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ArtyFacts123
Level 3

Employee was overwithheld federal taxes on last paycheck - how to best record in QB?

My client pays their employees manually (does not use a service).  He accidentally withheld too much federal withholding taxes for one employee on the last payroll.  The employer then wrote a check for the difference to the employee. 

He does use Quickbooks Premier 2021 and makes entries himself and then we periodically review with accountant's copy.

 

I want to advise him how to record this into his Quickbooks properly-

 

Please help me not overthink this-

1) The extra check he wrote for the difference.  I assume that should just go under the account of payroll taxes? (or whatever account he uses to deduct the taxes from the payroll checks?)

2) Any other adjustments need to be made?  Do I need to have anything in mind for the next paycheck? I'm sure then we overpaid the employers tax for that incorrect payroll check. I just want to make sure I get it right.

Thanks!!!!!!!!

Solved
Best answer January 31, 2024

Best Answers
KimberlyS
QuickBooks Team

Employee was overwithheld federal taxes on last paycheck - how to best record in QB?

We appreciate you posting your queries here, @ArtyFacts123.

 

I'm pleased to share information about correcting overwithheld employee-paid taxes.

 

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can make adjustments to keep your record and tax computation accurate if you have over or under-collected taxes from your employee's paycheck.

 

In your case, if you create an adjustment check, you can choose either of the following for the Accounts Affected:

 

  • Select Do not affect accounts to only change the year-to-date amounts on payroll reports rather than the liability and expense accounts.
  • If you want the transaction to change liability and expense account, choose Affect liability and expense accounts.

 

For more information about liability adjustments to correct employee payroll information, review this article: Adjust payroll liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

 

After fixing the wage and tax amount discrepancy, refund overwithheld taxes on the next paycheck. To begin with, create a new payroll item for tax adjustments. Here's how:

 

  1. Head to the Lists menu, then Payroll Item List.
  2. Click on the Payroll Item dropdown, then New.
  3. Choose Custom Setup and Next.
  4. Pick Deduction, then Next.
  5. Add the deduction name (such as tax adjustment) and select Next.
  6. Select Other Current Liability in the Liability account field, then Next.
  7. The tracking type should be None, then select Next three times.
  8. Choose net pay in the Gross vs. net window, then Next.
  9. When done, click on Finish.

 

Then, proceed to Refund or collect underpaid taxes under Step 3 in this article to run the next paycheck with the payroll item you created: Handle overwithheld or underwithheld employee-paid taxes.

 

For paying an employee back for the incorrect paycheck deduction, you can utilize this material for guidance: Refund your employee for a deduction that was overwithheld.

 

Moreover, regarding the overpaid employers' tax because of the incorrect paycheck, you might visit this page to properly handle it: Resolve a payroll tax overpayment.

 

On the other hand, consider running and customizing payroll reports to gather essential insights about your business finances that could help you make informed decisions.

 

Please don't hesitate to inform us in the thread if you have additional questions regarding correcting overwithheld federal taxes from employees or other related concerns in QuickBooks Desktop. We can always lend a hand.

View solution in original post

3 Comments 3
KimberlyS
QuickBooks Team

Employee was overwithheld federal taxes on last paycheck - how to best record in QB?

We appreciate you posting your queries here, @ArtyFacts123.

 

I'm pleased to share information about correcting overwithheld employee-paid taxes.

 

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can make adjustments to keep your record and tax computation accurate if you have over or under-collected taxes from your employee's paycheck.

 

In your case, if you create an adjustment check, you can choose either of the following for the Accounts Affected:

 

  • Select Do not affect accounts to only change the year-to-date amounts on payroll reports rather than the liability and expense accounts.
  • If you want the transaction to change liability and expense account, choose Affect liability and expense accounts.

 

For more information about liability adjustments to correct employee payroll information, review this article: Adjust payroll liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

 

After fixing the wage and tax amount discrepancy, refund overwithheld taxes on the next paycheck. To begin with, create a new payroll item for tax adjustments. Here's how:

 

  1. Head to the Lists menu, then Payroll Item List.
  2. Click on the Payroll Item dropdown, then New.
  3. Choose Custom Setup and Next.
  4. Pick Deduction, then Next.
  5. Add the deduction name (such as tax adjustment) and select Next.
  6. Select Other Current Liability in the Liability account field, then Next.
  7. The tracking type should be None, then select Next three times.
  8. Choose net pay in the Gross vs. net window, then Next.
  9. When done, click on Finish.

 

Then, proceed to Refund or collect underpaid taxes under Step 3 in this article to run the next paycheck with the payroll item you created: Handle overwithheld or underwithheld employee-paid taxes.

 

For paying an employee back for the incorrect paycheck deduction, you can utilize this material for guidance: Refund your employee for a deduction that was overwithheld.

 

Moreover, regarding the overpaid employers' tax because of the incorrect paycheck, you might visit this page to properly handle it: Resolve a payroll tax overpayment.

 

On the other hand, consider running and customizing payroll reports to gather essential insights about your business finances that could help you make informed decisions.

 

Please don't hesitate to inform us in the thread if you have additional questions regarding correcting overwithheld federal taxes from employees or other related concerns in QuickBooks Desktop. We can always lend a hand.

ArtyFacts123
Level 3

Employee was overwithheld federal taxes on last paycheck - how to best record in QB?

Hi there Kimberly!

Thank you so much for your detailed reply   

Since the client already issued a separate check to the employee for the amount of the overpayment, I'll inform the client to categorize the transaction as a payroll tax expense (obviously making the amount a positive number vs. a negative number in regular payroll :).

 

I think the part that is tripping me up is a few things - 

1) Does the client need to do anything different for the next paycheck (I think not, but you never know!).

2) The part that's really not clear for me is the overpayment of the employer's tax.  The link you kindly shared with me about this part (https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/state-taxes/resolve-payroll-tax-overp...) seems only to be for people who use the Quickbooks payroll service (as opposed to just doing everything manually).  Is there another link that you could share that would show the steps for this part?  

Again I'm trying to not overthink it - so your expert objective feedback is most appreciated!!!!  

Thanks for your time!

ArtyFacts123
Level 3

Employee was overwithheld federal taxes on last paycheck - how to best record in QB?

One more thing! 

I think we just resolved this internally in our accounting dept - so I think we are good.  Thanks for your help!

 

 

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