How can I add Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) payments to QuickBooks? Is it part of the payroll?

Hi camilla-akpirg-o!

The cost of living adjustment (COLA) is an annual increase in the amount of money that Social Security beneficiaries receive. Yes, it impacts payroll by requiring employers to increase your employees' pay by the same percentage as the COLA. This is because many employees' salaries are tied to the cost of living and will automatically increase with it.

You'll want to evaluate your employees to determine whether their salaries are tied to the cost of living and if so, make adjustments accordingly. You can refer to an accounting professional for this matter.

You can follow these steps to adjust your employee's wage in QuickBooks:
 

1. Select Payroll from the left-hand side.
2. Choose Employees and click on the employee's name.
3. Go to the How much do you pay [employee name]? section, then adjust the salary.
4. Click Done to save the changes.

For more information about COLA, please see the following articles:

• https://www.ssa.gov/cola/
• https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/colasummary.html

If you have other questions about how to handle Cost Of Living Adjustments in QuickBooks, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'll be happy to help.