Colorado FAMLI act

Thanks for taking the time to reach out to us, Wideopenspaces.

This isn't the kind of experience that we want you to have when using the payroll function. We have also taken note of your feedback about how the system is set up for the new rate for Colorado Paid Medical and Family Leave.

According to the details that was provided by the state:

• The total contribution rate is 0.9% and is paid on the first $160,200 in wages.
• Your employees pay 0.45% (or 50% of the 0.9%). Your business may choose to pay some or all of the employee portion as a benefit to your employees.
• If you have 10 or more employees, your business pays 0.45%. If you have 9 employees or less, you don’t pay an employer portion.

With that, enter 0.45% for the employee portion and the remaining 0.45% in the company side if you pay a portion of it. Here's an article about this for more details: Set Up Colorado Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (FAMLI).

I would also recommend sending feedback to our product engineers about the instructions given on how to set up the item. Customer suggestions and feature requests are reviewed when new updates are designed. Here's how:

1. Go to the Help menu and hover your mouse to Send Feedback Online. 
2. Select Product Suggestion.
3. Enter all required details and your feedback as well.
4. Click Send Feedback. 

Let me know if that answers your question on how the tax should be set up. The Community is always here if you need anything else. 

Yes I think most of us in Colorado understand exactly how this is supposed to work.  What is extraordinarily frustrating is that QB doesn't seem to understand how it works - or the instructions aren't clear to most of us - or it just doesn't work - or something.  Spent hours today playing with numbers in the Other tab.  Just couldn't make it work until I set up my own payroll item.  Sigh...maybe I just don't understand how QB expects it to be set up.  The article to set it up was not helpful to me.  Perhaps it makes sense to others but it just didn't work for me.  I would recommend QB do some examples with numbers that are most likely to be used in the real world - the employee pays .45% and the employer pays .45%.  In my circle of small businesses everyone is sharing the cost with their employees.  I can't imagine why an employer would pay half of the employee share of .45%. Weird example in my world.

QuickBooks is not the issue.  The instructions are.  The 0.9% is setup correctly.  So, follow the instructions below:

1. Double click an employee profile

2. Select Payroll Info

3. Select Taxes tab

4. Select Other Tab

5. Select (highlight) the Item Name: CO - Paid Fam Med Leave Emp. In the Section below it reads "Print on W-2 as:" ENTER COFAMLI.  In the field directly below titled "Emp. Portion Rate" ENTER 0.45%

6. Repeat Step 5 and Select (highlight) the Item Name: CO - Paid Fam Med Leave Co."  In the Section below it reads "Print on W2- as: ENTER: COFAMLI.  In the field directly below titled "Co. Portion Rate" ENTER 0.45%.  PLEASE NOTE:  If the Company has 9 or less Employees instead of Entering 0.45% for the Co. Portion Rate ENTER 0%. 

7. Select Ok, Ok and DONE!

Hello,

Our company will pay half and employee will pay half.  We went through the steps of running the Payroll updates.  We too went into each employee and did the 7 steps described above.  However, when we look at the Payroll Item list,  the two Items:

CO-Paid Fam Med Leave CO.

CO-Paid Fam Med Leave Emp. 

Have under the "Amount" column 0.9% for EACH item and we don't know how to change that 0.45%.  We are concerned that when it comes time for the quarterly payment to state of CO, Quickbooks will use the incorrect rate.  Has anyone else encountered this and did you get it resolved?

Appreciate any help on this...

Thanks for checking in with us, SallyA1.

We can change your employee or company percentage to 0.45% portion. Simply follow the steps outlined below:

1. Go to Employees, and select Employee Center.
2. Double-click your employee.
3. Click Payroll Info.
4. Select Taxes, then tap the Other tab.
5. Choose the CO - Paid Fam Med Leave Co. In Co. Portion Rate, enter your business rate (no decimals). For example: if you want to pay 50% of your employee’s 0.45% portion (you pay 0.225% and your employee pays 0.225%), enter 25.
6. Hit CO - Paid Fam Med Leave Emp. In Emp. Portion Rate, enter your employee rate (no decimals). For example: if you want to pay 50% of your employee’s 0.45% portion (you pay 0.225% and your employee pays 0.225%), enter 25.
7. Hit OK twice.
8. Repeat steps 2 - 7 for each covered employee.

If you had already generated paychecks using the old rate, we could apply a liability adjustment in QuickBooks Desktop to fix it. We can establish a reimbursement item and add it to your employee’s next paycheck if they are paying a lot at the old rate. Here's an article you can refer to for more details about setting up Colorado Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (FAMLI).

Lastly, to look for sources and articles that you can bookmark for future use, please visit our QuickBooks Help page. Simply type a keyword related to your situation into the search box or choose one of the categories that are provided.

Keep me posted by leaving a comment below if you need anything else with managing your payroll. I'm always here to help. Take care always.