Set up your QuickBooks Time account in QuickBooks Online

Step 1: Launch your QuickBooks Time account

Note: QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium and Elite includes QuickBooks Time.

If you don’t have QuickBooks Time yet:

In QuickBooks Online, go to Settings.
Go to Account and Settings, then Billing and subscriptions.
Find QuickBooks Time, and select Learn more.
Choose if you’d like QuickBooks Time Premium or Elite, then add it to your subscription now, or start a 30-day free trial.

Then, you can begin the setup:

Go to the Time tab, and then Launch QuickBooks Time.

Information from QuickBooks Online automatically transfers to your QuickBooks Time account. There are only a few pieces of information you need to set up manually.

Step 2: Set up pay period and overtime settings

In the following steps, make sure the information you enter in QuickBooks Time matches what is in QuickBooks Online.

Set up pay periods

In QuickBooks Time, go to Company settings.
Select Payroll & Overtime, then Pay Period.
Select your pay period schedule and Save.

Set up overtime tracking

In QuickBooks Time, go to Company settings.
Select Payroll & Overtime, then Overtime.
Make your selections and Save.
If you need more detailed overtime policies, select Use Pay Rate Engine to configure more advanced overtime settings.

Note: If you have QuickBooks Online Payroll and your employee tracks overtime in QuickBooks Time, they need to have the overtime pay type set up in Payroll. Otherwise, their tracked overtime will not be exported accurately.

Step 3: Review payroll item and time mapping

Note: this option is only available if you have an active payroll subscription.

The payroll items you assign to each employee in QuickBooks automatically map to the matching time type in QuickBooks Time. For example: if you assign an “overtime” payroll item to an employee in QuickBooks, it will map to the “overtime” time type in QuickBooks Time.

Double-check the automatic mapping and make adjustments as needed, so time will transfer to payroll linked to the correct pay rates.

In QuickBooks Time, select the QuickBooks Payroll menu, then Preferences.
Under Other Options, select Payroll Item Mapping Tool.
On the Map Employees tab, choose an employee’s name.
In each hour type column, select one payroll item. Selections are saved automatically.

Step 4: Adding your team and time tracking options

Add new people to track time

When you add new employees or contractors to QuickBooks Online, they’re automatically added to QuickBooks Time. You can find them in My Team in QuickBooks Time.

Add other tracking options into QuickBooks Time

You can add additional options for your team members to track time against like Service Items, Billable Items, or Classes.

In QuickBooks Time, select the QuickBooks menu, then Preferences.
Make your selections:
- Customers & sub-customers: a customer selection is required on timesheets. You can assign these customers later. Note: Customers can be added or edited in either QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Time and the change will reflect in both places.
- Service Items: a service item selection is required on timesheets.
- Billable yes/no choice: mark timesheets as billable or not billable. Billable timesheets can be used when invoicing in QuickBooks.
  - Require billable yes/no choice: the billable choice is required before clock-out.
- Class: a class selection is required on timesheets.
Selections are saved automatically. Depending on which options you select, those items will import automatically from QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Time.