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Deadwood Al
March 11, 2025
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Payroll liability adjustment

  • March 11, 2025
  • 1 reply
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Almost feel silly asking this ... I have some minor ... really minor ... amounts in local payroll tax liabilities, and I've been looking around trying to use adjust payroll liabilities to clear them.  Without success. Seems like the terms I use to seek information is not at all the terms QB uses.

 

I was assuming that if I entered an adjustment for a specific liability in the opposite direction of the liability balance the liability would be cleared, but that doesn't seem to be happening.   

 

Let's say that a liability has a $.01 balance and should be zero.  Since that is a liability, I assume it is a credit balance. So if I enter a debit .01 it should net to zero ... no? It then says $.02, so I modify the adjustment to a credit, and then it says $.01 again. What am I missing? What is the secret to this?  It's almost as if I've been drinking too much without any of the benefit of getting hammered!!!

Best answer by EmanE17

I know the possible reason why the amounts have not been cleared out on your Pay Liabilities tab, Deadwood Al. Let me elaborate on it in detail.

 

When dealing with payroll liability adjustments, you need to enter the amount as a positive number if its value needs to increase, and as a negative number if it needs to decrease. Since you need to clear the amount, you should enter it as a negative number.

 

Here's how:

 

  1. Open your QuickBooks company file.
  2. Go to Employees, then Payroll Taxes and Liabilities. 
  3. Select Adjust Payroll Liabilities.
  4. In the Date and Effective Date fields, select the last paycheck date of the affected month or quarter.
  5. Tick the radio button for the Company under the Adjustment is for.
  6. Under the Item Name column, select the payroll item you want to adjust.
  7. Enter the Amount of the adjustment as a negative to clear out the liability amount in the Pay Liabilities tab.
  8. Once done click OK and select Accounts Affected, then OK.

 

For more detailed information, you can check this article: Adjust payroll liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

 

In QuickBooks, you can schedule payments and write checks for benefits and deductions for plan administrators. This includes items like 401(k) contributions, insurance premiums, and garnishments. This feature helps ensure that your bill payments are timely and organized for future reference. For more information, please visit this article: Pay your non-tax liabilities in QuickBooks.

 

I'm still ready to back you up if you need more help with payroll. I'll keep the thread open so you can comment back.

1 reply

E
EmanE17Answer
March 12, 2025

I know the possible reason why the amounts have not been cleared out on your Pay Liabilities tab, Deadwood Al. Let me elaborate on it in detail.

 

When dealing with payroll liability adjustments, you need to enter the amount as a positive number if its value needs to increase, and as a negative number if it needs to decrease. Since you need to clear the amount, you should enter it as a negative number.

 

Here's how:

 

  1. Open your QuickBooks company file.
  2. Go to Employees, then Payroll Taxes and Liabilities. 
  3. Select Adjust Payroll Liabilities.
  4. In the Date and Effective Date fields, select the last paycheck date of the affected month or quarter.
  5. Tick the radio button for the Company under the Adjustment is for.
  6. Under the Item Name column, select the payroll item you want to adjust.
  7. Enter the Amount of the adjustment as a negative to clear out the liability amount in the Pay Liabilities tab.
  8. Once done click OK and select Accounts Affected, then OK.

 

For more detailed information, you can check this article: Adjust payroll liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

 

In QuickBooks, you can schedule payments and write checks for benefits and deductions for plan administrators. This includes items like 401(k) contributions, insurance premiums, and garnishments. This feature helps ensure that your bill payments are timely and organized for future reference. For more information, please visit this article: Pay your non-tax liabilities in QuickBooks.

 

I'm still ready to back you up if you need more help with payroll. I'll keep the thread open so you can comment back.

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