In Payroll Set up. does Health Insurance Company Contribution need to have an account assigned to it? If so, how does the JE post look?

No need to assign an account, @lhall1!

You can set up the contribution directly from your employee's profile. I'm here to help you accomplish this.

1. Go to Workers.
2. Select Employees.
3. Find and open the employee profile you wanted to add a contribution.
4. Click the Pencil icon beside the Pay function.
5. On the Does your employee have any deductions? box, select + Add deductions.
6. Under Deduction/contribution, select Health Insurance.
7. Enter all the fields needed.
8. Select OK.
9. Click Done.

In addition, here's an article you can read to learn more about setting up a company contribution: Set up company contributions.

Lastly, I've also included a reference here about running your payroll after setting up the company contribution of your employees.

Keep me posted in the comments down below if  you have any other questions. Have a great day!

Thank you.  I have set up the employee profile correctly, no issue there.  The issue is in Payroll "Settings" QB has our company contributions going to a liability account and it's not a liability, it's for information only.  So I have this big balance sheet amount that should not be there.  What am I missing?

Hello lhall1!

You're not missing anything. The employee's insurance is treated as a liability in QuickBooks by default. The big amount accumulated on your Balance Sheet will reduce after recording payment to the Insurance Agency. You can write a check and select the insurance liability account on the transaction.

If you don't want to treat the insurance as a liability, you can create an account (non-liability) and move the accumulated amounts to it. However, you will need to do this every time you pay the employee. Please consult an accountant if this will work for your business.

Feel free to go back to this thread if you have additional questions about the insurance setup.

Thank you, but it's not the employee portion.  That is set up correctly just as you listed.  It is the "Company's" portion that is being recorded on balance sheet.  Example:  Employee pays 50.00 for health ins.  Company pays the remainder.  Emp portion gets posted to liability acct on balance sheet, the remainder is also posted on balance sheet, but that is a company expense, not liability.  That portion is for information only to be reported on W2s, correct?

Hi there, lhall1.

A company incurs a liability for payroll taxes, which appears as a short-term liability on its balance sheet. This records your expense when you are incurring it rather than waiting until you pay it. When you are ready to pay the taxes, you will debit the related liability account and credit your cash account.

Also, you can check out this article for more information on how payroll pay types affect your payroll reporting: Supported pay types and deductions explained.

It would still be best to consult your accountant for more information about the payroll reporting and affected accounts.

Count me in if you have other concerns. I'll be here to help. Take care.

I'm sorry, my question was concerning Health ins.  not taxes.  Taxes are correct.

Thanks for the response, @lhall1.

Depending on the type of health insurance, here are a few Community Articles that guide you on how to set it up in your QuickBooks Online account:

• Reporting employer-sponsored health coverage
• Set up and record S-Corp health insurance
• Employer health coverage reimbursement plans
• Set up voluntary deductions in Online Payroll
• Deductions and contributions

If you're needing guidance on which path to take, I recommend reaching out to your accountant for advice. Rest assured, they'll know how your books are set up and they have tools to help you organize the transactions.

Please keep me updated on how this goes for you! I'll keep an eye out for your Reply. Have a nice day.