employee unemployment rate change in 2023 for Pennsylvania

Hello there, @shiffer.

Let me share some insights about employees' unemployment rate change in 2023 for the state of Pennsylvania (PA) in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Payroll, so you can keep your taxes managed accordingly.

Yes, the current tax table (22301) hasn't included the unemployment rate change for the state of Pennsylvania in 2023. However, rest assured that the rate change will reflect on the next latest payroll update in QBDT Payroll.

If you wish to find more information on the latest payroll update (22301) as well as earlier releases, you can read this article: Get the latest payroll news and updates in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

Once the newest tax table is released, you can check or download it by checking out this article: Get the latest tax table update in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

Also, you may want to access your state agency website to learn more about unemployment compensation and other taxes: Pennsylvania Office of Unemployment Compensation.

Please feel free to leave a comment below if you have other taxes and payroll concerns or questions about managing employees in QBDT Payroll. I'm always ready to help. Take care, @shiffer. 

I am also in Pennsylvania, and have the same problem.  I just did an update, but the employee UC rate is still at .06% when it should be .07%.  We cannot manually change this figure, since, as per Quickbooks, "Employee rate choices are provided by Quickbooks tax tables."

I must run payroll this week.  When will the tax tables be updated?

Hello Mary,

I was on the phone with the quickbooks help desk for over 120 minutes yesterday. They just kept saying I needed to update. They were able to see my screen during the process and I kept showing them I had the newest update as of 12/15/22. I also showed them that Pennsylvania was not included in the tax table update. In the end they were not able to help me and said to just keep updating. They were also unable to answer when I asked them when a new update was going to be available.

I spoke with someone at Intuit who told me that because of the holiday they had not yet received any Federal or State updates for 2023...which obviously was not the case.  I really don't understand why it was not included in the last update when the increase in the withholding rate would have been known.

I opened up a "Chat" on Facebook to try and get a correct response and was told the PA UC change was not included in the last update.  I am waiting for them to get back to me with the date for the next Payroll Update.

Since we have a limited number of employees I manually changed the PA UC withholding amount on each individual paycheck.

I emailed the state yesterday, no response as of yet.

We also have a limited number of employees, and I was able to correct the rate on each individual check as well.

I just spoke with a representitive from QB, they said an update will be pushed put 1/12/23 to correct the employee rate, and past payrolls should self adjust.

Hi KellyTwpSewer,

Thank you for sharing what you did. Just to clarify, is the employee portion on your end showing 0.07% now, or you've just manually edited their paychecks?

Normally, the Unemployment Insurance from states that have an employee contribution, the rate for the employee portion is updated via tax table. This is why some posters in this thread got this error when they tried changing the employee's rate: "Employee rate choices are provided by Quickbooks tax tables."

We're still working on the update, and you'll eventually get a prompt when it's ready to download. QuickBooks will automatically adjust the contribution amount on your next payroll if you've already generated paychecks. You can tell your employees in advance that their PUC withholding will be slightly larger in that pay run. However, if you have manually edited the amounts in their previous checks, QuickBooks should detect this and not do a catch-up or adjustment.

Let me know if you have other questions about PA UC. Take care and have a good one!

It is not showing yet, my understanding is it would be corrected until Jan. 12th. I made a note to check the following week's payroll.

I just had the same problem when trying to change my employee UC rate from .06 to .07...........QuickBooks will not allow me to change it. There are two options from the dropdown when going in to edit the rate.....you get 0.0 and 0.06.  So with that, I called QB and the customer support couldn't even help me. He had no clue what was going on. Then I called the PA UC employer help line. Customer service there had no idea what was going on but did state that they had one other phone call with the same complaint. Seems to me that QB and the State of PA need to get something fixed and SOON!! Greatly appreciate any feedback. 

I also did the current QB payroll update, restarted my computer etc and nothing has changed. I still only have one option for the employee UC tax rate.........06.  Very frustrating.

JessT.......I manually edited each paycheck.  I had to calculate the figure (Gross x .07%) or (Gross + OT (if applicable) + Employer Pension Withholding x .07%) for each employee. I then keyed the figure on each paycheck with the correct withholding amount.  A message poped up basically stating that this will change the figure and the figure comes from Quickbooks, and do I still want to change it?  I said yes.  I will continue to check for updates for this issue before I run my next payroll.  If there is not an update, I will continue to change this figure on each paycheck by manual calculation.  From what I am reading in other posts my understanding is that an update for this issue will not be until Jan. 12th.  I will continue to check the figure with a manual calculation before I print my payroll even after the update to ensure the withholding is calculated correctly. This is only a temporary solution as we only have 8 employees.  I would not want to manually calculate and enter this figure for a large company. 

In your post you say "QuickBooks will automatically adjust the contribution amount on your next payroll if you've already generated paychecks. You can tell your employees in advance that their PUC withholding will be slightly larger in that pay run. However, if you have manually edited the amounts in their previous checks, QuickBooks should detect this and not do a catch-up or adjustment."

If I am understanding you correctly, if you run payroll with the calculation of .06% then once the update is complete it will adjust the withholding on the next pay to catch up the incorrect withholding on the previous check?  If the calculation was "manually changed" it will recognize this and only withhold the calculation for the pay run being processed?

If both statements are correct than it would be ultimately up to the individual on how to proceed because in the end it will generate the same result.  

Thank you for your in site into this matter.

Yes, you're correct, @KellyTwpSewer.

When the update is complete, running payroll with the calculation of .06% will modify the withholding on the next pay to make up for the incorrect withholding on the previous check. The calculation will only be withheld for the pay run that is currently being processed if it has been "manually changed."

With this, you can also run a Payroll Item Detail report per quarter to ensure that the calculations are accurate and up-to-date for the reporting period.

Here's an article that you can read to help manage and track your payroll transactions in QuickBooks Desktop: Customize payroll and employee reports.

You can always reply or reach out to us again if you need anything else with supervising payroll in QBDT. We're always here to guide and assist you whenever you need help. Have a good one!

Thank you for the quick response, @Carneil_C.

Hello there, @kelly. 

I'm glad to hear that the steps provided by my colleague have helped with your issue. Know that you can always visit our Help Articles page in case you need some references for your future tasks.

The Community is always in your corner if you ever need assistance again. Take care!

I just did an payroll up date.  Still old PA Rate.  When will this be corrected for PA?

It is ridiculous that QB's has dropped the ball on this.  This was published months ago, so much for being on top of things.  For the time being I have been overriding the withholding amount in the view paychecks area.  It is a pain in the butt, but at least the employers are withholding at the proper rate.  That way, if and when the change comes thru, the employees won't get hit with a larger withholding.

Fix this already.  It is ridiculous that this has not been addressed considering PAUC put this rate increase out there months ago.

Agree they had lots of time - but there is no need to change the rate manually - as QB will adjust it - to correct it's mistake. 

I did the payroll update this morning 1/12/23 and the rate change has finally been included in the tax table as .07%

Thanks for the update, @Mikey W.

Reach back to us here in the Community if you need extra help managing your business growth and payroll transactions using QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT). Take the best care!

Thanks for the post Mikey W!  I also performed Payroll Update 22302 and the rate changed to .07%.

DTWP...I just ran Payroll Update 22302 and the rate change to .07% is included in this update. 

@Carneil_C  - the online payroll is still calculating at .06%. Do you know when that will be updated and will the online payroll also calculate the missing .01% if there were paychecks done already in 2023?

Thank you!