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A
AlisonH1
January 5, 2021
Solved

Pension Contributions error?

  • January 5, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

Ran the payroll for December on 16 December, only just noticed an error. Two employees, one of the two payslips is absolutely fine. The other: gross pay £3,090 (same as previous month) but pension contributions show as £102.80 & £77.10 rather than the correct figures of £123.60 & £92.70. The 5% and 3% figures are correctly in the set up, nothing has changed from November when QB calculated the correct amounts. Have just tried running January's payroll and that is generating the incorrect amounts also. Any suggestions as to what's gone wrong? Only just noticed it when checking the NEST contributions were correct. Help appreciated.

 

Best answer by AlisonH1

Thank you for sharing the screenshots, @AlisonH1.

 

Since the pension is still incorrect even after that no changes have been made with the setup, I'd recommend contacting our Payroll Care Team. With their tools, one of our specialists can further look into what is the cause of the incorrect calculation of your pension.

 

To contact our dedicated support:

  1. Go to Help.
  2. Select Contact Us,
  3. Enter Incorrect Pension Calculation on the What can we help you with? field.
  4. Click Continue.
  5. Choose a channel where you wish to connect with our specialists.

 

Additionally, I've also included this reference for a compilation of articles you can use while working with us: Help Articles for QuickBooks Online Payroll.

 

If there's anything else that I can help you with, please let me know by leaving any comments below. I'll be here to lend a hand.


By playing around I've found the problem and publishing it in the hope it helps someone else encountering this.

 

In settings there is a tick box for Use Earnings Thresholds. It says "Earnings threshold - Use the latest defined earnings thresholds to work out when employees are auto enrolled in the pension."

 

There is no earnings thresholds that affect the % of contributions until earnings hit £50k but having this ticked means that QB appears to have changed the % in the ninth month of earnings at £3,090, with this box ticked. Having unticked this the figures are now correct. Have deleted and rerun December's payroll.

 

This makes no sense but perhaps needs looking at by QB.

1 reply

E
EmmaM
January 5, 2021

Hello AlisonH1, Are all the pensionable items ticked?

A
AlisonH1Author
January 5, 2021

Hi Emma, nothing has been changed in the setup from the previous month - which had the correct figures calculated. Not sure where items are ticked though as pensionable though - there is only one item, gross pay, no additions or deductions.

KlentB
KlentB
January 5, 2021

Thanks for keeping us updated, AlisonH1.

 

I'm here to help ensure that your pension contributions are accurate.

 

To isolate the issue, you can check the pensionable items from the Account and Settings. It could be that some pension pay types were not included in the calculation that's why the contributions are incorrect. When you're ready, here's how to do it:
 

  1. Click the Gear icon.
  2. Choose Account and Settings, then select Payroll.
  3. Go to the Pension pay types section.
  4. Make sure that to toggle the appropriate pension pay types so that they'll be included.
  5. Click Save to confirm the changes, then Done.

Additionally, here's an article that you can read to help automate the pension reporting in QuickBooks Online: Pension Scheme Setup.

 

I'm just a few clicks away if you have any other concerns or questions. Have a great rest of the day.

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