Payroll GL Import is for companies whose payroll runs through QuickBooks’ own Payroll feature — QuickBooks doesn’t let TBA pull the underlying paycheck numbers automatically, so this turns your payroll totals into a proper General Ledger entry, one per pay period.

This assumes every period you enter has already been fully paid and settled (normal for historical data) — it does not track any payroll tax liability still owed.

Getting the Numbers from QuickBooks #

1. In QuickBooks, go to Reports → Employees & Payroll → Payroll Summary.
2. Set the date range to one pay period (or one month) at a time, and run the report.
3. Find Total Gross Pay (sometimes just “Gross Pay”) — use this for Gross Wages. Do not use Net Pay, which would make the entry unbalanced.
4. Find Total Employer Taxes and Contributions — only the taxes your business pays, not what’s withheld from employee paychecks (already included in Gross Wages).
5. If your payroll includes costs you pay on employees’ behalf (401(k) match, employer health insurance share, etc.), total those for Benefits. Leave at $0 if not applicable.

Entering the Data #

Choose Enter amounts by hand or Upload an Excel file for each period. Select your Wage Expense, Employer Payroll Tax Expense, and (optionally) Benefits/Other Expense accounts, then add a row per pay period with its date, gross wages, employer taxes, and which bank account it was paid from. Click Post Payroll Entries when ready.