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Tired21
September 2, 2022
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PAYROLL TAXES NOT CALCULATING PROPERLY

  • September 2, 2022
  • 1 reply
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Q1 taxes collected by QB Desktop were incorrect.  Q2 taxes collected by QB Desktop were incorrect.  When I start a payroll check there is -2.00 in the federal column before I enter any hours.  I would guess that Q3 is going to be messed up also.  I have spent hours with payroll tech support and no one can admit there is a problem let alone attempt to fix it.

 

The office of the President phone number is no longer working.  I have no idea how to get level 2 or senior support and this is going to be a problem with Q3 taxes.  I'm so frustrated with QB at this point, I will be looking for another service.

Best answer by BigRedConsulting

RE: Q1 taxes collected by QB Desktop were incorrect. Q2 taxes collected by QB Desktop were incorrect. When I start a payroll check there is -2.00 in the federal column before I enter any hours.

 

I've never seen or heard of a "Federal column", but I'll assume you mean either Social Security or Medicare (or a different Federal tax that is a percentage tax)?  If so, then this is almost always caused because a user has overwritten the tax amounts on prior paychecks, forcing the tax to be out of balance YTD.

 

In your case, it means that the YTD tax is off by $2.00, when comparing the taxed wages for the tax to the tax amounts, cumulatively, YTD.

 

You can see if this has happened for the tax(es) in question by running the Payroll Detail Review report.  It will show you by employee and then by tax, and then by paycheck, the taxed wages, the actual tax withheld, the amount QuickBooks thinks is the correct amount, the difference between the two, and whether or not each tax amount was overridden by a user.

 

If the amounts were overridden, then that is the source of the issue. Resolve this issue by not doing that.

1 reply

BigRedConsulting
BigRedConsultingAnswer
September 4, 2022

RE: Q1 taxes collected by QB Desktop were incorrect. Q2 taxes collected by QB Desktop were incorrect. When I start a payroll check there is -2.00 in the federal column before I enter any hours.

 

I've never seen or heard of a "Federal column", but I'll assume you mean either Social Security or Medicare (or a different Federal tax that is a percentage tax)?  If so, then this is almost always caused because a user has overwritten the tax amounts on prior paychecks, forcing the tax to be out of balance YTD.

 

In your case, it means that the YTD tax is off by $2.00, when comparing the taxed wages for the tax to the tax amounts, cumulatively, YTD.

 

You can see if this has happened for the tax(es) in question by running the Payroll Detail Review report.  It will show you by employee and then by tax, and then by paycheck, the taxed wages, the actual tax withheld, the amount QuickBooks thinks is the correct amount, the difference between the two, and whether or not each tax amount was overridden by a user.

 

If the amounts were overridden, then that is the source of the issue. Resolve this issue by not doing that.

T
Tired21Author
September 5, 2022

This is the Federal Withholding in the Employee Summary section of the page where the payroll is entered.

I have attached a photo for you.  I have never altered any taxes manually, but I think QB miscalculated the taxes incorrectly and is now trying to make up for it.  My question is WHY IS QB MISCALCULATING THE TAX IN THE FIRST PLACE.  I used another system for many years and this never happened.  It is only happening since I started using the QB enhanced payroll.  There is no way to contact anyone other than basic tech support and they know nothing about this and how to correct it.  I would like to stop getting notices from the DOR.

BigRedConsulting
BigRedConsulting
September 5, 2022

Oh.  QB doesn't do any make up for Federal Withholding (FWH). There's no way to do it, mathematically because each check's tax is calculated in isolation, per the rules.

 

I'd guess that if you edit the employee record and review the federal tax set up, $2 is entered as an 'extra' withholding amount.  That's the only way I know to make this happen.

 

I didn't think you were referring to FWH, because with FWH there is no way to determine your original claim, that "Q2 taxes collected by QB Desktop were incorrect".

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