Subcontractor Accounts

Use Subcontractor Accounts for anyone who provides services to you.

HINT--The Goldenseal accounting software uses Subcontractor accounts for subcontractor invoices, job costing, time billing and accounts payable.

WORKING WITH SUBCONTRACTORS
When to Use Subcontractor Accounts | Hourly Subcontractors
Viewing Contacts | Using Subcontractor Accounts

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Accounting Software | Accounts Payable Software | Expense Tracking Software | Job Costing Software

When to Use Subcontractor Accounts

Some common types of Subcontractor Accounts:

Lawyers, accountants, architects and other professionals
Electricians, plumbers, painters and other construction subcontractors
Cleaning services
Temp agencies
Labor provided on a subcontracted basis

Subcontractor accounts and Other Cost accounts are very similar, and sometimes it's not obvious which you should use for a particular business. If you may be liable for worker's comp or other insurance, then consider them as a subcontractor. Otherwise it really doesn't matter which class you use.

Hourly Subcontractors

If you pay a person by the hour but don't withhold taxes or pay employer taxes for them, Goldenseal allows you to track their time as a subcontractor. However you should be careful to maintain all aspects of an "independent contractor" status for them, since you could be liable for back payroll taxes if the person is judged to be an employee. Generally an hourly subcontractor should comply with most or all of the following:

Give you formal written bills
Have a business name, advertising and/or other trappings of an independent business
Do work for other people
Determine their own hours and schedule
Determine their own method of doing work
Provide their own tools and equipment
Work on a task basis, and not under direct supervision
Pay their own worker's comp and liability insurance

Creating Subcontractor Accounts

To create a Subcontractor account, follow these steps:

Choose Subcontractors from the Accounts menu.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Enter details for the subcontractor.

QUICK SETUP HINT-- You only need to enter an Account Name. For check printing, also fill in Full Name and Address. For billing, fill in Payment Terms, Tax Rate and Credit Limit.

Data Fields

For each Subcontractor account, enter the following information:

Account Name-- Type in a short name for the account. This is the text that will be displayed in the Chart of Accounts and in pop-up menus.
Full name-- Type in the complete name for the account. This is the text that will be written on invoices, checks, and other printed documents.
Contact-- Type in the name of one or more contact people.
Address-- Type in the address to which payments are sent.
E-mail-- Enter the e-mail address.
Phone-- Enter phone numbers for day, evening and fax.
Tax ID Number-- If the account uses a Tax ID number, type it in here.
Comments-- Type in any comments you have about this account. You can enter key words here, to make it possible to find groups of accounts.

Created-- The date that the account was created is entered automatically. You may change this date so it will appear in different order, when the Chart of Accounts is viewed by date.
Record Number-- A record number is automatically assigned to the account.
Cost Type-- Use the pop-up menu to identify the cost type to which this account belongs.
Allow One Time Names-- Turn on this checkbox if you use this account for one-time subcontractors that you'll type in for each transaction.

Contact Buttons-- Click on the buttons to see contacts and invoices from this subcontractor.

Calculated Fields

Goldenseal shows three calculated fields:

Total Payables-- The amount that you currently owe to this subcontractor.
Paid On Account-- The amount you've paid on account to this subcontractor.
Retainage Amount-- The amount of deducted retainage owed to this subcontractor.

Status Field

Enter the current status of this account:

Active-- You currently do business with this subcontractor.
Inactive-- You don't currently do business with this subcontractor, but you may in the future.
Closed-- You definitely don't do business with this subcontractor any more.

Billing Setup

Click the Billing Setup button to enter billing and job costing info for this subcontractor:

Billing Setup
Usual Charge-- Enter the usual rate that the subcontractor charges you.
Usual Charge Amount-- If you entered a subcontractor charge with variable amount, type in this subcontractor's charge.
T&M Billing Rate-- Enter the billing rate that you use for this subcontractor's work, when making time and materials bills.
T&M Billing Amount-- If you use a subcontractor billing rate that uses a variable amount, enter the usual billing rate for this subcontractor.
Payment Terms-- Use the clairvoyant field to enter payment terms that are generally used for this account. By using a payment term that has a due date, bills due to this account are automatically included in the Pay Bills command.
Credit Limit-- If there is a maximum amount you can owe this subcontractor, enter the amount here.

Job Cost Setup
Category System-- Enter the Category System that you usually use when entering invoices for this account.
Job Cost Rate-- Enter the rate that you use for this subcontractor's work for job costing.
Job Cost Amount-- If you use a job cost rate that uses a variable amount, enter the usual rate used for job costing.

Other Setup
Withholding Rate-- If you need to collect backup withholding from this vendor, enter the withholding rate to use.
Income Tax Class-- Enter the cost category to use when classifying this vendor's purchases for income tax purposes. If you leave the field blank, they'll be included in the Material Purchases category.
Sales Tax Rate-- Enter the sales tax rate that is usually used for purchases from this account.

Include in Starter File-- Turn on the checkbox if you'd like to include this account when you create a new starter file .
Gets 1099-- If you need to generate 1099 forms for this account at the end of the year, turn on this checkbox.

Subcontractor Insurance

Click the Insurance Setup button to enter insurance info for this subcontractor:

If you are required to pay worker's compensation and/or liability insurance for your subcontractors, enter the expiration date for the worker's compensation and liability policies held by the subcontractor. If the subcontractor has no insurance, leave the fields blank.

If you must pay insurance for the subcontractor when their insurance is not in force, enter the percentage rates that you must pay.

Choose the method to use if the subcontractor is uninsured. You can enter any of the following:

Ask-- Goldenseal will warn you about the lack of insurance when you pay bills. You can then choose what to do with the bill.
Don't Pay-- Goldenseal will not pay the subcontractor when uninsured.
Pay anyhow-- Goldenseal will pay the full billed amount even if they are uninsured.
Deduct-- Goldenseal will subtract the percentage cost of insurance from the subcontractor. The withholding takes place when you use the Pay Bills command.

Income Tax Classes

Use the Income Tax Class field to identify expenses for income tax purposes. You can use any Cost Category for each material supplier, subcontractor and other cost account. If you don't enter a tax class, Goldenseal will include the expenses for this account under "subcontractors".

To make a report of income and expenses divided into tax categories, click here.

The income tax classes are a "quick and dirty" way to group expenses into categories that are good enough for tax forms. It lumps all expenses from each account into a single category. If you change the tax class for any account, it immediately changes the category of all expenses from that account.

HINT-- For more accurate expense tracking, use job costs.

Viewing Contacts

To view contact records for this subcontractor, click one of the buttons in the right side of the record layout.

Click View Appointments to see Appointment records for this subcontractor.
Click View Contact Log to see Contact Log records for this subcontractor.
Click View Document Log to see Document Log records for this subcontractor.
Click View Problem Log to see Problem Log records for this subcontractor.

Using Subcontractor Accounts

To enter subcontractor invoices, choose Subcontractor Costs from the Costs menu.

To pay bills to subcontractors, choose Pay Bills from the Bank menu.