Time-saving change coming for QuickBooks Payroll customers

An important change is coming to your QuickBooks Payroll Service in September. This is good news for current QuickBooks customers, and anyone thinking about implementing QuickBooks Payroll for their business.

To save you time and give your employees electronic access to their pay information, Intuit will be turning Workforce on automatically to give employees greater access to their pay, banking, and employment information. Intuit says it expects to begin inviting employees to Workforce on or around September 20, 2021.

Software License Agreement changes

The Workforce terms have been updated in the QuickBooks License Agreement to include new information regarding the change in the service. View the QuickBooks legal notices page to find your software license agreement.

Changes will save payroll managers time

Instead of you having to manually invite employees to Workforce, Intuit will automatically invite employees to create a Workforce account. Employees will be invited using their contact information from QuickBooks Payroll. Current employees who are set to “active” and getting paid will be invited first, and when you add new employees, they'll receive automatic invitations.

This change will allow employees to view, edit, and manage their personal, banking, and payroll withholding information, keep on top of their pay details, and access important documents like paystubs or W-2 tax forms.

There is no additional cost for you or your employees to use Workforce.

How do I make sure employees get their invitations?

To ensure your employees get their Workforce invitations, include email contact information each time you add a new employee and review your existing employees' contact information to make sure it is up to date.

Will my employee data stay up to date?

Whether employees set up their own account or edit their information, or you enter and edit their info yourself, employee data will remain up to date.

Intuit will send invitations to employees automatically and tell them everything they need to know.

Have additional questions? Learn more about Workforce

QuickBooks Tip: Take advantage of the Quick Report feature

Sometimes you just need to see the activity of a customer, vendor, or item quickly.

Enter the QuickReport.

To access this incredibly helpful report in QuickBooks, you can either use the CTRL + Q keyboard shortcut once you have selected the customer, vendor or item, or you can right click on your selection in the list and choose the QuickReport option from there.

Here is a sample screenshot – keep in mind that once the data is in report format, you then have the full arsenal of QuickBooks report tools available (i.e. customize report, export to Excel, etc.):

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Sample “Quick Report” for a customer in QuickBooks

This information is from QuickBooks expert Scott Gregory.

Price increases for QuickBooks Online subscribers

A price increase for QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus, and Advanced subscribers went into effect July 15, 2021.

Intuit works to constantly improve QuickBooks Online, to help make sure your business runs smoothly and that you get paid as quickly as possible.

The new cost to subscribers is outlined below:

• QuickBooks Online Essentials: $50 per month (Up to three users)

• QuickBooks Online Plus: $80 per month (Up to five users)

• QuickBooks Online Advanced: $180 per month (Up to 25 users)

The increase for new subscribers was effective July 15, 2021. It’s effective for current subscribers who pay Intuit directly August 1, 2021, and the effective date is September 1, 2021 for subscribers who pay their accountants.

There are no price changes at this time for QuickBooks Self-Employed or Simple Start subscribers.

QuickBooks Tip: Turn on the "Press Enter Key" preference

You’re working in QuickBooks and entering information into an invoice, when in your attempt to move from one field to the next, you innocently tap the Enter key, expecting to move to the next blank field.

But wait, the screen has completely disappeared – certainly not the behavior you expected!

Why does that happen?

Unlike Microsoft Word and other programs where tapping the “Enter” key is how you move from place to place, QuickBooks has to be “told” to recognize the Enter key so that it can properly move you from field to field without messing things up.

Here is how to get that done

• Click Edit

• Click Preferences

• Click General and look for the option that says “Pressing Enter moves between fields”

• Check it

• Click OK

You will no longer have any more worries about accidentally closing a screen in QuickBooks.

We’re not sure why this setting is not turned on by default in QuickBooks.
The information in this QuickBooks Tip is provided by QuickBooks expert Scott Gregory.

QuickBooks Enterprise Diamond: Save on powerful business management tools

If you use QuickBooks Enterprise accounting software and other tools in Intuit’s family like QuickBooks Time or QuickBooks Payroll, you will want to consider upgrading to the Diamond version because the move will give you a noticeable and significant money savings.

QuickBooks Enterprise Diamond offers a customizable suite of integrated tools to help you save time, reduce errors, and get more done. Enterprise Diamond does all of the following:

• Automates routine processes

• Streamlines workflows

• Minimizes double data entry

• Gives you and your team more time to focus on your customers

• Provides visibility across your business that helps you make better business decisions

• Is customized to meet your business’ evolving needs

Here’s the bottom line. QuickBooks Enterprise Diamond allows you to manage your business end-to-end with Assisted Payroll, QuickBooks Time Elite, VIP support, and up to 40 users at a substantial savings. You also get the most robust accounting functionality for advanced inventory, advanced reporting, and advanced pricing QuickBooks has to offer.

Bundling saves big money

Now you can get all of the benefits of QuickBooks Enterprise accounting software bundled with the most powerful productivity tools in the Intuit family of products. This is key. When you bundle all of these tools together, you save money for your business.

• When purchased through Peak Advisers, you get a 20% perpetual discount on Enterprise Diamond accounting software. This discount lasts for as long as you keep your subscription. It doesn’t end after a trial period.

• QuickBooks Assisted Payroll comes with a deep discount when activated as part of the Enterprise Diamond bundle

• QuickBooks Time is 50% off in the Enterprise Diamond bundle when compared to what it costs as a stand-alone product.

Powerful tools for your business in Enterprise Diamond

Improve profitability with Intuit’s best time tracking tool QuickBooks Time Elite. QuickBooks Time was formerly TSheets.

• Allow employees to track time from anywhere.

• Assign jobs to individual workers.

• Track employee billable time and progress with clients, to plan, so you can make adjustments and improve profitability.

Pay employees in a snap with Intuit’s top tier payroll tool. Assisted Payroll is fully integrated into QuickBooks. Quickly pay employees with printed checks, next-day direct deposit, or both. On top of that, Intuit’s Assisted Payroll will manage your federal and state payroll taxes and filings for you—guaranteed on-time, accurate, and penalty-free. QuickBooks Enterprise payroll supports roaming employees; many payroll systems do not support payroll for employees working in multiple states. QuickBooks does.

Automate more work with the Salesforce CRM connector. If your business uses Salesforce, you can add the Salesforce CRM connector to sync QuickBooks to Salesforce.

• Reduce data entry duplication

• Provide one source of data between sales and support for better customer service

• Get paid faster by generating invoices automatically

Peak Advisers can give you another option for a customer relationship management system. It’s Method:CRM. This product was made to work with QuickBooks; it integrates seamlessly to save time and effort. Contact us for more information about Method.

Outstanding support if you need help. Peak Advisers offers services to get you set up and running with Enterprise Diamond. It doesn’t matter if you’re new to QuickBooks, switching to QuickBooks from a different system, or just upgrading, we can take care of data migration, implementation, and training services for you. Additionally, Intuit offers 24/7 phone and chat support for Enterprise customers.

QuickBooks Enterprise has always given you a wealth of sophisticated options to help you manage your business as it grows and becomes more complex. Now you can enjoy a whole suite of power tools to manage your business from end-to-end at a significant savings.

Important upgrade needed for QuickBooks POS users

Intuit announced QuickBooks Point of Sale v18 will be discontinued August 10, 2021. POS v18 users can upgrade to QuickBooks POS software v19 at a 60% discount through August 10, 2021. In addition, you get a 40% rebate on the discounted price you pay if you make the purchase through Peak Advisers**.

What POS v18 discontinuation means

Intuit says the discontinuation of POS v18 has become necessary due to advances in security requirements and technological improvements in payment acceptance systems. After August 10, QuickBooks Payments will no longer work with POS v18. Additionally, Intuit will no longer support v18 with security updates.

The time to upgrade is now. Intuit has never offered such a large discount to upgrade to the current version of POS. Contact us to complete the purchase before August 10, 2021.

POS v19 Benefits

There are many great reasons to upgrade to POS v19.

• E-commerce integration

• Take payments on the go

• One free contactless PIN pad

• Get an additional 40% off rebate** from Peak Advisers to save even more

QuickBooks Point of Sale is one system for all your sales channels. Ring sales, sell products online, accept credit cards, manage vendors and inventory, and build customer relationships.

• Ecommerce integration that supports all of the top shopping carts and popular online marketplaces

• All sales and payment data flows directly into QuickBooks financial software, saving valuable time

• Never miss a sale and take payments on the go with your mobile device ... perfect for curbside pickup.

Important details to receive POS discounted pricing

*60% off promotion good only for users upgrading from QuickBooks POS v18 through August 10, 2021. Customers will receive one free contactless PIN pad. New customers can purchase QuickBooks POS software for 20% off and receive one free contactless PIN pad. A QuickBooks Payments account is required for promotional pricing and the free Pin Pad. Call us for details.

**Additional 40% off rebate available 90 days after a QuickBooks Payments account is established when POS is purchased through Peak Advisers and implementation by Peak Advisers is completed. Without a new QuickBooks Payments account the rebate is reduced to an additional 20% of the discounted price paid.

Automated employment verification coming to QuickBooks Online Payroll

Intuit announced an exciting change to QuickBooks Online Payroll.

In early fall 2021, the subscription for current QuickBooks Online Payroll customers will include an automated income and employment verification service powered by The Work Number® from Equifax.

New QuickBooks Online Payroll customers will get this benefit once their subscription is activated.

Employees sometimes have to verify their income and employment status when applying for things like loans, credit, or public assistance.

As business owners or managers, you likely have to manually provide this information to lenders, creditors, or government agencies. But beginning in Fall 2021, these verifications will be automated by The Work Number, which helps employees get faster approvals and saves you time.

It’s free

Even better news: There will be no additional charges from Intuit or Equifax to you or your employees for this service.

Intuit changed the QuickBooks Terms of Service to reflect the addition of the new employment verification service. The updated Terms are available here.

Contact Peak Advisers to get QuickBooks Online Payroll up and running so you can take advantage of the new automated employment verification service.

QuickBooks Tip: How to easily import customer, vendor, inventory information

Fortunately, an advanced IT degree is not needed to pull customer, vendor, and inventory information into QuickBooks from an external source such as Excel.

The “Add/Edit Multiple…” option is a great part of the QuickBooks toolkit, says QuickBooks expert Scott Gregory. It can easily be located by doing the following:

• Right click on any name in your customer, vendor, or inventory list and then clicking on the “Add/Edit Multiple…” option

• Or click the Edit option in the menu bar, then click the “Add/Edit Multiple…” option

Once there, you will see an “Excel-looking” screen that calls out three simple steps to pull information into QuickBooks:

1. Select a list – choose from customers, vendors, service items and more

2. Customize columns to display – click the “Customize Columns” button in the upper right hand corner. From there, you can organize the columns and order of the columns to match the Excel layout

3. Copy from the Excel sheet and paste into the QuickBooks window you created above

BONUS TIP: If you need to bring transactional data (i.e. invoices, etc.) into QuickBooks or you want more import options than the “Add/Edit Multiple..” provides, contact Peak Advisers about the Transaction Pro Importer product. It is absolutely your best option when it comes to pulling data and information into your QuickBooks.

Automatic updates feature in QuickBooks Payroll important for compliance

This is a simple tip for users of QuickBooks Payroll that will help make sure payroll operations stay in compliance. Make sure the QuickBooks Payroll automatic updates feature is turned on.

Intuit recently released Payroll Update 22109, with state form updates for Maine and Rhode Island and a tax table update for Kentucky. The information about this update is from Intuit.  

To confirm you received the latest update, open QuickBooks and choose Employees > Get Payroll Updates. If you do not see a message that says, "You are using tax table version: 22109," click Update. Get complete instructions.

To turn on the automatic updates feature in QuickBooks so that you automatically receive payroll updates when they are released, choose Help > Update QuickBooks.

On the Options tab, select Yes for Automatic Update and check the Mark All box to ensure that you receive all updates.

Get the Payroll Update

The Payroll Update ensures that you will be in compliance with legislation that affects your payroll. For details on the contents of this update, go to Employees > Get Payroll Updates > Payroll Update Info.

QuickBooks tip: Save time by filtering customer, vendor, and inventory transactions

Take advantage of the filtering tools that are built directly into your customer and vendor centers and you will save time right away.

As you can see by the screen shot below, there are several “drop down filters” available to help you quickly find the information you are looking for:

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QuickBooks filtering options

By way of example, if you were to change the “Show” filter above to read “All Sales Transactions,” the “Filter By” then gives you the option to see:

• Open invoices only

• Overdue invoices only

• Paid invoices only

QuickBooks expert Scott Gregory says all of the selections available in these drop down boxes is context sensitive (i.e. it shows you sales orders, invoices, estimates, etc. when working with customers and bills, checks, etc. when working with vendors).

Once you get the information you need, you can then easily click the “Run Report” button at the bottom of the screen to have the information appear in report format.

Go ahead – try these filters. They will most definitely save you time!

QuickBooks payments customers now get next day deposits for ACH payments

QuickBooks payments just got better. If you are already a QuickBooks Payments customer, the change has happened and you don’t need to do anything.

If you need a payments processor, now is a great time to take a look at QuickBooks Payments and call Peak Advisers at (303) 801-4772 to get started.

Beginning the week of April 12, 2021, deposits for bank transfer (ACH) payments will go to your account the next business day, according to Intuit.

It’s great news! No more waiting for days for your funds to be available.

• The processing fee for next-day ACH deposits is 1% (max $10) per transaction. Transactions below $1,000 will get a fee of 1% and transactions of $1,000 and above will be charged a flat fee of $10.

• Payments processed before 3:00 PM PT arrive at your bank the next business day (excluding weekends and holidays). Later payments arrive at your bank the business day after.

There's nothing you need to do—everything has been handled already.

Why is this happening?

Many of you have been asking us for faster funding options to help you better predict and manage cash flow. We've invested heavily in providing ways to make funds available faster and are now rolling out the benefit of next-day ACH to all QuickBooks Payments customers. The ability to access funds faster and automatically reconcile payments in QuickBooks can help you save time so you can focus more on growing your business.

QuickBooks tip: Use 'customer type' field for better tracking and reporting

It’s little used, but very powerful within QuickBooks. It’s the “customer type” field. This often overlooked field can add a whole new dimension to your QuickBooks customer data, according to QuickBooks expert Scott Greogry.

You can populate this field with selections that make sense for your business, rather than just accepting the default selections QuickBooks provides.

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Customer Type field in QuickBooks

Access the Customer Type database in QuickBooks by clicking Lists, then Customer and Vendor Profile Lists, then Customer Type List.

Once you start using the customer type field, it’s easy to begin filtering reports (i.e. sales reports) by the customer type categories you created.

Peak Advisers are the perfect folks to call for help making QuickBooks work better for your business.