Mileage Reimbursement

I reimburse employees for business usage of their vehicle. How do I handle that?

Goldenseal payroll software lets you reimburse employees for business use of vehicles, similar to reimbursements for purchases that they make for business use.

Setup for Mileage Reimbursements

If you give frequent mileage reimbursements, set up a cost account for the reimbursements, so you can more easily track them. You can use Material Purchases, Subcontractors or Other Costs for this expense.

HINT-- Don't use an Equipment account as a source for reimbursements, since Equipment Hours records don't include a method of payment (they are designed for your equipment, not other people's).

To set up a reimbursement account, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Material Suppliers, Subcontractors or Other Costs from the Accounts menu.
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Fill in details for the account.
  4. Hit the Enter key on your keyboard to save the record.

If you use a Subcontractor account to track reimbursements, you can use a Subcontractor Charge Rate to calculate the mileage reimbursement rate. To set that up, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Cost Setup from the Costs menu, and choose Subcontractor Charges from the submenu.
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Fill in your reimbursement rate per mile or kilometer.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Choose Subcontractors from the Accounts menu.
  6. Locate the reimbursement account you created earlier.
  7. Click the Billing Setup button.
  8. Fill the reimbursement rate into the Usual Charge clairvoyant field.
  9. Click OK.

HINT-- Other Costs are probably the most logical place to put travel expenses, but you may prefer to use a Subcontractor just so it is easier to convert miles or kilometers to dollars.

Entering Employee Mileage

To enter employee mileage, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Material Purchases, Subcontractor Costs or Other Costs from the Costs menu (depending on where you are tracking the expense).
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Enter the reimbursement account into the Supplier or the Subcontractor field.
  4. If using a Subcontractor Cost, enter the mileage. Otherwise, enter the dollar amount of the reimbursement. HINT-- in a Material Purchase or Other Cost, you can use a Category or Items breakdown to show the specific mileage for multiple items.
  5. Enter job cost information (you can cost the mileage against overhead, or a specific Project account).
  6. In the Payment Method field, choose Employee Reimburse.
  7. Enter the employee into the Details field.
  8. Click the Enter key to save the record.

Goldenseal automatically creates a Payroll Record that covers the money that you owe to the employee.

Reimbursing

The next time you write paychecks, Goldenseal will automatically include the reimbursement in with the paycheck.

To write a separate check to reimburse an employee for their expenses, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Checking Transactions from the Bank menu, and choose an account from the submenu.
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Enter Employee into the Pay To popup field.
  4. Enter the employee into the Account field.
  5. Click on the Breakdown popup on the left side of the window and choose Payroll.
  6. Goldenseal will fill in all of the reimbursements, along with any regular payroll that has not yet been paid.

Click here to return to payroll topics.
Click here for general information about Goldenseal payroll software.

Topics | Previous | Next | Payroll Info | Getting Started Manual | Reference Manual | Site Map | Website