QuickBooks, or my continuing deal with the Devil.

I've been using QuickBooks Premiere Contractor Edition for 15 years. Every couple of years QB sticks it to you and makes you buy a new copy to keep the payroll and such working. It's that time again. It looks like they are trying to push everyone to their online pay by the month version or their subscription desktop version. Instead of costing $400 every 3-4 years, it's going to cost about $900+/year. The standard desktop version doesn't look like it tracks employee time anymore. 

My primary needs are receiving payments, invoicing, and payroll. 

Does anyone know of better software that is similarly priced or less expensive? 

If you are using the online version of QB, which one are you using and why.

Any input would be helpful. 

Thanks

I'm about to jettison QuickBooks 2014 into a fiery furnace for the same reasons. I just need to track money in/out though, no employees.

GnuCash is the FOSS option.

Also ran across this company on a job search, commercial software:

https://wagepoint.com/

I'm dealing with Quickbooks for lack of any other acceptable alternatives at the vet clinic.  Also using it as the treasurer for our BMW CCA chapter.

Their pricing is getting out of hand, especially for something small like my BMW CCA chapter.

I did convert to Online last year for the clinic.  For the bookkeeping side of things the transition was pretty painless and did bring some new features that I appreciate.

If you are having Quickbooks do your payroll, however, I'd suggest treating this as an opportunity to find another payroll provider, preferably a small local outfit.  That was a freaking nightmare.

In reply to Karacticus :

Quickbooks is used to keep up with the time and generate a pay stub. I have a local accountant that files everything monthly and handles the payments to the government. It works very smoothly. 

Karacticus said:

Their pricing is getting out of hand, especially for something small like my BMW CCA chapter.

Same problem here. I use it to run the books for our local auto journalist group. No payroll, just dues and event expenses. No way I'm paying hundreds of dollars a year just to create a monthly P&L report.

Can you turn off the internet connection and do your QB stuff?  I used an ancient QB version years ago, just ignored the requests for update.

In reply to porschenut :

I could, but I still get need the payroll updates for employee tax withholdings to generate the pay stubs. 

Hire a payroll service. Let them generate paystubs and calculate withholding. 
 

Revert time cards back to manual, or use a time clock. 

Your accountant should be perfectly capable of handling payroll. 

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

I am discussing that with them now. 

I'm interested in what comes out of this thread as I've been looking at options for myself.

Not sure if anyone has any experience with wave? It's essentially free, allegedly they make their money on credit card transaction surcharges and payroll services.

I'm still using a steam powered version from 2010, but I don't use it for payroll.  

Lucky me.

I use the 2020 premiere contractors addition stand alone.  I use a plug in called  Time Tracker for time cards / sheets that is a monthly sub but it is not to bad and works really well as it takes all the hourly stuff and seamlessly lets accounting generate invoices with the description of work done from the employees time card.  You of course have to look at what is typed as clients will see this. 

Payroll is handheld by a local payroll company. I just give them the hours for the employees and they take care of everything payroll related for me.  Worth the monthly fee of something like $50.  I can earn that back in 15 min of billable time to a client.  This is a case of spending $$$ to make $$$ and also reducing liability.  

In reply to dean1484 :

As near as I can tell, the ability to buy the software has gone away. They are forcing you to a subscription. To get the contractor edition, which is what I've been using, you have to get the QB Enterprise subscription for about $1600 a year. 

I will be spending some time tomorrow looking at what functions we really need and use and go from there. 

Disengaging payroll from bookkeeping and invoicing functions will take you a long way and give you many options and freedom. 
 

Payroll is QB's big hook. Once they've got you using their payroll system, you have no choice but to buy their updates. You have to to keep the tax tables current. They can charge whatever they want. 
 

Another note... accountants almost always have bookkeeping systems they can make available to their clients, often at no or low cost. They are basically giving you an access seat to their system (and it ends up being much easier for them).  They never use QB. 
 

The trick is you'd have to learn to use their software. 

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

The problem is I need more than basic accounting. I need invoicing, customer tracking, inventory control, credit card payments, and all the other mess that comes with having 1000 customers spread over dozens of tax areas and 3 states. We are a retailer as well as a general contractor, so we get to keep up with the sales tax collected from every customer. South Carolina alone has 10 pages of sales tax rates ranging from 6% to 9% depending on the county and city the customer is in and where we do the work. I also need the ability to generate estimates and keep up with 100s of those per year and be able to generate invoices from them without having to do double the work. 

My accountant is looking into options but so far, without spending $15k+, Quickbooks is about it unless you want some offshore brand software with zero support and questionable trustworthiness. She is pretty tied up with tax filings at the moment. We are supposed to have a sit-down after the deadline and go from there. 

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

Sounds like QB is serving you well. 
 

No sense in going through the additional learning curves. 

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

It does except the software kind of sucks. And now they want me to pay 3 times the price for it. Like I said, my deal with the Devil. 

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

Yep. 

Use QuickBooks for accounting, Gusto for payroll. 

I just wanted to drop by and say that I read this thread yesterday...and now all the YouTube ads are for QuickB00k$. So...thanks, I guess. 

Just curious, did you talk to anyone at Quickbooks directly?  Given that you have been with them for a long time, they may have standalone option available.

I have a friend that does accounting for a large number of clients.  He moved from QB to Xero, which integrates with bill paying software as well.  Swears easier to use than QB.