How To Run Payroll Reports In QuickBooks Pro

One of the best parts about QuickBooks Desktop is the number of reports the software offers. The payroll and employee reports are particularly helpful for reviewing your business’s payroll and analyzing your financial state. Luckily, running the reports is also a piece of cake. Here’s how it’s done.

Why Are Payroll Reports Important?

Before we jump into how to run payroll reports in QuickBooks, let’s first understand why payroll reports are important for your business.

There are a few different reasons why your business should regularly run payroll reports. These include:

• Withholding Compliance: It is your responsibility as an employer to withhold certain taxes from your employees’ paychecks. These include Social Security tax, Medicare tax, federal income tax, and (in most states) state income tax. Noncompliance with tax laws can result in a lien or levy placed against your business. In some cases, you may even be prosecuted. You can ensure that you’re compliant with employment tax laws by regularly running and reviewing payroll reports.
• Filing Your Taxes: When it’s time to file your taxes, payroll reports can be extremely valuable. This is because you can use the information from these reports for writing off your payroll expenses and your portion of payroll tax payments. Payroll reports are critical for your quarterly estimated tax payments and your annual business income tax return.
• Loan Forgiveness: If your business received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, you know that you can achieve full or partial loan forgiveness by spending funds on eligible payroll expenses. When it comes time to apply for forgiveness, having payroll records at the ready helps shorten and simplify the process while ensuring that your loan is forgiven.
• Small Business Loans: If you’re seeking a small business loan from a bank or other lender, you have to submit an application along with other documentation to show the health of your business — the profit or loss, your expenses, etc. Some lenders may require you to submit payroll reports for an accurate view of your payroll expenses.
• Track Costs: Businesses facing financial hardships need to analyze their costs, including payroll expenses, closely. By running payroll reports, you can see exactly how much money is going into your labor costs so that you can make adjustments as needed — such as adding or reducing staff — to best benefit your business. Furthermore, you can also use payroll reports to determine if it’s financially feasible to offer raises — and how much — to employees or distribute bonuses.

Payroll Reports In QuickBooks

There are 13 payroll and employee reports total in QuickBooks Pro. You can use the software to run the following reports:

• Payroll Summary
• Payroll Item Detail
• Payroll Detail Review
• Payroll Transactions by Payee
• Payroll Transaction Detail
• Payroll Liability Balances
• Payroll Item Listing
• Employee Earnings Summary
• Employee State Taxes Detail
• Employee Pay Adjustments History
• Employee Contact List
• Employee Withholding
• Paid Time Off List

How To Run Payroll Reports In QuickBooks

To run a report, go to Employee>Payroll Center>Reports. Then click the “Report Center” option.

You’ll then be taken to a screen like the one below, where you will see every report that QuickBooks offers.

Step 1: Click On “Employees & Payroll”

Go to the “Employees & Payroll” tab and search for the desired report.

Step 2: Select The Report

Once you find the report you wish to view, click the green “Run” button to view the report.

Step 3: View Your Report

Once you run your report, you can view, customize, print, email, or download the report into Excel.

Repeat the process to view another report. The process is the same for each report in QuickBooks.

Now that you know how to run payroll reports, you can analyze your payroll history and employee’s working patterns to run your business better.

If you have any troubleshooting issues, check out the QuickBooks Payroll Help Centers or call QuickBooks payroll support directly. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our QuickBooks Desktop Pro 101 Series to learn how to export files, create a budget, use direct deposit, write and print payroll checks, and more.

Overwhelmed by QuickBooks Pro? Maybe it’s time to switch to QuickBooks Online. QBO is easy to use, cloud-based, and affordable. Best of all, you can easily import your QuickBooks Desktop data into QuickBooks Online.

Outgrown QuickBooks Pro? Switch to QuickBooks Premier. It’s the same QuickBooks Desktop software you love but with more users and advanced, industry-specific features.