How to Do Payroll Accounting: A Step-by-Step Guide for Employers

This allows you to get a more detailed look at your employee-related expenses. Make a second journal entry when you give your employee their paycheck. When you pay the employee, you no longer owe wages, so your liabilities decrease. Compare the amounts you entered to the information you have in your payroll reports. If your books don’t balance, retrace your steps to find your accounting mistake and fix it.

This not only paints a clearer picture of how much each employee costs your business, but helps you plan the expansion of the business and determine when to bring on new hires. Smart business owners keep close tabs on every https://kelleysbookkeeping.com/irs-form-w/ penny coming in and going out, especially considering the largest expense – the people. Most small business owners will not create an entry for this type of liability because employees are paid shortly after the pay period.

Record payables

Note that payroll taxes are typically recorded in the liability accounts in your financial statements. They are recorded as liabilities in your general ledger until you pay them. You must keep the company’s recording for at least four years. Check with the appropriate agency to know if you’re making the correct general and journal entries and keeping them for the correct time.

Payroll expenses refer to all costs incurred for employee compensation that are paid and reset every month. In contrast, payroll liabilities refer to money that you owe and have not paid yet. Doing it on your own can sound like a daunting task, but if you equip yourself with the right knowledge, enough time, and a sturdy calculator, it can be easy and efficient. You don’t need to sit for accounting certification programs or obtain professional experience. With ongoing financial transactions and regular salary payments, it’s vital to double-check your payroll account.

What is Payroll Accounting?

Taxes and other deductions are based on the forms your employees fill out. The forms will tell you how much of an employee’s wages you should deduct each pay period. Calculations will also depend on your state and sometimes your city or county. Familiarize yourself with any local tax laws that could require additional payroll deductions.

You can see more details including journal entries at our free Explanation of Payroll Accounting. Business owners love Patriot’s award-winning payroll software. Payments are usually selected between weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.

Ease the burden of payroll processing with Shiftbase

To automate the entire process, you can get a payroll system to get everything done in less time. After determining payroll costs, you’ll need to pay the taxes owed for a specific period of time, such as quarterly or annually. You will also need to complete a W-2 form for every employee. This provides the government with a record of annual wages, federal and state taxes, health savings contributions and 401(k) contributions.

• Form W-2 reports employee wages, deductions, and tax withholdings.
• For example, say an employee has 24 hours of PTO and has already taken eight hours off.
• Once you have your payroll account, it’s time to start with your calculation.
• Certain areas dictate pay periods for different types of employers, employees, or circumstances.

But then she fills in for another department when someone gets sick and works 10 hours at a pay rate of $15 per hour. It’s also essential to keep track of the taxes you withheld (the $100 in the above example) because you’re going to need those numbers for the next step. In this article, we’ll give you a step-by-step guide to payroll preparation so you can be sure you’re not missing anything.

Let’s look at the reasons why accurate payroll accounting matters. Learning how to do payroll accounting manually (i.e., with pencil, paper, and a calculator) is a good skill to have. As a manager, you never know when you’re going to need to do a quick bit of math. Most businesses don’t pay their salaried employees overtime, and some employees don’t qualify for overtime even if you pay them on an hourly basis. A large portion of it depends on how you set up your payroll system and regulations set by the U.S. Then, at the end of each pay period, you simply review the data to make sure it’s correct and edit as needed.

Until you pay employees, those wages are a liability because it’s money you owe. Several withholdings and deductions are taken out of How To Do Payroll Accounting an employee’s gross pay. The benefits you offer, your industry, and other factors affect which accounts you need to record payroll.