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Recording Payroll in Accounting


Though ChurchTrac is NOT a church payroll platform, you still need to enter your final payroll numbers into the Accounting screen to track your church's finances properly. Watch the video above and follow the below steps for recording payroll. (United States only)

  • Create Your Categories
  • Budgeted vs Non Budgeted Categories
  • Create Your Payees
  • Create a Transaction
  • What About Recording My Quarterly 941?

Step 1: Create Your Categories

Create your Budgeted and Non-Budgeted Payroll Tax Categories with the following sub-categories in the accounting screen:

Non Budgeted Payroll Categories
Budgeted Payroll Categories
State and Local withholdings depend on the state you are located in. Your Payroll Taxes parent Category must be an expense with the "General Fund" as your Default Fund.

Budgeted vs Non Budgeted Categories

When setting up categories for payroll, it's important to distinguish between budgeted and non-budgeted items. Budgeted categories will have allocated amounts in your budget, while non-budgeted categories are used only for tracking purposes and not included in your budget. Learn more about Budgeted vs Non Budgeted Categories ›

Step 2: Create Your Payees

Create a Payee for each employee using your main payroll category, followed by the additional payroll taxes you created in step 1. Be sure to mark the Transaction Type as an expense as well.

Church Payroll Payees

The amounts you enter are based on the calculations made by your payroll platform. Your top payroll category will be a positive number, while the taxes will be listed as negative.

Step 3: Create a Transaction

Create an accounting transaction on your checking account from your saved payee. Be sure to verify the amounts with your payroll platform for non-salary employees, as those amounts may change for each paycheck.

Church Payroll Transaction

What about Recording my Quarterly 941?

Create a Payee for your Quarterly 941 to make recording your IRS payments quick and easy. We recommend leaving the amounts as "0" since your amounts will likely vary from quarter to quarter.

Church Payroll IRS
This payroll information is provided to help educate and inform you on using ChurchTrac Accounting. We always recommend seeking the advice of a licensed CPA for Church Accounting, Payroll, and Taxes.
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