How can I delete or remove pay types and deductions from payroll that I don't want or have never used?

Hi there,

Good to hear from you again. I'd be glad to show you how to delete pay types and deductions from QuickBooks Online. 

In order to accomplish this, you'll need to follow the steps below: 

1. Select the Gear icon on the Toolbar, then Payroll Settings.
2. Navigate to the options under Payroll
3. Select Deductions/Contributions.
4. Select Edit on the one you'd like to delete.
5. Select Delete and you won't see that option again on your payroll going forward.   

Give this a try and let me know how you make out. I'll be on standby in case you need further assistance. 

Ok that works for deductions what about Pay Types

Thanks for reaching back out, CMP1035.

The pay type options will differ between each employee you have set up in your account. For instance, employee A might have Sick Pay, Commission, and Reimbursement pay types set up, but employee B might just have Sick Pay as an option.

To remove the additional pay types you no longer use, you'll have to edit this for each employee. 

Here's what you'll do: 

1. Click the Employees tab on the left navigation menu. 

2. Click an employee's name and select the Pencil icon next to Pay.

3. Next to Question 3, click the small Pencil icon.

4. Uncheck any unnecessary pay types.

5. Click Save.

That's all there is to it. Let me know if you have any other questions. 

I  guess I'm not quite making myself clear...I have Pay types that have never been used I setup inadvertently how can I delete them like you can do in deductions

I see what you mean. QuickBooks Online comes with a variety of "Pay Type" options, that you can 'activate' for each individual employee on an as-needed basis. By following the steps I listed above, you'll be able to 'deactivate' certain pay types for certain employees.

Take a look at this screenshot displaying what will appear when you edit the pay types for your employee:

By un-checking the box next to these pay types, they'll no longer appear as an option when you run payroll. You're unable to remove these options from the program, you're only able to deactivate them by un-checking their boxes.

I hope that helps to clarify things. Let me know if I can shed any more light on this for you.

Thank you for your answers the longer I use the online version of Quickbooks the less I like it...I don't find it as easy to use as the desktop version or Sage products and we are very seriously thinking of cutting our losses and ditching this product.

I'd really hate to see you go, CMP1035. The Online version of QuickBooks is quite different from QuickBooks Desktop. I realize you have to make the right choice for you and your business. The most important thing to me is that you're using a program that you're comfortable with. 

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help you in any way I can.

That works to deactivate the Pay Type but what if you want to DELETE the Pay Type so it no longer is in the list?

Thanks for joining in on this thread, Cyberlink. QuickBooks Online Payroll provides a comprehensive list of additional Pay Types for your employees. The correct taxes are calculated and deducted for each pay type, which is a great time saver! I know that these additional pay types aren't necessary for all businesses though, so I hear where you're coming from with your question. As @AddieC mentioned previously, you're unable to remove these pay types from the program, but deactivating them will remove the corresponding column when you're running payroll.

Having the ability to delete these additional pay types sounds like it's important to you, so I recommend submitting feedback directly to our product development team. They want to hear what would make our product work better for your business so that they can work on putting out relevant features and improvements. Submit feedback by navigating to the Gear icon in QuickBooks Online, then selecting Feedback. 

Thanks for being part of the QuickBooks family!

There is no Delete option....

I am also having this problem and QB people don't seem to understand what I am trying to delete.  I created Pay Types in the Hourly section.  I have over 5 pay types I have created over the years that are obsolete and even though are not checked in the employee profile, they still appear on their pay stubs, making their pay stubs very confusing, long and messy looking.  I want to get rid of these hourly pay types completely so that they no longer show on employee pay stubs at all.

Hi there, Thanks for joining in on this thread - I hear what you're saying. Creating additional pay types can be helpful when it's necessary to distinguish between different work that your employees do for you. QuickBooks Online makes it easy to add these additional types for when you need them, but I know that deleting them is an option you and many other users would like to see.

I took a look at what you described using my test account. I set up several additional pay types and ran payroll. I then used the option to print pay stubs to take a look at how the stubs would appear. With the additional pay types checked off or unchecked, they didn't appear on the pay stub when there wasn't a value entered into the corresponding field. So while you may be seeing these fields when you run payroll, your employees won't see them on their stub.

I want to encourage you to follow the steps I shared in my above response to submit feedback on this. It's the best way to have your voice heard about changes you'd like to see implemented in QuickBooks Online. I'll be passing the feedback along on my end but your feedback is important to us.

Have a great evening and drop by the Community any time you have a QuickBooks related question. 

That just doesn't happen. There is no way to delete pay types that way. I have tried every way I know how to remove some of the pay types that I had added years ago and no longer use and this way doesn't do it. 

Hi cleandreams14, 

Thank you for joining this thread. I see where you're coming from, as having the ability to delete obsolete pay types that you no longer need would be beneficial to keeping your books tidy. As mentioned above in thread, there's no way to delete the pay types currently, so I recommend submitting some Feedback to our product development team regarding this. They take any feedback received into consideration when planning futures updates to the program. Here's how you can share your thoughts with them:

• Navigate to the Gear icon at the top, then select Feedback.
• Enter your comments or product suggestions then select Next.
• You'll be provided a list of suggested Help articles related to your comment. You can read through them or select Skip and send message.
• From the drop-down, choose the appropriate category, then select Send message.

Have a great day! 

I would like to change the spelling mistake I made in pay types.  I spelled severance wrong.  Is there a way to change that, or do I have to create a new pay type.  

Hello again, Ceilidh,

Don't worry, I've got your back on this. I've answered this question on your other post, QB on line - Can I fix a spelling mistake in a pay type. I've included step-by-step instructions and a screenshot for your reference, so I encourage you to head over there now if you haven't already seen my reply. Don't hesitate to reply on that thread if you have further questions after reading through my response!

I'm guessing that QBO hasn't fixed this problem in the last 2 years--not being able delete a Pay Type entirely (not just within an employee's pay info). The reason I'm interested in this is because we used to give an employee a $10 Cellphone Allowance (Pay Type) which was mapped to Telephone Expense. We stopped doing that, so I un-selected it from her pay info. However, every paycheque, I still see $0 in Telephone Expense for her in the G/L. I'm thinking/hoping that deleting the Pay Type will solve this problem. I guess I'll be adding another item in the Feedback!

Hi Mabel_BC,

Having the option to remove pay types so they no longer appear, is a great way to minimize unnecessary fields when running payroll.  In QuickBooks Online, you can do this effortlessly.  I'd be happy to assist you with this.

To remove the pay item from an employee, follow these steps:

1. From the left menu select Payroll and then Employees

2. Choose the Employee and then Edit

3. Scroll down to #6 are there any contributions/deductions

4. If you see the item name, click on Add/Edit deductions

5. Click on the Delete (trash can) icon to delete it

6. When complete, hit Done

You're ready to delete the contribution/deduction from your books.  Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear in the top right and select Payroll Settings

2. Select Deductions/Contributions

3. Locate the item in the list and hit Edit

4. Click on Delete

Note:  You'll only have the option to delete an item if it's not attached to any employees.  If it's been applied to others, their name(s) will be shown in blue.  Follow the steps to remove the item from any other employees as necessary.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out.  We'd love to help!

Hi Trish, Thanks for your instructions. However, the item I want to delete is not in #6. It's in #4 Other types of pay (cellphone reimbursement). I can un-select it from their pay profile, but $0 still appears in the general ledger for telephone expense. I want to just delete the entire Pay Type "Cellphone reimbursement". That should solve the problem, but I cannot.

Hi Mabel_BC,

Welcome back!  Thank you for providing the additional information with regards to editing the employee's cell phone reimbursement.  In addition to the steps you've already taken,  I'd recommend making the account inactive in your chart of accounts.  Here's how:

1. From the Gear in the top right, select Chart of Accounts

2. Locate the account and from the drop-down arrow in the Action column, Make Inactive

If the issue remains, please contact us.  We'd like to connect with you in a secure setting and have the opportunity to work with you in real time, to ensure we can get this resolved for you as soon as possible.

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Take care and enjoy the rest of your day!

Ummm...I'm not trying to delete a G/L account in the Chart of Accounts! It's OK. It seems QBO have no idea what we want done. All we seem to get as "improvements" to justify increased annual costs are cosmetic changes! Very disappointed.

I am saddened, disgusted and a tiny bit angry as I read through this thread.  QBO has no business offering Accounting/Payroll software applications if they don't know the difference among a Deduction, a Pay Type, and a GL Account.  Those of us who DO know what we're doing just want to be able to do it!

I found this thread because I want to add a new Pay Type and assign it automatically to all Employees (that you can so easily and obviously do in QB Desktop) so I don't have to edit each and every Employee record.  Anybody know how to do that?

Hello ssam123. Thanks for chiming in on this thread. Your feedback is valuable and I'll make sure it gets into the right hands. It's also important to note that the ability to create a new pay type and automatically assign it to all employees is unavailable. You'll have to manually assign the pay type to your employees. Let me know if you need help with that, I've got your back.. I recommend sending feedback about this to our engineers. You can do this by navigating to the Gear icon and looking for Feedback. In the meantime, don't hesitate to ask other questions, I'm here to help.  

I'm with you.  The old bookkeeper made so many redundant pay types before I came along.  I would love to be able to delete the ones that are basically duplicates or haven't been used in 8 years.  It's so frustrating that we can't do something as simple as delete an old pay type.