this into QuickBooks but I can't figure out where to enter in drive time to pay the girls their hourly wage on payroll but to not invoice anyone for drive time.

  • Can you deduct the cost of lost equipment from your employee’s pay? As a business owner I'm betting that on more than one occasion you have had an employee who has lost his company provided cell phone more than once and you've have to replace it. Perhaps you want to recover the cost of the phone via a payroll deduction - before you do, read the rest of this article, because the answer depends first on state and federal restrictions and second on how much you want to deduct.

  • There is so much news and information floating around the web – it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. See what's in store this week!

  • An important QuickBooks Payroll System Maintenance Announcement - a system-wide upgrade will start at 6 p.m. on Thursday 5/24/2012 and continue through 5 a.m. on Tuesday 5/29/2012 - Direct Deposit will also be effected and don't forget that this is also the Memorial Day holiday weekend! QuickBooks Payroll will not process direct deposit checks dated for Monday, May 28, 2012 due to the Memorial Day holiday. In order for your employees to receive their paychecks before Monday, May 28, you should change your paycheck date to Friday, May 25 and send your payroll by 5pm PT on Wednesday, May 23.

Certified Payroll Training

How To Fulfill Your Certified Payroll Reporting Requirements.  Live 2-hour training webinar - $89.00 per person.  Click here for more information.

certified payroll reporting training webinar


  

New QuickBooks Support & Training Website

We've launched a new website specifically for QuickBooks Support & Training.  Visit Learn to Use QuickBooks in your construction business.

Read more...

Certified Payroll Technical & Training Documents

The Certified Payroll Solution for QuickBooks Technical & Training section included FREE Advanced Training and Support items such as: program enhancement releases, obtaining and installing program updates, handling employee pay scale changes, creating electronic certified payroll reports, network installation, troubleshooting blank spots on your reports, printing or reprinting old reports, etc.


Documents

Order by : Name | Date | Hits [ Ascendant ]

Printing Certified Payroll Reports to .pdf Printing Certified Payroll Reports to .pdf

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Date added: 03/29/2011
Date modified: 03/29/2011
Downloads: 394

Printing and/or saving your Certified Payroll reports to a .pdf file is an effective means of electronic storage and reduces the amount of "paper" work that you company needs to store in filing cabinets.  It is also an effective means of sending the reports via email.

Download this 1 page article detailing how to turn your paper reports into electronic reports.

Four Ways Contractors Pay Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefits Four Ways Contractors Pay Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefits

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Date added: 11/13/2007
Date modified: 01/06/2011
Downloads: 445

This article discusses, "Four Ways Contractors Pay Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefits", and HOW to Set QuickBooks Up to Handle This, Whether or Not You Are Using Certified Payroll Solution".

27 pages with numerous screenshots - updated 5/18/2010.

Backing Up Your Certified Payroll Solution Data Backing Up Your Certified Payroll Solution Data

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Date added: 09/04/2007
Date modified: 12/23/2010
Downloads: 292

 

Is your Certified Payroll Solution Data safe in the event of an emergency? It is a common misconception that the CPS data is backed up when you backup your QuickBooks data - this is not true. Follow these simple instructions to set CPS up to automatically back up your data, each time you exit the program.

3 pages with screenshots.

Handling Pay Scale Changes - I Want to Do It Right! Handling Pay Scale Changes - I Want to Do It Right!

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Date added: 06/06/2007
Date modified: 12/27/2010
Downloads: 306

We all have to deal with Prevailing Wage Pay Scale changes at one point or another, and unlike in just about any other situation, when the pay increase goes into effect with the beginning of the next workweek - Prevailing Wage pay scale increases become effective with the first day of a specific month, usually June 1. Although, this too, can depend upon where your business is located, and/or any Union rules that you must follow.

Correctly handling this "change" in pay is easily accomplished by creating a new payroll item, and "switching" payroll items in the timesheet, when the increase becomes effective - just like you do when an employee "switches" work classifications on the job.

This article deals with correctly handling pay scale changes, as well as, some of the incorrect ways that you might have done this, and provides alternative methods for getting your Certified Payroll Reports out.

4 pages with screenshots.

Creating Electronic Certified Payroll Reports Creating Electronic Certified Payroll Reports

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Date added: 06/05/2007
Date modified: 12/27/2010
Downloads: 717

The "paper" certified payroll reports, produced by Certified Payroll Solution, can easily be transformed into an electronic certified payroll report, compatible with the requirements of:

  • Texas Department of Transportation requires a .CSV file
  • Elation Systems, Inc. requires an XML file
  • TRS Consultants, Inc. requires an XML file
  • LCPtracker requires an .XLS file
  • Sandia National Laboratory requires an XML file
  • Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development requires a .TXT file
  • Wisconsin Department of Transportation requires an XML file
  • Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development requires an .XLS file

 

There are four (4) simple steps you must do to set CPS up, to automatically create these files.

5 pages with screenshots - updated July 26, 2010.

Installing Certified Payroll Solution on a Network Installing Certified Payroll Solution on a Network

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Date added: 05/30/2007
Date modified: 12/27/2010
Downloads: 453

Certified Payroll Solution can be installed on a network, however, only one person at a time should use the program to retrieve payroll information from QuickBooks.

While Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. does not proclaim to be an "IT Company", we do provide you and your IT Consultants with network installation instructions, as a courtesy.

Your manual contains basic network installation instructions, while this support article contains more detailed information.

2 pages.

Certified Payroll Solution - Enterprise Minimum User Permissions Certified Payroll Solution - Enterprise Minimum User Permissions

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Date added: 04/10/2007
Date modified: 12/27/2010
Downloads: 469

 

The advanced permission settings found in Enterpise 6.0-11.0 certainly can make a business owner feel more confident that only the people they really want to have access to certain data, are the only ones, that will indeed, be able to access it. However, we have seen many business owners get "carried away" -- effectively stopping people from actually doing their job!

This article outlines the required minimum permissions that are necessary for a user to run the Certified Payroll Solution program, and retrieve payroll information, from your QuickBooks file.

3 pages.

Certified Payroll Solution - Underpaying Employees Certified Payroll Solution - Underpaying Employees

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Date added: 04/02/2007
Date modified: 12/27/2010
Downloads: 363

Help, I underpaid my employees.........Have you ever discovered, after the fact, that you paid your employees the wrong rate, or missed a pay scale increase on a prevailing wage job? There are a lot of wrong ways to correct this, but the instructions contained in this document are the right way.

10 pages with screenshots.

Certified Payroll Solution - Troubleshooting Accuracy & "Blank Spots" on Reports Certified Payroll Solution - Troubleshooting Accuracy & "Blank Spots" on Reports

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Date added: 04/02/2007
Date modified: 12/19/2011
Downloads: 1100

Matching QuickBooks Paycheck Totals with Certified Payroll Report Totals - A guide for verifying and troubleshooting your final certified payroll reports.  Includes - Where ALL the information on the Certified Payroll Report and Statement of Compliance Comes from.

This is a great tool for troubleshooting the accuracy of your final reports and diagnosing "blank spots or missing information", as it will show you where each and every piece of information comes from that appears, on both your certified payroll report and statement of compliance.

37 pages.

Certified Payroll Solution - Bi-Weekly Payroll Certified Payroll Solution - Bi-Weekly Payroll

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Date added: 04/01/2007
Date modified: 12/27/2010
Downloads: 386

 

Certified Payroll Reports can be generated from QuickBooks bi-weekly paychecks, although it is a little more complex, and there are some things that we simply cannot compensate for - the main one being, HOW QuickBooks recognizes payroll - which is, as of the date you cut your paycheck, instead of accurately accruing the payroll over each week.

Because of this, you will run two certified payroll reports for each paycheck; one referencing the date of the first pay period ending date, and another with the second pay period ending date. 

This information is included in your manual, however, we have included here in our support area, for your convenience.

3 pages.

Certified Payroll Solution - Employee Work Classifications Certified Payroll Solution - Employee Work Classifications

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Date added: 04/01/2007
Date modified: 12/27/2010
Downloads: 496

 

Employee Work Classifications - understanding the transition or flow of employee work classifications on prevailing wage jobs.  From QuickBooks payroll wage items to work classifications that appear on your final EEOC reports, certified payroll reports, and benefit reports.

This article includes eight (8) common examples on how you might need to set things up - both in QuickBooks and Certified Payroll Solution.

14 pages with screenshots and charts.

Certified Payroll Solution - Printing Delinquent Reports Certified Payroll Solution - Printing Delinquent Reports

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Date added: 04/01/2007
Date modified: 12/27/2010
Downloads: 326

 

Generating delinquent or "old" certified payroll reports can be fairly easy or fairly difficult, depending upon how well you have or have not used the QuickBooks software and its functionality.

Help in generating delinquent reports is not considered to be part of your normal initial free support, and we will charge you a fee for assistance - see our Support Pollicy.  However, we do offer these detailed instructions, free of charge.

3 pages.

Certified Payroll Solution Enterprise 5.0 Minimum User Permissions Certified Payroll Solution Enterprise 5.0 Minimum User Permissions

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Date added: 12/31/2004
Date modified: 12/23/2010
Downloads: 307

 

Certified Payroll Solution minimum permission settings for Enterprise 5.0 users.

2 pages.

Granting CPS Permission to Access your QuickBooks 2005/Enterprise 5.0 File Granting CPS Permission to Access your QuickBooks 2005/Enterprise 5.0 File

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Date added: 12/23/2004
Date modified: 12/23/2010
Downloads: 241

 

Each (year - 2004, 2005, 4.0, 5.0, etc.) version of QuickBooks Pro, Premier or Enterprise Solutions has a slightly different method in which a user must grant permission for a third-party application to be able to access their QuickBooks data file.

Because the permission granting process has changed over the years, keeping all of this information in our current program manual causes the manual to be very large and intimidating to some people, so we have decided to move the permissions for older versions out of the manual and here to our support area.

Granting CPS Permission to Access Your QuickBooks 2004/Enterprise 4.0 File Granting CPS Permission to Access Your QuickBooks 2004/Enterprise 4.0 File

hot!
Date added: 12/23/2003
Date modified: 12/23/2010
Downloads: 236

 

Each (year - 2002, 2003, 2004,1.0, 3.0, 4.0 etc.) version of QuickBooks Pro, Premier or Enterprise Solutions has a slightly different method in which a user must grant permission for a third-party application to be able to access their QuickBooks data file.

Because the permission granting process has changed over the years, keeping all of this information in our current program manual causes the manual to be very large and intimidating to some people, so we have decided to move the permissions for older versions out of the manual and here to our support area.