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Loret4ODA
January 8, 2019
Question

Social Security wages too high- cant print W-2

  • January 8, 2019
  • 9 replies
  • 33 views

I am trying to print out w-2's and get error code for Soc Sec wages and tax withheld as too big.

My tax setting are at $132900 and 6.2%, so why would one employee have Soc Sec wages at 134026.17 and Tax withheld be at 8309.62  creating this error and how do I fix?

I have already e-filed  in the taxes. 

9 replies

Anonymous
January 8, 2019

This can be a result of manually overriding wages on an adjustment after creating the last payroll, or from data damage in the file related to the hidden YTD records used to calculate each new paycheck.

 

Verify your company file to find out if the YTD records are damaged for this employee.

Rebuild it to fix that.

Access both of these options from the File | Utilities menu.

 

In order to fix the data, now that this has happened, you'll need to enter two transactions in QB:

1) A payroll liability adjustment for the employee one or both of the SS taxes (depending on which are wrong) for both wages and taxes.

2) A standard bank check for the over-withheld taxes, written to the employee to give them their money back.

Use the same expense account as the offsetting account for both transactions, which will cancel each other out.

 

Loret4ODAAuthor
January 9, 2019

Let me further clarify my issue as I understand it:

The max amount Soc Sec wage base for 2018 should be 128400 and it appears to me that QB has "allowed" or calculated the SS wages over that amount and deducted SS taxes for higher than max amount as well-therefore I get an error that this Box # 3 SS Wages and #4 SS Tax withheld are too big and I cannot continue to print out W-2's with these numbers too high- But the SS wages have  already been paid on the higher amount. I dont know how to change so that I can print out my W-2's..

MaryGraceSModerator
Moderator
January 10, 2019

Hello there, @Loret4ODA.

 

Thank you for the quick response. Allow me to add some information about how the employee's total wage base has exceeded the annual limit and how to correct it.

 

The payroll wage and tax calculations are derived from the payroll data and transactions you entered in QuickBooks Desktop. As what @197905 mentioned, this can happen if there are changes or adjustments made, causing incorrect wage and tax amounts on tax forms.

 

To fix this, you need to enter the wage base and tax adjustment to correct the employee's quarter or year-to-date totals. Additionally, if you have excess Social Security taxes paid-in, you'll claim the excess as a refund on Form 1040, Line 67.

 

The following articles contain additional information about this, as well as steps, to make the corrections:

If you need to reach out for more assistance, our phone agents will be able to help you get to a resolution quickly. They can use the screen sharing tool to guide you through the steps and help you get back to business in no time.

 

Here's how:

  1. Go to https://payroll.intuit.com/support/contact/?infosrc=qs&service=16.
  2. At the top right, select your Payroll Subscription type.
  3. Click Payroll.
  4. Click on the View Contact Info button to get their contact number.

These resources should help to get you on the right track for correcting the Social Security wage base in W-2.

 

Feel free to reach out to me again if you need more help with your payroll forms. I'll be happy to help you out. 

tanakainmaui
January 18, 2019

I have the same problem, except that I fixed the payroll liability using the liability adjustment and the correct amount shows as SS wages ($128700) and SS deduction ($7979.40) and it shows those numbers on the W-2 on screen generated by QB.  However, when I check for errors the same error message pops up even though the numbers are correct on the W-2.  And because of those error messages I can't efile my W-2s.  What else can I do?  I did start a new W-2 filing after I fixed the liability amounts.

Loret4ODAAuthor
January 15, 2019

I was able to get help from Intuit-

The issue was I had "overridden" the final years paycheck to pay in 2018 not 2019...the previous paycheck had already adjusted deductions based on assuming it was final paycheck of the year.

QB did not recognize and adjust the wage base etc, so wage base was higher than 2018 limit allowed $ 128400.00 ...had to make several adjustments includung 941X  because I had already filed the final qtr 941. Now my w-2's are within limits and will print!!

BettyJaneB
BettyJaneB
Level 9
January 15, 2019

Hello, @Loret4ODA. 

 

I'm grateful that you took the time to provide me with an update on this concern. It's good to hear that you're now able to have your W2's within limits and was able to print it.  

 

Please know that the Community is just around the corner should you need anything else. Wishing you and your business continued success!

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