QuickBooks Payroll Bulletin | December 2009

Reactivating Inactive Employees in QuickBooks

As the economy recovers, many employers may choose to rehire employees that they let go in earlier layoffs. Rehiring often proves to be a good option, because these employees already are familiar with the company culture and the job. Likewise, as the holidays approach and companies need additional help, they might turn to employees who were part of an earlier reduction in force.

If your company falls into these scenarios and rehires employees, you’ll need to make sure the employees are reactivated in QuickBooks and are part of your payroll process. Sometimes rehired employees may appear as active on the Employee List, but they cannot be paid through QuickBooks Payroll until the payroll system knows they have been rehired.

To reactivate an employee in QuickBooks:

1. In QuickBooks Pro and Premier: From the Employees menu, choose Employee Center.
   In Simple Start: From the Payroll icon, choose Go to the Payroll Center. Click the Employees drop-down arrow and select View/Edit Employees.
2. In QuickBooks Pro and Premier: Change the View to All Employees.
   In Simple Start: Right-click in a blank area of the employee list and choose Show Inactive Employees.
3. Double-click the employee's name.
4. In the Edit Employee window, choose Employment Info from the Change tabs drop-down.
5. Click the Employment tab (if you’re not already on it), remove the Release Date, enter the rehire date in the Hire Date field, and clear the Employee is inactive checkbox.
6. While you are in the Edit Employee window, verify the employee information in the Personal Info, Payroll and Compensation Info, and Workers’ Compensation (available with an Intuit QuickBooks Enhanced or Assisted Payroll subscription) sections accessed through the Change tabs drop-down arrow.
7. In the Payroll and Compensation Info section, add the employee to the appropriate payroll schedule by clicking the Payroll Schedule drop-down arrow and selecting the payroll schedule.
8. Click OK.

For more information, see the Knowledge Base articles “Rehiring (Reactivating) an Employee in QuickBooks” and “Reactivate a Terminated Employee.”