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sognvalleyfarm
January 24, 2019
Solved

Additional states appeared in my payroll tax setup after changing employee addresses

  • January 24, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 0 views

In preparation for printing and mailing out my employees' W2 forms, I updated the mailing address of some seasonal employees who are living out-of-state. My business is in Minnesota and all of our operations are in-state. However, after changing those addresses in the Employee files, the two states where those employees are currently living (Oregon and Missouri) now show up in my payroll tax setup screen, and QB is prompting my to fill out tax ID numbers, UI account numbers, and tax rates for those states.

 

This doesn't make any sense. I do not operate in those states. I do not see any options to "Delete state" from my tax setup. QB will not let me proceed with any tax payments or returns until my tax setup is complete. The employment location for these employees is still listed as Minnesota.

 

As a test, I changed the employee address to something in Minnesota, and now that state disappears from the Tax Setup screen. But now the address for that employee is not correct.

 

So how do I include the accurate address for an employee without QB assuming that I also do business in that state?!

Best answer by Rasa-LilaM

Hello again, @sognvalleyfarm.


I’d be glad to clarify why QuickBooks is prompting you to finish the payroll setup for Oregon and Missouri.


When setting up payroll, you’ll have to enter the necessary details including the work location and employees’ addresses.


QuickBooks generates the forms and taxes to set up based on the employees’ residence and work locations. Oregon and Missouri appeared in the Payroll Tax Setup because the employees were initially set up under these states.


We want you to stay compliant with your tax regulations, which is why the software will require and prompt you to enter the information for each state. Even if the business and employees are in different states, some agencies have reciprocity agreements and may require employers to file and pay taxes for each one.


Since there isn’t a way to delete the incorrect states, you’ll have to complete the payroll setup. Just make sure to enter 0 for the rates and dummy account numbers


We take into consideration our customers ideas when improving QuickBooks features. If you’d like to have the option to bypass the setup, I suggest sending feedback regarding this directly to our Product Development Team for consideration in future updates.


To submit, go to the Gear icon in the upper right and selecting Feedback. I will also send this on your behalf, that way they’ll receive multiple suggestions of how beneficial this feature would be.


Since you’ll be processing W-2s, I’m adding an article will help you seamlessly file them: Process and file W-2 forms.


If there's anything else I can help you accomplish, or if you have more questions about the product. I'll be happy to assist you further. Have a great rest of your day.

 

3 replies

Angelyn_T
Angelyn_T
January 24, 2019

Hello there, @sognvalleyfarm.

 

Thank you for posting here in the Community. Allow me to help share information about adding address to the employee's profile in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

 

Once you add an address to the employee's information in QBO, QuickBooks will automatically wants you to set up taxes for the address/state you've added.

 

If you wish to add the correct/accurate address, you may need to set up the taxes completely just make sure to input zero (0) on the tax rate, Tax ID and UI account numbers.

 

For additional reference about changing employee details in QuickBooks, you may check this article: Change employee details.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions about changing employee address in QBO. I'm always here to help!

S
sognvalleyfarmAuthor
January 24, 2019

Why would QB prompt me for tax info for those states? Just because employee permanent addresses are out of state doesn't change that fact that they're working and paying taxes in Minnesota.

 

Is there something I'm missing? Because I can't believe QB would design the software this way, and force me to fill in zeroes in the state tax info field to get around it.

 

Is this a bug?

    R
    Rasa-LilaMAnswer
    January 25, 2019

    Hello again, @sognvalleyfarm.


    I’d be glad to clarify why QuickBooks is prompting you to finish the payroll setup for Oregon and Missouri.


    When setting up payroll, you’ll have to enter the necessary details including the work location and employees’ addresses.


    QuickBooks generates the forms and taxes to set up based on the employees’ residence and work locations. Oregon and Missouri appeared in the Payroll Tax Setup because the employees were initially set up under these states.


    We want you to stay compliant with your tax regulations, which is why the software will require and prompt you to enter the information for each state. Even if the business and employees are in different states, some agencies have reciprocity agreements and may require employers to file and pay taxes for each one.


    Since there isn’t a way to delete the incorrect states, you’ll have to complete the payroll setup. Just make sure to enter 0 for the rates and dummy account numbers


    We take into consideration our customers ideas when improving QuickBooks features. If you’d like to have the option to bypass the setup, I suggest sending feedback regarding this directly to our Product Development Team for consideration in future updates.


    To submit, go to the Gear icon in the upper right and selecting Feedback. I will also send this on your behalf, that way they’ll receive multiple suggestions of how beneficial this feature would be.


    Since you’ll be processing W-2s, I’m adding an article will help you seamlessly file them: Process and file W-2 forms.


    If there's anything else I can help you accomplish, or if you have more questions about the product. I'll be happy to assist you further. Have a great rest of your day.

     

    AmericanRV
    AmericanRV
    October 5, 2021

    I've had this problem for quite some time. My business is completely within Washington state. We're on the Oregon/Washington border and do have one employee who lives in Portland, OR -- but he works 100% in Washington state. So if anything these should be the only two states QB should want to deal with.

     

    But somewhere along the line QB added the State of WISCONSIN to our setup and keeps prompting me to finish setup. I've had a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with QB for over 11 years and this is the first time I've seen this issue. The reply saying you can't delete a state that has no business being in your company file is ridiculous, as is telling us to make suggestions to the company. NOTHING ever gets fixed. (I've been upset for a good 8-10 years when the search function was suddenly broken. QB stated it was taken down when a  security issue was found, that it would be back in the next update. Guess what? Still waiting ... I honestly question whether the programmers have actually ever been USERS of their product?)

     

    QB is really not user friendly, and depending on what version you use it can be quite expensive, especially when QB won't do what you need it to so you end up having to pay for third party add-ons. It's ridiculous.

      katherinejoyceO
      katherinejoyceO
      October 6, 2021

      Thanks for expressing your sentiments in this thread, @AmericanRV. I'm here to help make things clear about different states showing on your company.

       

      One of the reasons could be an employee previously added from that state is no longer active. Though, it will still appear on the account to make sure that data is accurate and intact. 

       

      We can verify by reviewing the Employee Details from the Reports menu and make sure to set the filters to All (All Employees, All Work Locations, etc).

       

      As long as there's no paycheck or any payment history for that employee, you can delete him so the state will no longer appear. Otherwise, the system won't allow us to remove them nor the state. In this case, you'll need to contact our Payroll Support team for further assistance. 

       

      Here's how to remove an employee in QuickBooks Online:

       

      1. Go to the Workers tab from the left menu.
      2. Select Employees.
      3. Choose the name of the employee on the Employees list. 
      4. Click Edit Employee, then hit Delete employee.
      5. Confirm by clicking Yes.

       

      For QuickBooks Desktop, follow these steps below: 

       

      1. Go to the Employees menu, then select Employee Center.
      2. Select All employees from the Active Employees dropdown to show both active and inactive ones.
      3. Select Delete Employee, then select OK to confirm.

       

      For your reference, check out this link to know more about making an employee inactive: Delete an employee's profile from payroll.

       

      Here's a link with articles about managing your payroll reports in QuickBooks Desktop and Online that you can use in the future: 

       

       

      I'd be here to listen and answer your next concerns. Have a great day ahead!

       

      M
      MFC23
      January 4, 2023

      This is very frustrating.  I've paid an additional $12/month for a year (yes my fault, I should have dug into the bill more frequently) because I updated the address on an inactive employee (she move to a new state) that was terminated in 2021 so that she would receive her 2021 W2.  I had no idea that from then on I would be billed for that state.  It also makes no sense that I would delete her record or enter an inaccurate address to this but it seems those are the only solutions to stop the extra fee.  I spent nearly an hour in chat with QB staff and land on that.  There's got to be a better way.  (The sales pitch in the middle of the support chat was an added bonus.)    

        C
        ckilpatrick
        March 23, 2023

        Is there still not a solution for this? Attempting dummy account numbers didnt even work for me in QBO. I had to manually change my employee's addresses to make this go away

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