Tablets and smartphones are being used for numerous business computing tasks that used to be owned by the desktop. Payroll is one of them.
If you’re responsible for your company’s payroll, it may have happened to you. You waited until the last minute to process the current batch of checks and direct deposits, and you came down with the flu. If you haven’t cross-trained an employee to fill in, what do you do? You probably drag yourself to the office and do it.
There’s a better option. Intuit Online Payroll Mobile is available for both the iPhone and iPad (as well as for the Android operating system). This gives you tremendous freedom; you can do payroll tasks anytime and anywhere.
You’ll need to do your setup from the Intuit Online Payroll site through your browser (which you can also do on a mobile device). But once that’s done, you can pay employees and payroll taxes, as well as viewing pay history and personal employee information.
The opening screen of the iPad version of Intuit Online Payroll neatly displays your options. Click on one to go to its working screens.
Both the tablet and smartphone versions of Intuit Online Payroll are easy to use. But payroll itself is very complex. If you’re just getting started paying your employees, it’s highly advisable to take a QuickBooks course.
Dual Options
Intuit Online Payroll Mobile comes in two different versions. The Basic version is quite simple: It allows you to pay employees via check or direct deposit.
Enhanced, on the other hand, lets you also pay contractors and e-file the federal and state taxes that Intuit Online Payroll has calculated for you, even from the smartphone versions. And at the end of the year, you can prepare and e-file W-2 and 1099 forms.
This screen from the iPhone version of Intuit Online Payroll Mobile shows that you can even see the details of a paycheck on your smartphone.
Intuit Online Payroll Mobile does not contain all of the features of QuickBooks desktop payroll products. For example, you can’t track time or run reports or export data to Excel and Word. But if you’re using the browser-based version of Intuit Online Payroll – with or without QuickBooks – it’s an excellent companion app.
Running a payroll is easy. You just click on the Payday icon on the opening page. Select a name from the list of employees and contractors, and a screen like this appears:
In this screen from the iPad version of Intuit Online Payroll Mobile, you can see how easy it is to pay employees and contractors.
Enter the hours worked, and Intuit Online Payroll Mobile does all of the calculations necessary to create a paycheck. You can preview checks, and then click Approve to finalize the payroll run.
These mobile apps make payroll look easy, but QuickBooks training will help ensure that you’re in compliance with taxing agency regulations – and that employees are paid properly.
Hector Garcia
Accountant and Enrolled Agent
Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor
Member of Intuit Trainer/Writer Network & Accountant-VIP
