The Paycheck Setup wizard helps you enter all the income and deductions listed on your paycheck. Quicken uses this information in tax-related planners and calculators. 

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• W-2 income
• Deductions for state and federal taxes
• Pre-tax deductions, such as 401(k) contributions
• After-tax deductions, such as employee payments for health insurance
• Transfers to flexible spending accounts or employee stock purchase plans

If this is a new paycheck that you need to add to Quicken, you can follow an easy one-time setup to identify the appropriate deductions and transfers. If this is an existing paycheck that you still need to add deduction and transfer information for, then you simply need to edit the existing paycheck.

In most cases, you can use the same paycheck for as long as you stay with the employer. Each time you enter the paycheck in the register—or tell Quicken to enter it for you—the paycheck will include all the specified deductions. In the future, if there is a significant change in your paycheck amount or payroll deductions, edit the single paycheck to account for these changes.

Setting up tax-related accounts

In addition to your paycheck, consider adding these tax-related accounts.

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Primary checking

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Charitable and medical expenses

A primary checking account is where you pay most of your bills and record any tax-related transactions, such as paycheck deposits, charitable donations, medical expenses, and nonreimbursable work-related expenses.

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Non-tax-deferred investments

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Capital gains and losses

Add at least your non-retirement accounts—any investment account where you potentially pay capital gains taxes or write off losses.

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House

Mortgage interest

Use the House account and linked mortgage to track tax-deductible mortgage interest.

Set up a paycheck

• To set up a new paycheck, click the Planning tab, then click the Tax Center button if it isn't already open. Click Add Paycheck, then enter the information Quicken requests.
• To edit all future paychecks of a paycheck you've already set up, choose Tools menu > Manage Bill & Income Reminders, find the paycheck in the list, then right-click on the paycheck name and choose Edit.
• If you simply want to make a one-time change to a single paycheck instead, you should edit the paycheck in the register. (Optional)

Paycheck Setup wizard

Quicken displays the Paycheck Setup wizard the first time you add a new paycheck to Quicken.

• How much of your paycheck do you want to track?

  Think about how much tax planning you will want to do in Quicken:

  • Select Net amount if you're not interested using the tax planning features of Quicken, and you simply want to track your income and expenses. If this is the case, you can skip the rest of this Help topic, and see instead Create a bill or income reminder.
  • Select Gross amount if you plan to use the Tax Planner or create tax reports or import Quicken data into TurboTax. The rest of this Help topic explains what you will see if you decide to track your gross amount.
• Tell Quicken about this paycheck

  Identify this paycheck according to:

  • Whether it is yours or your spouse's. Quicken uses this information to determine which tax categories to use.
  • Company Name: Which employer issues it. This is to help you distinguish it from other paychecks that you may have set up in the same data file. Look for this name in your list of reminders, which can be found in many convenient locations in Quicken.
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In the Paycheck dialog

Quicken displays the following fields whether you're adding a new paycheck to Quicken or editing an existing one (for example, to add deduction information or modify a salary amount).

• Image Removed  Top of this dialog

  Confirm the information you've already entered:

  • Company Name: Which employer issues it. This is to help you distinguish it from other paychecks that you may have set up in the same data file. Look for this name in your list of reminders, which can be found in many convenient locations in Quicken.
  • Account: Identify the account you want to deposit this paycheck into.
  • Memo: Use this for notes.

  Tell Quicken how to enter this paycheck:

  At the top of the Paycheck dialog, if you don't see the Scheduling area, click the double arrows.

  • In the Start on field, enter when you're due to receive the next paycheck.
  • Select the appropriate option:
    • Select Remind Me if you want Quicken to prompt you to record the paycheck transaction. Select this option if you don't receive this paycheck on a regular basis.
    • Select Automatically Enter if you want Quicken to record the paycheck for you without prompting.
  • Enter the number of days in advance that you want Quicken to prompt you to record future paychecks, or automatically record them for you.
  • In the Frequency field, select the frequency that most nearly matches how often you receive this paycheck.

  Track Net Only / Track Deductions

  Click Track Net Only, and then click Done if you don't plan to do any tax planning in Quicken. Otherwise, continue entering deduction data in the following fields (click Track Deductions if you can't see the following fields).

• Earnings

  Quicken automatically includes a line for Salary. Enter the total (gross amount before deductions) in the Amount field. You can also make the following changes here.

  • If this paycheck includes multiple sources of income or earned time off, click Add Earnings to add a monetary earning (salary, bonus, profit sharing), or a time off category for which you're reimbursed (vacation, holiday, sick pay, other earning). Use the time off categories only if your paycheck requires them to calculate the total dollar amount.
  • To change an existing line item, click Edit.
  • To remove an existing line item, click Delete.
• Pre-Tax Deductions

  Quicken leaves this area blank until you add a line yourself.

  • Click Add Pre-Tax Deduction to add a tax-deferred or tax-exempt account (401(k), PERS/SARSEP/SIMPLE, flexible spending account for health-care expenses, flexible spending account for child care expenses), or an insurance category (medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance). You should use insurance categories only if your paycheck requires them to calculate the total dollar amount.
  • To change an existing line item, click Edit.
  • To remove an existing line item, click Delete.
  • If your paycheck includes reimbursement for work-related expenses, you can enter a negative adjustment as miscellaneous income.
• Taxes

  Quicken adds the common ones for you. In the Amount field, enter the appropriate amount.

  • Click Add Tax Item to add a payroll tax deduction (federal tax, state tax, Social Security (FICA) tax, Medicare tax, state disability (SDI) tax, some other tax that is withheld.)
  • To change an existing line item, click Edit.
  • To remove an existing line item, click Delete.
• After-Tax Deductions

  Quicken leaves this blank until you add an item yourself.

  • Click Add After-Tax Item to add an after-tax account contribution (employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), 401(k) loan, employer loan repayment), or some other after-tax category. You should use other after-tax categories only if your paycheck requires them to calculate the total dollar amount.
  • To change an existing line item, click Edit.
  • To remove an existing line item, click Delete.
  • If your paycheck includes reimbursement for work-related expenses, you can enter a negative adjustment as miscellaneous income.
• Deposit Accounts
  Identify the accounts into which you deposit this paycheck. Click Add Deposit Account to add an additional one if necessary. Do this if you have part of your paycheck automatically transferred to a savings account, for example.

Next Steps

Should I enter year-to-date information?

Notes

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