Apply overpayment from Q2 941 to Q3 941

I'll guide you how to apply the overpayment, jennrobe.

In QuickBooks Desktop, overpayment is not automatically applied to the next quarters of the 941 form. You'll have to manually override line 11 on the form to include the credit.

Here's how:

1. Prepare your 941 form by going to Employees > Payroll Tax Forms & W-2s > Process Payroll Forms.
2. Select Quarterly Form 941/Schedule B and click Create Form.
3. Choose Quarter from the small arrow ▼ then select your Quarter Ending date.
4. Hit OK.
5. Locate line 11 on the form, right-click the number and select Override.
6. Enter the new amount and the form will adjust the total due or amount of overpayment. If there is an overpayment, on the form, under line 15, select Apply to next return if you you want to apply the overpayment to the next return. Select Send a refund if you want to receive a refund check.
7. Click Save & Close to save your changes or select Print for Your Records.

You can also read these articles for reference: 

• File a corrected Federal Form 941 and 940 in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll
• Prepare and print Form 941, Schedule B, and Form 940

if you have more questions with QuickBooks payroll, please post a reply below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. 

Which line 11 should I use...

There is 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d.

Thanks for getting back to us, @jennrobe.

I'll show you how to enter your overpayment in the form. Line 11a of Form 941 reports your credit amount available for use. While lines 11b and 11c reports credits for qualified sick and family leave wages, and the employee retention credits. Line 11d is the total nonrefundable credits (adding lines 11a, 11b, and 11c.)

In your case, you'll want to override line 11a to claim your payroll tax credit. For more information about the Form 941 filing instructions, check out this link: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i941--2020.pdf.

If you need help with correcting or amending Forms 941, click this guide for details.

I'm always here if you have other payroll questions or concerns. Feel welcome to reply anytime soon. Take care and happy weekend.

Thank you, but I am not sure that 11a is the correct line that is for Qualified small business payroll tax credit for increasing research activities and this is not what the overpayment is related to.  

I'm pretty sure its line 13a that you over-ride and include the overpayment credit from the previous quarter. It was line 11 for the old form.

I'm currently trying to figure out how you key the payroll liability credit into QB (from the overpayment.) Can someone help me with that, please?

Thanks for joining this thread, @LeahFoster. I can share steps so you can record payroll liability overpayment as a credit in QuickBooks.

Before doing so, I recommend consulting your accountant to guide you in selecting the correct account to ensure the credit is correctly applied in your tax forms. If you don't have one, you may use our Find an Accountant tool. 

Here's how:

1. Create a liability check, proceed to Create an unscheduled or custom liability check section. 
2. Click the Expenses tab. And select the account where you want to apply the credit.
3. Enter the amount of the credit (only up to the amount of the check) as a negative figure in the Amount field.
4. Write an explanation of the transaction in the memo field.
5. Hit the Recalculate button to lower the amount of the check by the amount of the credit. If there is a credit balance remaining, you can apply it to the next period by repeating steps 1 through 4.

For future reference, you might find this article helpful: Resolve a tax overpayment.

Keep me posted if you have any other concerns about entering payroll liability credit into QuickBooks. I'm always here to help. Have a great day ahead.