YOU *CAN* DO THIS THROUGH QUICKBOOKS (if you have payroll subscription and Excel software).
You need to be a payroll subscriber of some flavor. Assisted *not* required. I have the simple desktop payroll subscription, and it worked fine for me.
You need to have Microsoft Excel installed on your computer.
If you don't have both of those things, the following won't help you, and I don't know enough to help you further.
If you *do* have both of those things, CONGRATULATIONS! You can get a working .txt file to upload to the Iowa Department of Revenue web site!
Have the following information ready (you'll need it to complete the interview portion of the .txt file creation process):
- Federal EIN
- State-issued ID number (for me, it's my EIN plus a few digits)
- BEN number (from the Iowa DOR web site login)
- Business name (legal) and mailing address
(1) Make sure Excel is CLOSED. Quit. Completely. Nothing Excel sitting there open. If you don't do this, poor Quickbooks will try to do what you want it to do and fail, but it won't tell you that it failed or why it failed. And you'll get frustrated... Don't get frustrated. Quit Excel first.
(2) Go to the EMPLOYEES menu and choose "Payroll Tax Forms & W2s"
(3) From there, choose "Create State W-2 E-file." This is where, if you don't have Excel or don't have it closed, you'll run into a problem.
(4) Quickbooks will open Excel, and ask if you'll allow it to use Macros - say YES! Give it whatever permissions it wants! It will also ask you other questions (including what state this is for) - just follow the on-screen prompts and answer the questions. The last thing you'll do is "Get Quickbooks Data."
(5) Give it a few moments - it will process your W2 information into an Excel spreadsheet. Be patient.
(6) Review that spreadsheet. Make sure it's all good (if you've already filed your federal stuff, it's fine - you've already done this part, so move on).
(7) Along the top of the Excel window, there's a drop-down option for ADD-INS. Choose that.
(8) In the upper left corner, a small drop-down menu will appear that says "Quickbooks Payroll State W2" - click on the arrow next to that to open the menu.
(9) Choose START INTERVIEW.
(10) Fill in all of the information applicable to your business - it isn't much, and pretty easy. Make sure you fill in your BEN.
(11) The next screen will give you a path for your file. You can tell it to save somewhere else (it goes to your Documents folder by default), but DO NOT CHANGE THE FILENAME. This is crazy, but the filename Quickbooks assigns is *different* (slightly) than what the Iowa DOR web site directs you to do, AND IT WORKS, so don't change it!
(12) It will ask you a few more (simple) questions, and then you'll blissfully reach the END OF INTERVIEW screen. You'll click "Create W-2 File," and it will save it in the folder you chose (or the Documents folder as a default).
(13) Go to the Iowa Department of Revenue site for e-File and Pay, go in to your Withholding account, choose "W-2 Wage Statement" (under "Select a report to submit") and follow the directions from there.
GOOD LUCK! This worked for me. I really and truly hope this helps at least one other Iowan who has been struggling to get this done!
