I need to create a W-2 for an employee who worked the 1st QTR 2021. How do I create a paycheck for this employee during the time they worked or manually create a W-2?

Welcome to the Community, @kennethshumate. I'm happy to address your concern about creating a paycheck for your employee who worked on the first quarter of 2021.

You have the option of setting up a prior payroll for your employee in QuickBooks Online. You’ll enter their past pay details if you’ve already paid them this calendar year. This is to ensure that all year-to-date (YTD) totals on your employees' pay stubs going forward report the appropriate W-2 information at the end of the year.

Here's how:

1. Select Start to enter Employee names.
2. Enter employee info, then select Continue.
3. Select Start in the Taxes column to complete Federal and State tax set up.
4. Select Start to start adding Prior Payroll. Select your answer to the questions that follows.
5. Enter prior payroll details for each employee you’ve paid in 2020. Please know that based on the signup date and the date you started paying your EEs, you need to complete the following YTD totals. These are broken down per pay type, tax type, or deductions and contributions.
6. After entering prior payrolls to all employees, select Done with Employee Totals.
7. Select Company Payroll Totals. These are the total payrolls of employees you paid, broken down per pay date. Select Continue.
8. Enter YTD totals for Company-paid Taxes, and select Continue.
   
   

I've also added an article you can refer to for more details: Set up prior payroll for Intuit Online Payroll.

Additionally, I would recommend contacting our Payroll Support team if you need further assistance with this process.

You can also check these articles about W-2 which you may find helpful:

• File your W-2 forms.
• Print your W-2 forms.
• Get answers to your W-2 questions.
  
  

 Stay in touch if you have any other questions or concerns about payroll. I’ll be right here to answer them for you. Enjoy the rest of the day.