Paying Yourself

Posted on November 6th, 2007, by Meggin McIntosh

Question:

How do I pay myself?

Let me explain: For accounting purposes, I would like to deposit all the money I make from my services and products into my business checking account. However, I will need some of this money to pay my personal bills. What is the best way to do this?

I know that writing a check to myself is an option as is withdrawing money from my business account. But, how do I track this in Quickbooks Pro? Also, should I pay myself a specified amount of money each month or should I take out what I need?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Posted by Billy Simms | 11/6/07

Answer:

I would suggest that you ask your accountant (or call Sage International) for sure, but here’s what I do. Since I pay myself out of Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., which is an S-Corp, I am an officer of the company and that’s how I pay myself–as an employee. For the last 3 years, I have paid myself the same amount each month pretty much and if I have some at the end of the year to pay myself, then I do. But at the beginning, I didn’t pay myself the same because it kind of depended what I was able to pay. So you can vary it month to month.

In QuickBooks you can set yourself up as an employee (and I’d read the Help info on that or call your QuickBooksPro advisor to help you on this).

And good for you! The whole reason to be making money as a business is so you can get some out to pay yourself!