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CarlaF
July 23, 2021
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How to refund withheld garnished wages to employee

  • July 23, 2021
  • 1 reply
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Our company has been withholding child support payments from one of our employees. However, since switching to QuickBooks Payroll from ADP 3 months ago, we have not remitted those payments to the state. We have just been collecting that money in a garnishment liability account.

 

We recently received a notification stating his child support case was terminated and that his account has already been paid in full. So, now we have about $1500 sitting in the garnishment liability account that we need to return to the employee. 

 

How can we return this to him so that it reflects correctly on his YTD totals for garnishment on his paycheck?

 

I read an article on here stating that while preparing his paycheck, we should choose the same deductions account that we use for the regular garnishment and instead put a negative number in that field. I tried that but it would not let me continue. It gave me the following message:

 

Looks like some of your pay items are incorrect. Please fix the highlighted areas before you continue.

 

Is there any way to do this?

Thanks for any help.

    Best answer by Mark_R

    Thank you for responding Rose. I was able to write a check and reduce the garnishment liability account so that it shows accurately on the balance sheet.

     

    However, my concern is that on his paychecks going forward, he will see the original amount of garnished wages in the YTD totals section. That YTD amount was not reduced when I wrote the check to refund the garnished wages. Is there a way to fix that?

     

    Thanks for your help :)


    Thank you for getting back to us and clarifying your concern, @CarlaF.

     

    I want to make sure you can record a refund to your employee's wage garnishment correctly to show the total amount of YTD on his paycheck. I'd like to redirect you to the best support group available to get this addressed right away.

     

    Since QuickBooks Online (QBO) doesn't allow you to enter the negative amount on a paycheck, you'll have to write a check to reduce the employee's wage garnishment. However, considering that writing a check to refund the garnished wages didn't reduce the YTD amount, I suggest contacting our QuickBooks Payroll Team. One of our live agents can help correct the garnished wages on an employee's paycheck. To reach them, please follow the steps below:

     

    1. Sign in to your QBO account.
    2. Click the Help button.
    3. In the QuickBooks Assistance chatbox, select Talk to a human and choose I still need a human.
    4. Select Contact Us.

     

    You can also check out this article for another way of reaching out to our support team and its support hours: Contact Payroll Support.

     

    You might also want to learn more about the basics of payroll processing in QBO. Here's an article you can read for more details: Payroll tips for small business owners.

     

    Our doors are always open to help you again if you have any other concerns or follow-up questions processing payroll. Have a great day ahead.

    1 reply

    Rose-A
    Rose-A
    July 23, 2021

    Allow me to help and share some information regarding refunding an employee's wage garnishment in QuickBooks Online, CarlaF.

     

    QuickBooks Online doesn't allow you to enter a negative amount for a deduction pay type. This is the reason why you're getting the "Looks like some of your pay items are incorrect. Please fix the highlighted areas before you continue." error.

     

    To refund your employee, you can write a check and choose the garnishment liability account where the money is sitting. Here's how to create a check:

     

    1. Click + New in the left panel and select Check.
    2. Choose the Payee (Employee) from the drop-down ▼.
    3. From the Bank account drop-down ▼, select the account the check withdraws money from.
    4. Complete the check fields you need.
    5. Select the Print check option if you want to open the check queue to print now. Or select the Print later checkbox if you want to print the check later.
    6. Select Save and close to close the check window. Or Save and new if you need to create another check. Note: If you choose a save option, this adds the check to your bank register, but only sends it to the print queue if you select Print later.

     

    To help you manage your payroll preferences and other payroll accounts, check out the following articles: This will provide you steps on how to change your posting accounts for payroll transactions as well as a sample breakdown of a paycheck.

     

     

    Please let me know in the comment section if you have any other issues or payroll concerns. I want to make sure everything is taken care of for you. Have an amazing weekend!

    Rose-A
    Rose-A
    July 24, 2021

    Hi, CarlaF.

     

    Hope you're doing great. I wanted to see how everything is going about refunding employee's wage garnishment. Was it resolved? Do you need any additional help or clarification? If you do, just let me know. I'd be happy to help you at anytime.

     

    Looking forward to your reply. Have a pleasant day ahead!

    C
    CarlaFAuthor
    July 29, 2021

    Thank you for responding Rose. I was able to write a check and reduce the garnishment liability account so that it shows accurately on the balance sheet.

     

    However, my concern is that on his paychecks going forward, he will see the original amount of garnished wages in the YTD totals section. That YTD amount was not reduced when I wrote the check to refund the garnished wages. Is there a way to fix that?

     

    Thanks for your help :)

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