one-time payroll with specific dollar amount withholdings

Hello there, @ebkiln.

I'm here to help you enter a one-time payroll with a specific dollar amount withholding in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

QuickBooks calculates the federal withholding taxes based on the following elements: 

1. Employee’s W-4
2. Pay frequency
3. Gross wages
4. Percentage or wage bracket method

With this, you'll have the option to pay as a separate bonus paycheck either as a net or gross, or you can change the withholding or payment amounts with the guidance of your accountant.

For more information about paying an employee bonus separate from their salary, you can check out this article: Pay an employee bonus

Additionally, QuickBooks provides a variety of payroll reports to help you get a closer look at your business finances and employees. You can access, customize, and print these reports by following the steps outlined in this article: Run payroll reports.

If you have any further inquiries about processing payroll in QBO, feel free to reach out to us anytime. I'll be happy to help. Have a great day.

So would the best thing to do in this case be to change the amounts and withholdings just for one payroll, and then change it back to the regular schedule amount and withholdings after that? 

So should I just change the amount and withholdings manually in each employee’s profile per my accountant, run that one payroll, and then change it back to the standard payroll amounts and withholdings we run every week?

Hi Ebkiln,

Thank you for getting back to us here in the Community space. Allow me to chime in and help you with your concern about running payroll in QuickBooks.

You can follow your accountant's recommendation to change the payroll details temporarily. Change it back to the standard payroll amounts and withholdings after creating the paycheck.

As an employer, it's important to make sure your employees are properly taxed. I've also attached a link you can visit to learn how to handle when employee-paid taxes are over or under-collected in QuickBooks Online Payroll: Handle overwithheld or underwithheld employee-paid taxes.

Let us know if you need further assistance creating the one-time payroll. We'll be sure to get back to you and lend a hand. Have a great day.

It'd be great to get some additional assistance with this - I can't see how best to issue a check for an overall amount that then has specific dollar amounts withheld from it, only how to change the overall salary of employees. Is this something I should contact support about? I tried before but they didn't seem to think it was possible...

I can't seem to figure out how to change the paycheck amount without changing the overall salary. Is this something support can help with? I tried contacting them a few days ago and they thought it wasn't possible, but it seems like it might be...let me know, thanks!

I'd love to get further assistance - I've tried contacting support twice about this but they seem a bit confused about the request and have concluded it's not possible to do. But it sounds like it is! Is there some way I can contact maybe support that is specifically in payroll who can walk me through the steps? I've gotten some conflicting info and really don't want to mess this up.

Hello there, ebkiln. I acknowledge how time-consuming it is to experience challenges within the program. 

Running a one-time payroll with specific dollar amount withholdings isn't available in QuickBooks. However, you can follow your accountant's workaround, which involves manually adjusting the amount and withholdings in each employee's profile for that one payroll and then reverting to the standard amounts and withholdings afterward.

If you want to engage with our payroll support for guidance, please visit this article: Contact Payroll Support.

Check out this reference to fix an employee's paycheck: Edit, delete, or void employee paychecks.

Moreover, refer to this article if you need to adjust or prorate an employee's fixed salary: Override an employee's salary.

I'm looking forward to resolving your concern. Kindly drop by again if you need further clarifications or more payroll-related inquiries. Take care.