Over the past year, we’ve met with dozens of accounting professionals like you to talk about our payroll offerings. We learned about what’s working and what needs to improve. We listened and took action. Thanks to your feedback, we’ve launched an entirely new suite of payroll services with many features that are important to you, including automated taxes and auto payroll. And, what you’ve seen is just the beginning! We still have work to do, and we’re excited to partner with you to build the best payroll solution for you and your clients’ growing needs.
Here are some of the things we heard that are most important to you:
- Expert help. You need easy access to payroll experts who have the right skills to give you the help you need, when you need it. You should stay informed during the resolution process, receiving updates every step of the way.
- More control. You want greater control over your clients’ employee setup and payroll processes. This includes detailed roles and permissions, where you can decide who observes payroll actions and who takes payroll actions.
- Time back. You want the ability to efficiently and reliably make changes to your clients’ payroll and tax configurations without having to depend on support.
- Access to information. You want to know the latest in education and industry trends, so that you can confidently and holistically advise your clients while keeping them compliant.
I’m proud to share that over the past year, our teams have released new features based on your needs and feedback, including:
- Improved flexibility and control. We’ve enhanced flexibility within the Payroll Tax Center, so you can control auto taxes and make payments to support your clients the way you want to. You now also have the capability to backdate checks for the times you need to add a paycheck retroactively and change the primary work location (state) and/or add another work location.
- More automation. We’ve improved setup efficiency and integrated TSheets by QuickBooks® time tracking capabilities to increase efficiency and give you time back in your day. Also, we’ve made calculating and entering overtime pay easier with automated overtime recommendations, which identifies potential incorrect overtime that employers enter and recommends a correction, along with an explanation. This provides you greater assurance that the hours worked by an employee are accurately categorized within the limits of the federal and/or state laws, and helps ensure employees get paid the right compensation.
- Access to HR & benefits. Packed inside QuickBooks Online Payroll, you and your clients now have access to affordable Guideline 401(k) retirement plans through Guideline, HR services through Mammoth, health benefits through Simply Insured, and workers’ compensation through AP Intego.
- Expert help. We’re working on expanding our team of experts, who are dedicated to helping you when you need them most. In the meantime, we’ve introduced the ability for you to make edits on the most recent paychecks so you don’t have to call support.
What’s next?
We have a lot planned for 2021, and, coming soon, we plan to release payroll insights just for accountants. Through QuickBooks Online Accountant, you will be able to view payroll processing dates and blockers, tax payments, and other important information in one place to help stay compliant and resolve issues quickly. This is just the beginning of new accountant-specific user flows that we will start to build in the coming months.
How can I learn more?
We also recently launched the new QuickBooks Online Payroll training for ProAdvisors®, which is available for free, anytime, in your QuickBooks Online Accountant ProAdvisor training portal. Prefer to learn live? We have a two-part webinar series covering the same content that’s running each month. Find the next live events at QuickBooks Accountant University.
You have also told us that you often learn best by doing. As a ProAdvisor benefit, you have access to QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite for free through QuickBooks Online Accountant. We encourage you to take advantage of this benefit for your own Payroll and get first-hand experience to support your clients.
Share your feedback
Our partnership with you is key. Together, we share the same goal—to help small businesses succeed—and we’re also focused on helping you grow your practice, scale your impact, and thrive. Even with the transformations we’ve launched, we are only just getting started to enhance our payroll offerings. You can expect to see much more throughout the year, as we work toward our vision of delivering even greater benefits with our integrated payroll and accounting experience.
I want to recruit you to help shape that vision and be a part of our development process. Please share your ideas for QuickBooks Online Payroll here.
We’re excited to serve you through our connected ecosystem, and for our continued partnership with you.
Original article by Ariege Misherghi, published on the Firm of the Future Blog.
To learn more Schedule Time with Jonathan, or call (617) 332-8522
