Should payroll checks downloaded from the banking section be excluded if QB's can't find a matching transaction even though the amounts and numbers are matching?

Hi there, Salty Girl.

If the payroll checks are excluded you can manually add and match them, here's how:

The payroll accounts used in QuickBooks are Payroll Liabilities: [Taxes/Contribution] and Payroll Expenses: [Wages]. That said, you'll want to match your downloaded transactions with these accounts for your payroll.

If you're unable to match, you can use the Find match or Add button to correct this. Make sure you're in the correct payroll bank account. Let me guide you how.

1. Go to Banking, then Banking at the top.
2. Choose our account. Then click your Payroll Expenses:Wages transaction.
3. Select the Add button to add a missing transaction into your QuickBooks. Tick Find match to locate the payroll transaction.
4. Hit Save.

I've also added this article if you need to run payroll reports to take a closer look at your business and payroll finances.

If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to post down below. Thank you for your time and have a nice afternoon. 

Hi Nick,

Thank you so much for your response. I apologize if my question was unclear, but my issue isn't that my checks have been excluded, but rather when I choose find a match a match cannot be found. I'm sure that the check amounts and numbers match up as I compared them with the Payroll Check Report. With this being the situation, is it better to just excluded these checks? I know I can't add them again because it will double my Payroll Expense (Wages), thereby making it inaccurate.

Thanks again!

Hi @Salty Girl,

Thank you for your prompt reply, as well as clearing things up with your query. 

After you clicked the Find match radio button, you'll be routed to the Match transactions page. Here, you need to ensure the date range (From and To boxes) covers the date on the recorded transaction you want to match. 

You can open this article for additional details: Categorize and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online. It includes a short clip that shows you an example of this online banking process.

If you're looking to import your bank transactions by hand, check out this article: Manually upload transactions into QuickBooks Online. It's a detailed step by step guide on how you can download your online bank's transactions, then import them to your QuickBooks Online company. It also includes screenshots that you can view for reference.

If there's anything else that you need assistance with, place it below. I'll be sure to get back to you. 

I am having the same issue I think. I created a payroll check late December and it finally cleared early January but QB doesn't want to match the payroll ck in my register with the downloaded ck. I have tried everything I know to do and have talked with QB support but they couldn't help me either. The downloaded transaction will not let me change the date but it also doesn't recognize the payroll check to be a suggested match at all.

Welcome to the Community space, @Shawnab412.

I can share some ideas about matching your transaction in QuickBooks.

You can use the Find radio button for the payroll and download check and match them. However, it will follow the check date of your bank transactions when you match.

In case you don't want the check to be dated as January, you can exclude the downloaded check and manually clear the payroll created.

To exclude bank transactions, here's how: 

1. Go to Banking menu on the left panel.
2. Select the For Review tab.
3. Check the box for beside the transactions you want to exclude.
4. Click Exclude.

The transaction moves to the Excluded tab of the Banking page. For more details, see this article: Exclude a bank transaction you downloaded into QuickBooks Online.

For the payroll check, you can manually delete them in the program. The following link will guide you how to remove entries in QBO: Void or delete transactions in QuickBooks Online.

 I'll be sharing these references that will guide you in matching , reconciling transactions and year end guide that will help you prepare your taxes in QuickBooks: 

• Categorize and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online
• Learn the reconcile workflow in QuickBooks
• Year-end guide for QuickBooks Online

The Community always has your back, so please let me know if you have any other questions. I'll be more than happy to help. Keep safe.

Ok, man that's a bummer. Accounting wise I hate not being able to match those transactions but the ck is a payroll ck I wrote in December so for Tax filing and W-2 purposes it has to be in December not January.  Thank you for the help!