A client of mine called QB Support and was told that no further updates to payroll would be issued related to the FFCRA paid sick leave credit.    Will someone please confirm this?  

Right now, there is no way to exempt these wages from employer SS, as they should be.   Users can manually force this in the tax deposit, but the payroll reports will all be incorrect.  If they manually modify the employer SS on each employee's paycheck, will QB try to catchup and correct it year-to-date on the next paycheck?

This situation is beyond ridiculous.  Intuit has seriously dropped the ball on this whole mess.

Same problem. 

Additionally, QB has you set the payroll items up as additions vs earnings and therefore 401(k) matches and deferrals are not calculated which, per the IRS below is required.

Hi there, highlinemt.

For us to check your payroll data, I'd recommend reaching out to our Customer Care Team. We can pull up your account and help you resolve this.

Before doing so, please check our support hours here. Then follow these steps to get our contact information:  

Here's how you can reach out to us:

1. Click Help located at the top.
2. Choose QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. In the Have a Question? window, click the Contact us link at the bottom.
4. Select any topic and select the Get Phone Number or Start a Message button.

Feel free add a comment on this thread or let us know how it goes. Stay safe.

I think I figured this out.

I read all 3 pages of this thread and it did not work, but here is what did:

1. Manually calculate the sick leave credit that you will claim= sick pay+ER medicare+health insurance+allowed benefits

2. Create a new expense account on P&L for the CoVid Sick Pay

3. Set up a new Payroll item>custom>wages>hourly wage>regular pay>"name it"> point it to the exp acct from step 2

4. Add the payroll item from step 3 to the employee record>payroll info>earnings item

5. On the time sheet record sick hours using new payroll item from step 3 and then create paycheck.  OR go directly to paycheck and enter sick pay  (top section: earnings) 

6. In the company summary section of the paycheck detail, zero out social security company.

7. Go to payroll center and pay your 941 liability. Go to the EXPENSES tab, enter your manually calculated credit as a negative number and the account used will be the new expense account from step 2. Adjust the check amount and pay.

That's it.

Can you provide a screen shot so we can see where exactly we would add the negative amount

Thanks for posting to the Community, @Cindy_S.

I was able to replicate the steps and went missing in the seventh procedure. I'd recommend reaching with our Payroll Specialists.

They have tools to verify the possible fixes and check the payroll info in your QuickBooks if this fits the setting.

Here's how:

1. Open QuickBooks and press F1.
2. Click Contact Us.
3. Type your query and hit Continue.
4. Choose to Start a chat.

In addition, you can check this article for more details on how to track paid leave and sick time for the coronavirus.

For more details about finding your state's COVID-19 employer resource website, you can refer to this article: COVID-19 employer resource website by state.

Keep me notified by leaving a message to this post if you have more questions. I'll be around to help. Stay safe and healthy!

Today I applied the latest Payroll Update 22010, released April 16, 2020.    No change to the FFCRA paid sick leave payroll item capabilities in QuickBooks Desktop.  We still can't exempt the wages from the employer portion of the social security tax, nor is there any way other than manual to track the portion of the payroll tax credit due to the employer portion of Medicare tax.  I can't even begin to express how disappointed in Intuit I am.  The amount of manual work being required to calculate the proper credit is ridiculous, as is the fact that our payroll reports are incorrectly reporting the employer's portion of social security.

After this, I will be encouraging all clients using QuickBooks Desktop payroll to move to another platform.  This is the last straw.

Before the "QuickBooks Team" tells me to go see What you need to know about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and  How to track paid leave and sick time for the coronavirus, and How to claim my tax credits under the Family First Coronavirus Response Act; I have already followed these steps.  Those steps work to set up some payroll items, but they aren't being taxed properly, and we have no way of forcing the taxation to be correct.  QuickBooks Team, please review IRS guidance here, and let's please get this fixed right away.

For step 7 of my previous post:  When you pay your liability check, about midway down the check are two tabs.  The default is called Payroll Liabilities and has the check amount in the tab.  The other tab is called Expenses.  Click in this.  Then enter the payroll expense account and your credit as a negative number in the amount column.  Go up and change the amount of the check after being reduced by the credit.

YES!!!!  @brucec is COMPLETELY RIGHT!!!  The admins on the Quickbooks Support forums just keep regurgitating the same response as @brucec refers to.  The only other response is to contact support via phone or chat.  After SIX HOURS on the phone and on chat with various agents, having to escalate up to supervisors every time, NO ONE knows what's going on.  They just say (after going round and round for hours each time that they will have to escalate it to the "back end" team.  This is ridiculous!!! I will most definitely be switching back to my old payroll company.  They are more expensive, but they at least understand the FFCRA and the guidance from the IRS and instituted all changes and calculations within DAYS (not weeks) of the law going into effect.  Quickbooks on the other hand has had almost THREE WEEKS to fix this, and they are still floundering and not able to correct the VERY simple problems with their software calculations.

These EPSL and EFMLA wages are all paid as an "Addition" which you will need to calculate based on the Federal qualifying guidelines. When you generate you 941 deposit you will need to hand enter the credit for payroll wages/health care premium and any company paid retirement benefits paid.

Lots of manual in this, but if you really follow all of the payroll items in this link: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-articles/how-to-track-paid-leave-and-sick-tim...  you will have all of the tracking tools needed. Also, go into your employee payroll setup to the Other tab/add each item that will now be included in the drop down list (same place that the Medicare additional wage or state L&I and Family Medical Leave is tracked. I've processed payroll and found that the EPSL is calculated on the hourly wage * number of hours that the employee is eligible for (depending on whether or not they are a full-time, part-time employee who are sick or in quarantine; or, if they are caring for child/family members at the 2/3rds rate. The EFMLA is posted as a lump sum addition (payable for weeks 3 and 4 in April 2020) based on the same criteria. I've added the credit to the 941 tax deposit and we'll see how that works out when I do the quarterly report :) Good Luck -- we're kind of in the wild-wild west here!

These EPSL and EFMLA wages are all paid as an "Addition" which you will need to calculate based on the Federal qualifying guidelines. When you generate you 941 deposit you will need to hand enter the credit for payroll wages/health care premium and any company paid retirement benefits paid.

Lots of manual in this, but if you really follow all of the payroll items in this link: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-articles/how-to-track-paid-leave-and-sick-tim...  you will have all of the tracking tools needed. Also, go into your employee payroll setup to the Other tab/add each item that will now be included in the drop down list (same place that the Medicare additional wage or state L&I and Family Medical Leave is tracked. I've processed payroll and found that the EPSL is calculated on the hourly wage * number of hours that the employee is eligible for (depending on whether or not they are a full-time, part-time employee who are sick or in quarantine; or, if they are caring for child/family members at the 2/3rds rate. The EFMLA is posted as a lump sum addition (payable for weeks 3 and 4 in April 2020) based on the same criteria. I've added the credit to the 941 tax deposit and we'll see how that works out when I do the quarterly report :) Good Luck -- we're kind of in the wild-wild west here!

Did QB calculate the Medicare portion for the credit?  I have the wages going to the COVID 19 expense account which I will apply against the Fed payroll taxes, but I do not see the Medicare credit on those wages.

Hi there, @csc21.

Yes. QuickBooks will automatically calculate the Medicare taxes portion for the credit. You can run a Quick Report to understand the balances of the credit. Let me guide you through the steps.

1. In your QuickBooks Desktop, go to the Lists menu and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Find the COVID-19 Expenses account, then right-click and choose QuickReport.
3. Select the dates to reflect the paycheck date you're looking for. The amount should show all the payroll items you’ve set up and run payroll on. 

The amount in the Total column reflects the amount of the Credit you can enter on the Liability check.

Once you've checked how much is you owe, you'll want to ensure that you’ve created a check to pay the tax liabilities. For more guidance, feel free to check out this article: How to claim my tax credits under the Family First Coronavirus Response Act.

If you want to know about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, you can read through this article for more information: What you need to know about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Please let me know if you need clarification about this, or there's anything else I can do for you. I'll be standing by for your response. Have a great day and keep safe.

this is STILL wrong!!!!  National Paid Leave Health Insurance Credit is STILL showing up as both a negative number AND a positive number when you run this report.  Thus, the positive and negative amount are canceling each other out!  STILL NOT FIXED.  

Also, updated to most recent Payroll/Tax update and employER medicare credit STILL not showing up in this report either!!

Does the back-end team EVER have plans to correct ALL of these mistakes or is this going to just keep continuing for weeks/months like it already has?!

I do appreciate the steps you've done to get things sorted out, giddyuptex. 

I suggest getting in touch with our Payroll Support Team so our engineers will be notified with the unexpected behavior your're experiencing right now. They can further walk you through the detailed steps on how to fix it. 

Here's how to contact us:

1. Open QuickBooks.
2. From the Help menu click QuickBooks Desktop Help. 
3. Click Contact us and enter your question something like payroll setup for National Paid Leave Health Insurance Credit is off. 
4. Select Continue and click whether to Chat, Call you back, or Call us.

The Community is always open to help you. Take care always!

already did that...twice.  3 hours on the phone or chat each time.  no resolution except "escalate to the back end team".  

however, does not seem like the "back end" team is doing anything to fix any of these problems.

any other NEW suggestions other than referring clients to the same 2 articles over and over or telling them to contact the "Help" line (which eats up 2-3 hours each time and gets absolutely nothing done)????

Thank you for your guidance, however I followed your steps, the only amount in COVID 19 Exp account are the actual wages paid to the employee.  There is no additional 'credit' for the Medicare tax on those wages.

Hello there, csc21.

Let's make sure that employees aren't set up for the Employer Portion of Social Security if they are set up for any paid leave items under FFCRA to get the tax credit. Then, ensure to get the latest payroll tax table update. 

Once done, you can revert the paycheck. Here's  how: 

1. Click the Employees tab at the top menu bar.
2. Select Payroll Center.
3. Click Resume Scheduled Payroll.
4. Right-click the name of the employee and select Revert Paycheck.
5. Click Open Paycheck Detail.
6. Enter the necessary information.
7. Check if it calculates the Paid Family and Medical Leave premiums.
8. Click Save & Close.

Here's an article for more information: How To Save or Revert Pending Paychecks.

Also, make sure to follow the detailed steps on this article for the tax credit to show: How To Claim My Tax Credits Under The Family First Coronavirus Response Act.

For future reference, you can also check this article for more information about the Employee Retention Credit: How The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Affects Your Payroll.

Please touch base with us if you need further assistance. I'll always be right here to help.

The Employer Portion of SS is not being taken out on the paid leave.  It is the Employer Medicare portion that  should come through as a credit (like the wages being paid) that is not calculating as a credit.

Thanks for getting back to us, @csc21.

You’ll need to set up payroll items to track your employer portion of the social security payments to ensure you're tracking tax credits.

To do so:

1. Go to the Employees menu.
2. Click Manage Payroll Items, then select New Payroll Item.
3. Choose Custom Setup, then tap Next.
4. On the Payroll item type window, select Other Tax, then Next.
5. Select CARES Co. Soc. Sec. Deferral on the Other tax window, and click Next.
6. In the Name used in paychecks and payroll report window, enter CARES Co. Sec. Sec. Deferral in the text field, then select Next.
7. In the Agency for company-paid liability window, select the agency you pay taxes to from the dropdown, select Payroll Liabilities in the Liability account dropdown.
8. Select Payroll Expenses in the Expense account dropdown, and then select Next.
9. From the Taxable Compensation Window, select Finish.

Once you've checked how much is you owe, you'll want to ensure that you’ve created a check to pay the tax liabilities. For more guidance, please proceed to Step 2 of this article then click QuickBooks Desktop Payroll: Track your deferral payments for Social Security tax payments.

I'm also adding these articles for reference: 

• What you need to know about the Families First Corona virus Response Act
• How the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act affects your payroll

Please let me know if you have more queries about it. I'm always here to lend a hand. Take good care.

Both responses to csc21 have nothing do with the actual issue. Just making everyone go around in circles. Its not resolved yet. This is what happened last time where the employer portion of SS was being deducted. They eventually fixed it after a month with the payroll update 22011. They will hopefully fix this as well hopefully soon.

Thank you RA75 - I was beginning to think I was losing my mind.  

Same articles over and over.  Went to help chat.  On with someone for over 2 hours.  Still not resolved.  This needs to get fixed ASAP

Hello, @csc21.

At this time, I suggest getting back to our Support Team so they can check this more closely. Also, they can review the Medicare calculation further.

To contact support:

1. Open your QuickBooks Desktop.
2. Click QuickBooks Desktop Help from the Help menu.
3. Click Contact us and enter your question.
4. Select Continue and click whether to Chat, Call you back, or Call us.

Post again if you have any other QuickBooks questions. I'm always here to help. Have a good day!