How to Set up Direct Deposit in QuickBooks Payroll?

Don’t you just savour and enjoy that one day of every month – the Payday! However, variable ways of being paid like taking the checks to the bank or asking the teller for direct deposits might kill the vibe.

Now, on QuickBooks, employers, and employees get the benefit of the Direct Deposit option which helps you to have the access to your money with the help of electronic funds transfer medium that walks in straight into your respective bank account.

This article takes you on a detailed guiding journey that would help you to understand how to set up direct deposit in QuickBooks.

What is Direct Deposit in QuickBooks?

The direct deposit is the type of digital or electronic way of transferring funds from one account to another. In QuickBooks Payroll, you can easily pay your employees using the direct deposit. You can do it in their money market, savings, or checking accounts.

It is used to transfer the paychecks of employees easily without being physically there. With this you can send the funds from your account to the employee’s bank account. There are benefits for both the employee and employer for using the direct deposit.

Key Takeaways

Direct deposit makes it easier to keep thorough financial records.
Businesses can reduce employee hours in preparation and streamline their payroll processes by using direct deposit.
Employees and payees like direct deposit’s convenience and immediacy.
Eco-friendly office practice, direct deposit reduces costs associated with checks, printing, envelopes, and mailing.

Benefits of Using QuickBooks Direct Deposit

There are many advantages of using payroll direct deposit, both for the employer and employee.

• It Replaces Manual Processes: Manually processing compensation can be time-consuming and taxing for personnel. For large businesses paper check preparation takes time. With a more hands-off system direct deposit replaces the manual option.
• Direct Deposit Promotes Employee Choice: Staff or team members can often add bank account information for both checking and savings accounts when they choose direct deposit. Employees can take control of their financial situation by having money sent into savings automatically.
• It saves Money on Preparation and Postage: It can cost a lot to print actual cheques, send letters, and buy stamps. With the use of direct deposit services, it reduces postage, and unnecessary administrative expenditures .
• Eco-Friendly: Using less paper is an environmental decision as more businesses support green initiatives.

When Direct Deposit Used in QuickBooks?

The direct deposit is used in the various scenarios and that are as follows:

How Does QuickBooks Direct Deposit Work?

The employer transfers the paycheck using the direct deposit information of employees. After that your financial institution releases the funds into your account on the payday. The funds get transferred within 2 working days into the employer’s account. This digital fund transfer is easy and benefits both parties.

What is the Setting up of Direct Deposit in QuickBooks?

Before you straight away walk up to knowing how to set up direct deposit in QuickBooks, let’s just brush up a little on understanding what is a direct deposit.

Instead of taking your paycheck to the bank, the direct deposit would be transferring the respective amount in your bank account with the help of an electronic fund transfer. Using an electric network which is terms as an automated clearing house (ACH), direct deposits help in facilitating digital deposits between banks.

Because of a high dependency growing on digital mediums, almost more than a billion electronic payments are being recorded annually around the world.

Keep scrolling to understand the intrinsic value of setting up direct deposit in QuickBooks in the next section.

Why do You need to Set up Direct Deposit in QuickBooks?

Standing out to be one of the popular modern payment techniques, direct deposits come with a widely spread buffet of benefits. To start with, direct deposits in QuickBooks, you find a convenient way to welcome your tax refunds, unemployment pat, social security, and stimulus checks.

Seeing it from an employee perspective, direct deposit is an extremely helpful method to get your money in your bank account without facing the hassle of walking into a ban for the same. Due to a digitized process being in place, there is negligible or absolutely no paper/documentation required to set up direct deposits.

While, employers too, reap a lot of benefits from setting up direct deposits in QuickBooks. One of the primary benefits that can be highlighted in this discussion is that direct deposits help to avoid printing, writing, mailing, or reissuing paychecks to their employers, which incurs unnecessary costs.

It also saves a lot of time, with the added advantage of keeping things secured and unified under one platform.

Now that you are absorbing the perks of setting up direct deposit in QuickBooks, the following division would help you with the steps involved in it.

How to Set up Direct Deposit in QuickBooks?

This section will help you to understand how to set up direct deposits in QuickBooks via detailed steps.

What are the Steps to Set up Direct Deposit for Employees?

To set up direct deposit for employees, you have to first do the set up of company payroll for direct deposit, then get the authorization form, after that add the direct deposit for employees and you are done. The process is as follows:-

Benefits of Direct Deposit for Employees in QuickBooks

There are many benefits that employees get in direct deposit. The benefits are as follows:-

Before Setting up and Running QuickBooks Payroll Direct Deposit

If you have used QuickBooks Online to have a payroll in the past, adding direct deposit to your account only requires a few more steps. What you need to set up direct deposit is as follows:

• Your bank’s or financial institution’s name
• Routing number of your bank
• Your account number
• The names of the banks or financial institutions that your workers use
• Routing numbers for your employee’s banks
• Account numbers for your employees

You can set up a direct deposit as soon as you have these things. When setting up payroll in QuickBooks Online for the first time, it will prompt you to set up direct deposit.

Start by heading into Settings and selecting Payroll Settings if you have been processing payroll in QuickBooks Online but printing paper checks.

How to Set Up QuickBooks Payroll Direct Deposit

Your company’s basic information, including your company name, address, and employer identification number (EIN), as well as your employees’ banking information, including account and routing numbers, must be entered in order to set up QuickBooks Payroll direct deposit.

Step 1: Connect Your Business Bank Account to QuickBooks Payroll

Note: Before using QuickBooks Payroll’s direct deposit option, new users must finish the basic steps of account setup (following the instructions on the Overview screen). You must first provide payroll tax information and information about your current employees, such as name, address, and pay rate before you can enter the details of your business bank account.

You have two choices when it comes time to set up your direct deposit in QuickBooks. Simply click the Start button next to the Connect your bank task and choose Get Started to begin setting up QuickBooks Payroll. The process of entering (or confirming) bank account details and other setup requirements is then guided by QuickBooks.

On the other hand, you can start by going straight to the system’s Settings and clicking on Payroll Settings if your payroll account is already active and you have been processing paper checks.

Have all of your business and bank account information, including that of the principal officer, prepared for reference and easy verification.

QuickBooks Online Payroll

To QuickBooks, you will have to connect your business bank account. The set up screen will be displayed on your setup screen.

• Log in to your bank account online so that QuickBooks can connect to it more easily.
• Enter your business details, including your EIN. Then you have to click Next.
• Enter the details of the principal officer of your business, who is legally in control of the business bank account you wish to use, and who signs checks. The system will also ask you to provide their full name, birthdate, home address, and Social Security number.
• Enter the account details in QuickBooks. Although it currently has some bank information loaded, you can manually enter the information if your bank is not among the options.
• Now you have to click Accept and Submit, and then you have to click Okay.

If QuickBooks Payroll was Manually Connected to Your Bank Account…

It’s simplest to connect to QuickBooks by first signing into your account online, then letting the software take care of the rest. In this case, it can quickly verify the account, whereas a manual connection may cause it to take a few days. If, however, you were unable to find your bank or opted to manually enter the data, QuickBooks will require you to verify the connection.

Remember that QuickBooks Payroll uses a secure system for all of its processes to keep your data safe if you are connected manually because you are worried about providing your login information online.

• The system will send a test deposit transaction of less than $1 into your account within two business days to complete the setting of direct deposit in QuickBooks. To find out if the test transaction went through, you can call your bank and check your bank statement online. The statement will read Intuit: Verify Bank or QuickBooks: Verify Bank. In a few days, this transaction will disappear.
• An email will be sent to you asking you to confirm the test transaction. You will receive another email confirming the verification of your account once you have confirmed the amount.
• If you don’t get the email asking you to confirm the test transaction, you can still do it by logging into your QuickBooks Payroll account. For doing this we have several methods.
  • On the Overview screen, you can review your to-do list and then you have to click Let’s Go from the Check Your Account for Small Deposit and then Verify menu. After choosing to verify your account you have to enter and confirm the test transaction’s amount from your bank account.
  • On your Overview screen, you have to choose Settings, followed by Payroll Settings, if the verify account task is missing. Select Company from the list of Bank Accounts, and then you have to click Verify Account. Enter the test amount and then confirm the test amount.
• The test amount hasn’t been debited if you don’t get the option to verify your account. Restart this step, and Connect Your Business Bank Account, if needed. For help, you can also speak with the payroll support staff at QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Desktop Payroll

For customers of QuickBooks Desktop Payroll, the overall setup process for direct deposit in QuickBooks Online is the same. However, there are a few extra steps and a slight difference in the system’s menu and/or button selections.

For example, you would select My Payroll Service from the Employees menu, then Activate Direct Deposit to link your business bank account. From there, you add information about your company, the principal officer, and your bank account, exactly like you would with QuickBooks Online. The information must be manually added, though.

Where the procedure diverges from QuickBooks Online is at this point. You must use QuickBooks to connect to your account, which can require additional verification. Additionally, you must choose a PIN that will be used each time you complete payroll. QuickBooks Desktop will send a test deposit within two days, which you must confirm in QuickBooks, just like when manually entering account information using QuickBooks Online.

Step 2: Have Employees Authorize Direct Deposit for Their Pay

Direct deposit is only the first step in paying employees. You must also connect your bank account. The next step is to create their accounts. Two things are required for that:

• Their Account Information: In case they choose to split their money between multiple accounts, this also provides the account number and routing number of their bank account.
• Signed a Form Authorizing Payment to them via Direct Deposit: Each participating employee must sign a direct deposit authorization form, whether you are a QuickBooks Online Payroll or QuickBooks Desktop Payroll user. This is done for your protection because you are not legally allowed to send a paycheck to an employee’s bank account without their approval.

You can print and use a direct deposit form provided by QuickBooks, or you can create your own. Have each employee sign the document and include a voided check for each bank account they want their paychecks deposited.

Go to the Taxes menu and select Payroll Tax to view the direct deposit permission form inside QuickBooks Payroll. Select Employee Setup and Filings after that. Select Bank Verification next to Authorization for Direct Deposit. For employees who prefer to receive their pay via direct deposit, select View and print enough copies.

Step 3: Enter Employees Bank Account Details

QuickBooks Online Payroll

There are three ways to enter employee information: adding a new employee, updating it before processing payroll for a current employee, or having the person add their own information. No matter what method you use, make sure you have a consent form and that you triple-check the numbers. Inputting incorrect data can delay your employee getting paid on time.

• Firstly, you have to go to Payroll, and then you have to Add Employee. Make sure Self-Setup is disabled.
• As required add employee information. The name, Social Security number, contact information, and pay schedule must all be entered even though some sections are optional.
• Select Direct Deposit and enter the account number and bank routing information where it asks How Would You Like to Pay (employee)?

QuickBooks Desktop Payroll

You can access each employee’s staff record using the Employee Center to put up their QuickBooks direct deposit details.

• You have to click on Employee Center.
• Double-click the employee’s name.
• You have to click the Direct Deposit option after selecting the Payroll Info tab.
• Enter the bank account details for the account into which the money shall be deposited after choosing Use Direct Deposit. Always make sure the numbers match what your employee gave you and have a consent form that has been signed.

Step 4: Send Your First QuickBooks Direct Deposit

You can begin sending electronic payroll deposits once your business bank information has been verified and all of your employees’ information has been uploaded into QuickBooks Payroll. Depending on the plan you choose, you can receive deposits the same day or the day after.

You still need to understand the basics even though a payroll service provider might make paying your employees more simpler.

What Sets QuickBooks Payroll Direct Deposit Apart

Although a direct deposit feature is offered by many payroll software companies, most of them typically have a two- to four-day processing time. This means that you must start the payment process two to four days prior to the employee receiving it. Depending on the plan you select, you can send same- and next-day direct deposits with QuickBooks Payroll at no additional cost; no prior approval is required.

You might be set on a five-day direct deposit schedule by QuickBooks, though. If so, you must manually request a faster time by providing six months’ worth of financial data. If your payroll exceeds your direct deposit limit, such as for holiday bonuses, you could also need a five-day direct deposit plan. You can speak with your QuickBooks representative in these cases.

How to Activate Direct Deposit in QuickBooks Payroll?

You can use Direct Deposit to pay your employee payroll when using QuickBooks Desktop. Processing employee payments in QuickBooks requires that Direct Deposit be activated. Direct deposit service activation in QuickBooks might occasionally result in bank mistakes and problems. To activate the Direct Deposit in QuickBooks Desktop, our qualified Pro-Advisors have created a step-by-step tutorial.

What are the Steps to Activate Direct Deposit in QuickBooks Desktop?

You must first sign up for direct deposit in order to activate it. The following are some requirements that are necessary to sign up:

• Any version of the QuickBooks Desktop Software that Accepts Direct Deposits.
• Active QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Subscription
• IRS Taxpayer Identification Number (EIN).
• An internet connection and a bank account for handling Automated Clearing House (ACH).

To Sign up for Direct Deposit Follow the below Steps:

• To activate direct deposit in QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Go to My Payroll Services from the Employee menu, Select Activate Direct Deposit, and then fill out the review form.
• Entering your zip code without the extension is the next step.
• After reading Check, Which states that you have read and agree to the terms of the service agreement, Click View agreement? Then, Click the Sign up button.
• Print the Direct Deposit Getting Started Guide at this time.
• To return to QuickBooks, Click the button.
• Now follow the Getting Started with Direct Deposit Guide.

Are There Any Downsides to Direct Deposit?

Of course, the direct deposit has a few drawbacks. Some business owners experience a loss of control and the loss of personal satisfaction they get from writing a check to an employee at the conclusion of a pay period. As your company expands, it’s important to embrace change and anything that helps simplify your operations and boost efficiency.

Although implementing direct deposit has many benefits, there are a few drawbacks to take into account.

• Potential Overdraft Fees: To guarantee that there is sufficient money for each payment, careful management and upkeep of the payroll bank account or savings account are required. Overdraft fees are always the payer’s obligation, not the payee’s.
• Lack of a Stop Payment Option: You cannot halt an electronic transfer once it has begun, unlike real paper checks. Any errors must be fixed after the deposit has cleared.
• Employees Changing Banks Must Restart: The majority of people find this to be a small inconvenience, but each time an employee wishes to move or change their preferred account, a new authorization form is necessary.
• Possible Banking Security Risks: Although ACH is a safe method, collecting account and routing details is a sensitive process. To prevent unwanted access to account information, it’s important to handle this data carefully and securely.
• Fees and costs: When using direct deposit, you must have a dependable provider who makes regular transfers into your bank or credit union. This service requires administrative outlay. The cost of an ACH transfer may include banking fees as a tiny percentage of the payment, in addition to the charges of the software and payroll provider. Businesses should be aware of these costs in order to keep correct accounts even though they are little, ranging from a few cents to a few dollars per check.

With the help of this blog, you can easily set up and activate direct deposits in QuickBooks and how to set up direct deposits in QuickBooks. All the information related to direct deposit is mentioned below. In case you still face any issues related to this then you can call the help desk. The help desk team is available round the clock for their users.

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