Deferral of Employee Social Security Taxes

Good morning, @RA22.

Thanks for reaching out to the Community. I'm happy to help you set up and track your deferral.

You'll need to set up the payroll item to track the deferral. I've included the steps below to do this. 

1. From the Employees menu, choose Manage Payroll Items, then New Payroll Item. 

2. Select Custom Setup then hit Next. 

3. Choose Other Tax from the Payroll item type window, then click Next. 

4. Choose CARES Co. Soc. Sec. Deferral, then Next. 

5. In the Name used in paychecks and payroll report window, enter CARES Co. Soc. Sec. Deferral. Then, hit Next. 

6. Fill in the agency you pay taxes to. Hit Payroll Liabilities in the Liability account dropdown. Select Payroll Expenses in the Expense account dropdown. Then click Next. 

7. Hit Finished Once you're done. 

That's all there is to it! You can check out Track your deferral payments for Social Security for more details.

Let me know if you have questions or concerns. I'll be here every step of the way. You can reach out to the Community at any time. Take care! 

The answer provided by QuickBooks was for the CARES act employer deferral and NOT for the executive order for EMPLOYEE tax deferral.  I have run payroll updates in QB Desktop and there has been no update to address the executive order.  We MUST submit direct deposits for 9/1 payrolls tomorrow and we still have no guidance.   What are we to do for employees asking to have their tax deferred per the executive order?

We are aware of the new payroll tax cut announced by President Trump, khoey.

Our Product Team is still working to implement the employee tax deferral order. And, we don't have the estimated time on when this will be available in QuickBooks.

As soon as this feature is available, we will notify you through this article: Latest payroll news and updates. You can also visit our QuickBooks blog to keep you in the loop with the latest features and improvements in the system.

Stay tuned for updates. Let me know if there's anything else you need. I'm always glad to help.

My company currently uses QB Self Service Payroll. According to our accountant, the deferral is optional and not mandatory.  Is this something that QBO is going to automatically add into our payroll or do we have the ability to opt out without contacting QB? 

You will have to manually configure it in QuickBooks once it's already available in the program, bammbamm401.

Also, there's no need for you to contact or notify our Payroll Support Team if you want to opt out since you're using the self-service payroll. Just make sure to download the update when prompted just in case you want to take the deferral. 

Make sure to run a payroll report once in a while. This will give you a quick glance of the payroll transactions that you've made so far. Just go to the Reports menu, click Employees and Payroll, and then select a report.

The Community is always here if you need anything else. 

Any update when Quickbooks will have the update for deferral of Social Security Taxes for EMPLOYEES? This starts on September 1 and we have a payroll on September 3rd. I will being doing payroll tomorrow.

We are opting in for this option and I would like to start this with our first payroll.

Hi there, @sc54. 

I can see that having this feature is a great part and can help your business needs. I've checked our updated report about the employee tax deferral order, and our product team is still working on it. 

Rest assured, we will notify you if it is already available in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll through email. You can also visit our QuickBooks Blog to keep updated with the latest updates and enhancements in the system. 

If the feature is already accessible in the system, you can visit the links provided by my colleagues above for more detail on how to set up and track the employee tax deferral in QBDT. 

Please check out this article for your future reference: How to set up and track the Employee Retention Credit under the CARES Act. This link contains steps on how to track the eligible wages to use towards the tax credit. 

If you have follow-up questions, don't hesitate to click the Reply button below. I'm always here ready to help. Take good care always, @sc54. 

I have members of my staff who want their Social Security Tax Deferral held in a company account in the event it has to be paid back in 2021.  I need to know how to track the Deferral and deposit it into an account in QuickBooks versus pay it out to the employee.

Is there an update to this issue yet??

What if we don't want to participate?

I do payroll, so you're saying to opt out, still download, but don't manually put anything in and it won't do it? My company & employes wish to opt out.

Is there any update on programming changes for the Employee SS deferral that is effective/optional September 1? Does the programming team have an update as to when they will be available?

Hi there, @KTorello.

I can see that having this feature is a great part and can help your business needs. I've checked our updated report about the employee tax deferral order, and our product team is still working on it. 

Rest assured, we will notify you if it is already available in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll through email. You can also visit our QuickBooks Blog to keep updated with the latest updates and enhancements in the system. 

You can visit this link if the feature is already accessible in the system: Track your deferral payments for Social Security tax payments. 

Please visit this article for your future reference: How to set up and track the Employee Retention Credit under the CARES Act. This link contains steps on how to track the eligible wages to use towards the tax credit. 

If you have follow-up questions, don't hesitate to click the Reply button below. I'm always here ready to help. Take care always.

As most of us are in the middle of attempting to run payroll, it would be more helpful if you would give us information to track and not withhold Social Security Taxes for our employees.  I am being told by my Accountant it is mandatory that I not withhold EMPLOYEE'S 6.2% Social Security.  What is the work around?  OR When will quickbooks update this for us?

Hi AnnaAMC,

Thank you for posting about Trump's Payroll Tax Cut. As of right now, our compliance team is still waiting for guidance from the IRS. We'll send out updates as soon as there is clear guidance about this, but this time, please do not change anything your employees' paychecks.

If you have other questions, please don't hesitate to go back to this thread. Please check out our QuickBooks Blog page for some updates.

Hi AnnaAMC,

I've checked more about this, and I've updated my previous answer. Please don't change anything on your employees' paycheck yet.

QuickBooks does NOT allow the SS tax to be changed anyway.

Our employees would like to participate in the tax deferral. We already have had a paycheck period. Please do your best to update your system.

Is there an update or solution to this issue by the QuickBooks Team?
Many clients are now in a situation where the Team has NOT come through with a solution and I am one of them.  This is most frustrating and I do not want to be contacted by the TWC for non-compliance to the Executive Order.  Please provide a timeline when we can expect a solution for this.  Thank you.

We're unable to provide a definite time on when the new tax deferral mandate will be implemented in QuickBooks, @UniqueBSR.

Our compliance team is still working closely with the IRS for proper guidance. This way, we can ensure you'll have the accurate payrolls.

Meanwhile, you can check out this resource for the update regarding this: Latest payroll news and updates. Also, I encourage you to visit our QuickBooks blog page to get you in the loop about the recent features and product enhancements through this link: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/blog/.

To take a closer look at your business finances, you'll want to run some payroll reports in QuickBooks Desktop. Simply go to the Reports menu, tap Employees and Payroll, and then choose a report from there.

I'm always around to help if you've got other QuickBooks concerns. Take care and have a nice day.

The IRS issued a notice (2020-65) on August 28th.  ADP has their systems allowing for this Employee Deferral.  Intuit is dropping the ball AGAIN!!  So frustrating for clients and employers trying to HELP their employees  during a difficult time.  This should not be a hard thing to implement....and if ADP can do it, certainly Intuit can.....come on guys!!  The Employer deferral of social security took a month to implement...this is the SAME tax, just paid by a different person.  How hard can this be???

After setting up the paycode, how it is attached to the employee so it is tracked? 

Thanks for joining the thread, @jillj0813.

Let me share some steps on how to attach pay code to your employee in QuickBooks Desktop.

You can create an item for this code to the employee's profile. So when you run payroll, it will show up automatically. Here’s how you do it:

1. Go to Employees, then select Employee Center.
2. Double-click on the employee's name.
3. Select the Payroll Info tab.
4. Click on the blank area below the Item Name column.
5. Enter the code name in the field.
6. Follow the onscreen instruction to set up successfully.
7. Select OK to save.

You can run Employee and payroll reports after. With the help of the customization feature, you can easily adjust the information you need to track this detail in the system.

Fill me in if you have further questions. I'll just be around to help if you need any. Have a great day.

How do I do this for online payroll?

Chris,

I agree. What is QB waiting for? The election? hmmmmm