- Open Quickbooks desktop and click on the Lists menu and select Payroll Item List.
- Note: If payroll is not turned on in your Quickbooks file, then you will not see the Payroll Item List selection.
- Click on Payroll Item at the bottom of the screen, or simply select Ctrl+N.
- Select Custom Setup and click Next.
- Select Wage and click Next.
- Select Bonus and click Next.
- Enter a name for your new bonus item, such as simply “Bonus” and click Next.
- Enter the account for tracking this expense:
- Typically you can just choose the same “wages” or “salaries” account that you currently have set up in your payroll chart of accounts, unless you really want to track bonuses separately, then you would create a new payroll expense account for this.
- Click Finish.