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tracemetals
May 24, 2022
Question

401k Liability Discrepancy

  • May 24, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

I run payroll reports every week after payroll and use that information for filling out the form I submit for our 401K. When I go to make that payment, in Pay Liabilities, the check that populates has an incorrect dollar amount filled in and the amount in both categories are incorrect, employee deduction and company contribution. I correct it on the check, but I need to find out where it is miscalculating and fix that. Right now it shows that we have overpaid in both accounts.

 

The dollar amount deducted in each paycheck corresponds with the payroll report numbers. As does the amount of the company contribution.

 

I've attached an example

1 reply

C
Charies_M
May 24, 2022

You've reached the right place for help, tracemetals.

 

I'll make sure you'll be able to fix the discrepancies on your 401K liability in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Overpayment can be corrected by creating a liability adjustment. To start, I suggest you pull up a payroll report to view all outstanding balances that need to be adjusted such as the Payroll Liability Balances report.

 

Here's how to pull it up:

 

  1. Go to the Reports menu.
  2. Choose Employees & Payroll.
  3. Select Payroll Liability Balances.

You may also change the date and customize the report by adding the filter by item to show 401k amounts only.

 

Once you've reviewed and figured out the needed adjustment. you can follow the steps in this article to start making adjustments: Adjust payroll liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

You might also want to visit our help page to browse articles that can guide you with your QuickBooks tasks. To get started head to our QBDT help articles at this link.

 

I'm just a post away if you have any additional questions about doing the liability adjustment or anything about QuickBooks. I'm more than willing to help. Have a great day!

T
tracemetalsAuthor
May 25, 2022

Good morning,

 

Thank you for your reply, but I'm not sure you even read my question. It is not how do I make a liability adjustment, but how do I fix the discrepancy in the first place. If you even looked at the document that I attached you would see what is going on. I will make an adjustment after the originating issue is fixed, otherwise I'll be making an adjustment every week.

 

Doe anyone have a helpful suggestion?

M
Mich_S
May 25, 2022

I appreciate your efforts in trying to fix the discrepancies on your 401K Liability report, @tracemetals.

 

Let me share some insights on why Payroll and Liability reports don't match.

 

If taxes or payments are overpaid or underpaid, QuickBooks will auto-correct them. That's why the Payroll and Liability report, as well as the details on the Liabilities screen, may not always match.

 

To remove negative balances caused by deposits made through Make Deposit, do the following:

 

  1. Proceed to the deposit made under 'Make Deposits' in QuickBooks Desktop, copy the details, and then delete it.
  2. Recreate the deposit using Deposit Refund of Liabilities with the same deposit date. For directions, see Record a payroll liability refund check. If the report shows any unpaid liabilities (positive amounts), they must be paid using Pay Scheduled Liability or Custom Liability Payment.
  3. Correct liability payments made in Write Checks instead of Pay Liabilities if you selected Write Check or Bill Pay to make payments.
  4. Adjust payroll liabilities for further information on clearing non-payable obligations or payroll liabilities not paid to a third party, such as personal use of a business automobile or taxable group term life insurance.
  5. If you need to modify payroll liability to zero out the amount, choose Company Adjustment as your alternative to avoid affecting the year-to-date payroll data of your employees.

 

For more information about the fixes, see this helpful guide: Payroll Liability and/or Balance Sheet Report shows incorrect amounts for payroll liabilities.

 

Please keep in touch by replying to the thread. You can always count on us, we're here to back you up. Keep safe and have a good one!

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