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Human Resources | How To

How to Add Historical Data to QuickBooks Payroll in 5 Steps

Published January 12, 2022

Published Jan 12, 2022

Charlette Beasley

REVIEWED BY:
Charlette Beasley

Heather Landau

WRITTEN BY:
Heather Landau

This article is part of a larger series on Payroll Services.

Learn More With Our QuickBooks Online Course
Explore the chapters in the guide.
  1. How to Set Up QuickBooks Online
  2. Module 1: Setting up QuickBooks Online
    1. How To Set Up Company Information
    2. How to Customize Your Dashboard
    3. How To Set Up Sales Form Content
    4. How To Customize Invoices, Sales Receipts & Estimates
    5. How To Set Up Products and Services
    6. How To Set Up Messages
    7. How To Set Up Customer Statements
    8. How To Customize Expenses
    9. How To Set Up Advanced Settings
    10. How To Set Up Multiple Users
    11. How To Set Up the Chart of Accounts
    12. How To Set Up the Products and Services List
    13. How To Set Up Customers
    14. How To Set Up Vendors
  3. Module 2: Managing Sales and Income
    1. How To Create Quotes, Bids, and Estimates
    2. How To Create and Send Invoices
    3. How To Receive Payments
    4. How To Create & Send Sales Receipts
    5. How to Enter Partial Payments
    6. How to Track Billable Hours
  4. Module 3: Managing Bills and Expenses
    1. How To Write & Print Checks
    2. How To Enter Bills
    3. How To Pay Bills
    4. How To Make Expenses Billable
    5. How To Write off a Bad Debt
  5. Module 4: Managing Banking Transactions
    1. How To Import Bank Transactions
    2. How To Enter Banking Transactions Manually
    3. How To Manage Downloaded Banking Transactions
    4. How To Record Bank Deposits
    5. How To Use the Undeposited Funds Account
    6. How To Transfer Funds Between Bank Accounts
    7. How To Record Bounced Checks From Customers
    8. How To Process Bank Reconciliations
  6. Module 5: Managing Business Credit Card Transactions
    1. How To Import Credit Card Transactions
    2. How To Manage Downloaded Business Credit Card Transactions
    3. How To Enter a Credit Card Refund
    4. How To Reconcile Business Credit Card Accounts
    5. How To Process Credit Card Sales With QuickBooks Payments
    6. How To Record Credit Card Sales With a Third-party Credit Card Processor
  7. Module 6: Setting Up and Managing Payroll
    1. How To Process Payroll
    2. How To Set Up & Pay Payroll Tax
    3. How To Add Historical Payroll Data
    4. How To Set Up QuickBooks Payroll Direct Deposits
    5. How To Print Payroll Checks
    6. How To Run Payroll Reports
    7. How To Reconcile Payroll Liabilities
  8. Module 7: Reporting
    1. How To Run a Profit and Loss Statement
    2. How To Create a Balance Sheet Report
    3. How To Run a Statement of Cash Flows
    4. How To Run an A/R Aging Report
    5. How To Run an A/P Aging Report
  9. Module 8: Advanced Accounting in QuickBooks Online
    1. How To Make a Journal Entry
    2. How To Use Classes and Locations
    3. How To Create Recurring Transactions
    4. How to Create and Manage Projects
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If you’re transitioning to Intuit after having used a different payroll service, you may need to enter historical data into QuickBooks Payroll. This will help ensure your payroll and tax reports are accurate and not missing any information. If you owe taxes accumulated before using QuickBooks, this will be a vital step to ensure QuickBooks pays applicable tax agencies in full and that you won’t get penalized for late or inaccurate tax payments.

Did You Know? QuickBooks Payroll has released a “Contractor Payments” plan, which is optimal for businesses that hire and pay only contract workers. It costs $15 monthly for up to 20 contractors (plus $2 for each additional worker). For more information about QuickBooks’ payroll plans and features, check out our QuickBooks Payroll review.

Adding historical payroll data to QuickBooks Payroll typically happens during the setup process. Follow along with our video on how to set up your payroll account (entering historical data starts at the 3:00 mark) and get some quick tips on things to consider when you’re entering historical data.

1. Gather Data

You can only add past payroll data as summary information. Therefore, you will need the data found on each employee’s last pay stub. You may also have this information in a payroll report.

You need the following information:

  • Last time you paid your employee. It will ask by quarters, months, or pay periods, so you may answer several of these in a Yes/No fashion.
  • Regular wages: This is the full wages your employee earned in the year-to-date, as shown in the last pay stub.
  • Overtime: This is all the overtime earned, year-to-date, as shown in the last pay stub.
  • Deductions (employees pay): There may be several lines, depending on the specific deductions, such as medical insurance, 401(k), etc.
  • Deductions (company pays): There may be several lines, depending on the specific deductions, such as medical insurance, 401(k), etc.
  • Federal income taxes withheld: This tax should show on every employee’s pay stub unless they are exempt.
  • Social Security taxes withheld: Also known as FICA.
  • Medicare withheld: Also known as FICA.
  • State income taxes withheld: Also known as state withholding or PIT/SIT.
  • State disability insurance: If applicable to your state. If not, it will not show up on the QuickBooks form.
  • Net pay: This is optional, and QuickBooks uses it to check for the accuracy of calculations. If you do not add it, it will make this calculation for you.

Note: You can only enter historical payroll data under two conditions. Otherwise, you will need to contact the Payroll Support team for assistance.

  1. The data is for the current calendar year.
  2. You have not run any payrolls for the employee for whom you need to add data.

You cannot bulk upload historical data into the software and enter past years on your own.

2. Find Your Employee

Showing QuickBooks overview page.

If adding an employee. Go to Payroll, then click on Overview. You may already be on that tab. You will see a task in your To-Do for completion. Click on Let’s Go to add your employee.


Showing QuickBooks Payroll Employees tab.

If coming back to an employee. Hover your cursor over Payroll, then click on Employees.


Showing how to add employees on QuickBooks.

Next, select the employee you wish to complete.


3. Input Totals From Your Payroll Reports or Employee Pay Stubs

The Employee screen opens with all the information you need to input for payroll. It will ask, in step 9, for historical data.

Showing how much did you pay an employee so far this year. Showing other payroll employee questions on QuickBooks.

If these numbers do not match what QuickBooks expects, it will not proceed until these are correct.

4. Complete the Input

When you finish, press Done in the lower right corner. QuickBooks will then update, showing you the gross pay, taxes withheld, and net pay to date. Click Done again to complete this employee.

Showing complete input of payroll on QuickBooks.

5. Go to Next Employee

When you press Done, it takes you back to the Overview page. Click on Let’s Go to set up your next employee.

Showing QuickBooks overview page.

Bottom Line

Once all your employee data is set up in QuickBooks Online Payroll, you’ll be ready to run your payroll. You can also learn more about how to do payroll yourself here.

QuickBooks Payroll makes paying your team simple and painless, especially if you’re already a QuickBooks Online User. QuickBooks Payroll offers an easy to use interface, speedy direct deposits, and great reporting that makes tracking expenses easier than ever before. New users get 50% off payroll for the first three months.

Visit QuickBooks Payroll

🠜 Previous Tutorial

Free QuickBooks Online Tutorials

Next Tutorial 🠞

Although having payroll software makes paying your employees the right way much easier, you still need to know the basics. Check out our tips on how to get the best payroll training to help.

About the Author

Heather Landau

Find Heather OnLinkedIn

Heather Landau

Throughout her career, Heather has worked to help hundreds of small business owners in managing many aspects of their business, from bookkeeping to accounting to HR. Before joining Fit Small Business, Heather was the Payroll/HRS Manager for a top cloud accounting firm in the industry. Her experience has allowed her to learn first hand what the payroll needs are for small business owners.

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