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mchie1013
August 8, 2021
Question

Inaccurate display of the Medicare Tax (payroll tax) in the liability account

  • August 8, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 0 views

Hello! I am using QuickBooks Desktop 2019 and I've noticed that the Medicare Tax amount triggers two entries in my employee liability account; one negative and one positive. These two entries cancel out one another and is causing issues with the liability account balance.  I ran a payroll transaction detail report and I see that there are three items for the Medicare Tax  - one for the company expense account, and two for the employee liability account (the negative and positive amounts). The Medicare Tax does not populate the company liability account for some reason. I checked the payroll item list for discrepancies, but see nothing that would cause this. For awareness, I am using the manual payroll feature (no subscription). Thank-you in advance for your help!

2 replies

R
ReymondO
August 8, 2021

Hi there, @mchie1013.

 

Someone who has an access to your company file might accidentally create these entries. This can be the reason why your liability account balance shows an incorrect amount. 

 

To check, you can run the Audit Trail report to see who made these transactions and isolate the issue. Here's how:
 

  1. Click Reports at the top menu bar and choose Account & Taxes.
  2. Select Audit Trail.
  3. On the report screen, click Customize Report.
  4. Go to the Filter tab and search for Transaction type.
  5. Check who created the entry.

 

Once verified, you can double-click the transaction to open. Then, press CTRL+D if you want to delete it and click Yes to confirm. 

 

Additionally, you can go through these articles to help guide you in customizing a payroll report in QuickBooks as well as searching related articles for your future task:

 

 

If there's anything else you need, please let me know. I'd be more than willing to lend you a hand. Have a great day ahead.

M
mchie1013Author
August 8, 2021

Thank you for your response @ReymondO. This is not the case because we are a small company with two employees and I'm the only one that uses the company Quickbook file. When I review the payroll transaction detail report the entry (in error) takes me to the paycheck window. There I see only one entry for the employee deduction and another listed in the company summary. No duplicates.

G
Giovann_G
August 9, 2021

Hello, mchie1013.

 

I'm here to help fix the discrepancies on your liability account.

 

Let's ensure that your QuickBooks software is up-to-date to the latest release. Keeping it updated guarantees you'll have the latest features and fixes. Also, you can run the verify and rebuild tool to make sure that your company file is free from any possible data damage. I'll show you how.

 

  1. Go to the File menu, then hover over to Utilities.
  2. Select Rebuild Data.
  3. Click OK on the QuickBooks Information window, then follow the onscreen instruction to save a backup.
  4. It may take some time to repair your file. When the tool finishes, hit OK.
  5. Go back to the File menu. From the Utilities, select Verify Data.
  6. Let the tool check your file for data issues, if it doesn't find any problem, click OK.

 

You can refer to this article for more detailed information: Verify and Rebuild Data in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

In addition, you can review this material for more insights: Adjust payroll liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop. Here you can find the steps to fix incorrect liability balances.

 

You can post a reply if you have further concerns with managing your payroll tax. I'll be glad to help you again. Wishing you and your business continued success.

K
ksm1314
October 11, 2021

Just curious, did you ever get a solution to this?  I'm experiencing the same problem. 

JasroV
JasroV
October 11, 2021

Nice to have you joined this thread, @ksm1314.

 

I'll make sure you'll be able to view your Medicare Tax accurately in your liability account. 

 

Just to make sure we're on the same page, were you able to perform the troubleshooting steps shared by my colleagues above? If not, I recommend doing so to fix this issue.

 

If you have and the issue remains, I propose updating your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) and payroll tax table to the latest release. This way, we can guarantee all components are up to date and will calculate correctly. I'll show you how:

 

  1. Go to the Help menu and select Update QuickBooks Desktop.
  2. Click the Update Now tab. 
  3. Select Get Updates to start the download.
  4. Restart QuickBooks when the download finishes.
  5. Then accept the option to install the new release when prompted.

 

You can also utilize this link for more details: Update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release.

 

Then to update your payroll tax table, please refer to this article for guidance: Get the latest payroll tax table update.

 

Once everything is all set, feel free to check out these links for reference in supervising your payroll:
 

 

I'll be here to help you anytime with your payroll tax. If you need further assistance with it, you can always add it in your reply. Keep safe.

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