Covid pay with ARPA - items not in payroll even with Payroll Update

Hello there, stephanieMinistryCPA.

Good job for updating QuickBooks Desktop and the latest payroll tax table. This way the system gets the recent features and fixes. 

If you used the already existing payroll items after April 1, 2021, you'll also need to correct year-to-date (YTD) additions or deductions on a paycheck when the wrong tracking type was us... to remove the amount included on paychecks dated on or after April 1, 2021, from the previous item and place it into the new payroll items set with the ARPA tax tracking types. This will make sure that taxes are tracked appropriately for leave paid on or after April 1, 2021.

1. Go to the Employees menu, then Manage Payroll Items, then select New Payroll Item.
2. Select Custom Setup, then select Next.
3. Click Addition (Employee Loan, Mileage Reimbursement), then select Next.
4. Give your pay type a name, National Paid Leave ARPA or National Paid Leave Family, then select Next.
5. Select the expense account you used to track for COVID expenses and then select Next. 
6. In the Tax tracking type window, select the paid leave type, then select Next.
7. For paychecks dated after April 1, 2021, choose National Leave ARPA - Emp or National Leave ARPA - Family.
8. In the Taxes window, select Next.
9. Under the Calculate Based on Quantity window, select Calculate this item based on Quantity, and then select Next.
10. In the Default Rate and Limit window, set the rate for the following items.
11. Ensure the Limit Type is Annual, restart each year, and then select Finish.

For the step-by-step guide to help you out with this, you can reference this article for more insights: How to track paid leave and sick time for the coronavirus. This will also give you helpful links and particular processes to set up in your account.

If you're still unable to select this option, I suggest reaching out to our Payroll Support Team so we can further walk you through setting up the payroll item. 

Let me know how it goes. I'll be right here if you need further help. Have a good one!

The client did not run any Covid pay prior to April 1st.  All of the Covid pay is July 2021 and after so I am not using any existing payroll items.  I am trying to create the correct items for pay issued under ARPA.  

I did already contact the Payroll Support Team and after 45min with a rep who was trying to get me to set up the payroll items under the guidelines prior to April 1st, the line was somehow dropped.

I did have a Brian from QuickBooks call me this AM shortly after I made this post.  Brian spoke with me for < 10min regarding the trouble I was having.  Brian said that he would need to further research the topic and get back to me.  That was almost 3 hours ago.

Wow!  How could no one else provide that response.  At any rate, I do now have the correct tax tracking types to set up the "National Leave ARPA" Payroll Item additions.  I still do not have the "Other Tax" National Leave ARPA Credit.

Nevermind, the National Paid Leave Credit is now showing up in the payroll items without me setting it up.  Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me and that it was accurate!

I am trying to set up the Company Contribution to claim the ER portion of Medicare as well as SSA.  I found the tax tracking type for National Paid Leave- Medicare, but there is no tax tracking type for National Paid Leave - SSA.  If I track the full 7.65% credit all through the National Paid Leave - Medicare type, won't that create an incorrect Form 941?

Still trying to find out why the National Paid Leave Medicare credit is not working properly.  When I set it up as indicated, it creates a negative and positive amount in the Covid-19 Expenses which offset each other and therefore no credit is tracked.  Also per ARPA, the credit should be for SSA as well.  If I try to track all through Medicare won't QB produce an inaccurate Form 941?

It's nice to have you here, stephanieMinistryCPA.

Let's make sure to correctly track the National Paid Leave Medicare Credit on the check, Form 941, and your Covid-19 expense account by following the steps provided in this article: How to track paid leave and sick time for the coronavirus

When you set up the National Paid Leave Medicare, you will owe nothing because you already have a credit and this is the reason why it offsets. If the credit for eligible paid wages has properly been created, a credit that already offsets your liability may not include the Medicare credit.

Learn more about getting tax credits after giving employees paid leave in QuickBooks: How to claim your tax credits under the Family First Coronavirus Response Act.

To check the 941 forms, you can follow the steps below:

1. Go to Reports at the top of the page.
2. Select Employees and Payroll, then Payroll Summary.
3. Next to Dates select a quarter.
4. In Show Columns, select Total only.
5. Scroll to the bottom and locate the National Paid Leave-Family item.

For more details about running the report, check out this article and proceed to NEW! Line 5a (ii) Qualified family leave wages: How QuickBooks populates the 941.

Additionally, you can also consider reading through the steps outlined in this helpful article for the steps about customizing a report for all your payroll entries: Payroll and Employee Reports in QuickBooks Desktop.

Let me know if I can help you with anything by leaving a comment below or post again. Thank you and have a great day ahead.

When you state "When you set up the National Paid Leave Medicare, you will owe nothing because you already have a credit and this is the reason why it offsets," QB is treating the Med as though the employer paid it, correct?

I have read the articles you are referencing.  None of them specify how to claim the credit for the Social Security paid by the Employer on the wages.  Please explain if somehow the whole 7.65% is to be run through the Medicare item.

Good to see you back on this thread, stephanieMinistryCPA.

You're correct in your understanding that QuickBooks is treating the Med as though the employer paid it. As my colleague Charies_M mentioned, the liability will be offset by the credit once the payroll item is set up correctly.

As for your other concern about claiming the credit for the Social Security paid by the Employees on the wages, here's an article that you can check: How to claim your tax credits under the Family First Coronavirus Response Act. It contains information on how to get your tax credits within your QuickBooks Desktop Payroll account after you've given your employees paid leave.

If you have any other questions or need further assistance. Feel free to reach back out. I'll be here to lend a hand. Take care

Specifically per irs.gov ARPA info "The amount of these tax credits is increased by allocable health plan expenses and contributions for certain collectively bargained benefits, as well as the employer's share of Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on the wages"

I was not asking about SSA paid by the employees.  Per the IRS, the SSA paid by the Employer is also to receive a credit along with Medicare paid by the employer.  I do not see any item in QB that corresponds to the ER portion of SSA.

I can share some information that can help you track those credits, @stephanieMinistryCPA. 

The paid leave is now subject to Employer Social Security tax. A credit may be taken later when you pay and file your tax forms. You'll just need to set up new payroll items. 

To check your current setup using their tools in a secure environment and further guide you in recording those credits, I suggest reaching out to our Customer Support team. 

You can follow the steps below on how to reach them:

1. From your QuickBooks Desktop account, click the Help menu at the top.  
2. Click the QuickBooks Desktop Help menu and select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. Provide some information about this concern in the search box.
4. Click the Contact Us link at the bottom of the window. 
5. You'll now be provided with a few support options.  

Our Customer Support for QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Pro and Premier is available Monday to Friday from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM (PST). For QBDT Enterprise, you can reach out anytime at any day.

Check this article for detailed guidance in reaching out to our Customer Support: Contact QuickBooks Desktop support.

You can also refer to this article for more information tracking deferrals of the employer share of Social Security tax payments: Track your deferral payments for Social Security tax payments. 

Let me know if you still have questions about your payroll items by leaving a reply below. Stay safe and enjoy the rest of the week!

I know that the paid leave is subject to ER portion of SSA.  Per the ARPA information I cited, the employer is able to claim a credit on the ER portion of Med and SSA that they pay.  I am trying to set up the new payroll items.  I am a bookkeeper and trying to assist my client.  The Help desk most often is a waste of time and they will not do a specific screen share with me because I am not on their QB Desktop account.  I am using a backup copy.  I am trying to determine how to handle this so that I am able to assist the client.

I am trying to set up the National Paid Leave- Medicare credit which shows and the National Paid Leave-SSA Credit which does not show up.  I have used the QB Utilities to rebuild the QB and have the most recent version of payroll running.  Why can no one point to why this item is missing to track the credit for SSA OR the mysterious way that QB apparently has it set up to automatically track?  It is not deferring paying the employer portion of SSA.

Hello there, stephanieMinistryCPA.

I'd like to help and make sure you can set up National Paid Leave Credit in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

Once you've set up your liability and expense accounts, you'll need to set up payroll items to track each type of paid leave found under the FFCRA.

To set up National Paid Leave & Medicare Credit:

1. Go to the Employees menu, then Manage Payroll Items, then select New Payroll Item.
2. Choose Custom Setup, then hit Next.
3. Click on Company Contribution, then Next.
4. Provide your company contribution a name, such as National Paid Leave - Medicare, and then Next.
5. On the Agency for company-paid liability screen, select COVID-19 Expenses from the Liability account dropdown, and select COVID-19 Expenses (or whatever you named the expense account) from the Expense account dropdown, and hit Next.
6. On the pop message to confirm you selected the same account, select Yes.
7. On the Tax tracking type window, choose National Paid Leave- Medicare, then Next.
8. Just click Next on the Taxes window, and then select Neither in the Calculate Based on Quantity window.
9. On the Default rate and limit window, make sure the rate is at 0.00 and then the limit 0, and select Annual, restart each year from the Limit Type dropdown, select Finish.

For National Paid Leave-SSA Credit, I recommend contacting our payroll team to explain to you in details why it doesn't show up in the set up and how it affects your taxes in Form 941.

Also, checkout this article under Step 4 to set up or confirm your new National Paid Leave Credit tax item: How to track paid leave and sick time for the coronavirus.

Let me know how it goes or if you still have other questions about it. I'll be here to help. Have a nice week!

So I am trying the QB Desktop Help desk.  The first time I received a call back I got "connected" to an expert and there was never anyone at the other end of the line.  The second time I received a call back I got Michael, who was looking into this while he had me on hold and after 10 minutes the line was disconnected.  The third time I received a call back I was being connected to a rep and the line was dropped.

Seriously, do you see why it is a total waste of time to go this route.  Why can no one explain how the employer is to claim their portion of SSA as a credit through QuickBooks Desktop payroll?  I can only find the generic "contact our payroll team" or claim the credit through the 941, etc.

Hi stephanieMinistryCPA!

I understand that you need to set up and claim the employer portion of SSA. However, we have a dedicated team who can further assist you with this. It's best to seek some help from them by clicking this link: https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/prechats/offerings/Paycheck-Protection-Program/23465/view.

You can also check these articles on how to get your tax credits and other resources about COVID-19 topics: 

• How to claim your tax credits under the Family First Coronavirus Response Act

• QuickBooks resources and tax info for businesses impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19)

Post again here if you have other questions. We'll assist you!

Here is where the help link you provided took me:

Hello there! Thank you for messaging Intuit QuickBooks Capital PPP Support. My name is Chris. I see your question here and would be glad to assist you right away!

I apologize, but you will need our payroll teams assistance in setting this up.

I'm not trained in payroll or quickbooks to aid.

I have gone through the help desk in QB Desktop 5 times today, 4 of them resulted in no one at the other end of the line and the last the gentleman looked into it for 10min and then the line was disconnected. So, how am I supposed to actually get assistance?

Seriously, is QuickBooks so big that no one knows who to contact for what anymore??

So working with support got me know where.  The first link posted was not correct.  Then I got to "Thank you for messaging Intuit QuickBooks Pro and Premier Desktop Support. My name is Cheska C."  Our client is swamped as she is filling in for missing teachers and she would not know what to ask.  This is how our chat went:

Me:  QuickBooks should be able to provide the generic information as to how the credit is realized through payroll and then reporting. I do not understand why I can find no information on it.

Is there supposed to be National Paid Leave - SSA payroll item? Or how is that credit being handled?

Cheska

I do really apologize but when it comes to payroll set up or payroll concern, we would highly suggest for the primary contact to contact us directly. You can ask her to add you on the account as an authorized user.

Me:  No, you are not hearing me. Please explain generically how QuickBooks programmers have set up the payroll portion to realize the employer portion of the ARPA credit.

Specifically for Social Security. I already know how to obtain the credit for Medicare.

Cheska:  I do really apologize but we are not allowed to divulge any information about the payroll set up.

Cheska at 12:13 PM said If you want, you can check our community website for more information about payroll.

Me: I truly don't understand. All of the instructions are listed on the blog: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/employees-and-payroll/re-covid-pay-with-arpa-items... QB is missing the information regarding how to obtain the credit for the employer portion of Social Security and that piece of information is somehow that you can't divulge it.

I have been on the community website

That is where I found all of the other information that I need to set up the credit.

The blog tells me to contact support and support tells me to go to the blog.

This is not client specific information. I work for an accountant I should be able to obtain the steps of how to assist our client so that I am able to walk them through it and they don't need to waste their time.

ChI do really apologize for the inconvenience and for the experience. You can have your client add you on the account as an authorized user. In that way, we can further assist you and not route you to our community website.

Why is this information client specific?

When all of the other portions of the ARPA credits were not.

Cheska:  It is a client specific since we need to check the payroll profile of our customer as well when it comes to payroll set up.

Me:  Then how could all of the other instructions be listed on the community blog?

Cheska:  I totally understand that but I do really apologize.

No that is not a reason. Why can all of the other details be listed except SSA?

Another 20 minutes of wasted time.

I was able to get the client to have me added as an authorized user on the QuickBooks Desktop account.  I have now spent an hour on the phone with the support, Ronnie, who has continued to pull up and provide to me the community posts that I have already read.  She is advising me that she is a 2nd tier support, yet she has no idea how QuickBooks is tracking the ER portion of SSA and then reflect it accurately as a credit on the Form 941.

I am asking for an explanation.  If QuickBooks is going to take care of the credit for the employer portion of SSA, great, but someone somewhere should be able to explain it to me.

I'm sorry it's very frustrating.  I've been dealing with the same support issue for the last 2 weeks and no one hs been able to help.  I get the same "connecting to an agent" and nobody gets on the line, or I speak to a level 1 support person that clearly cannot help me and call disconnects after 10-15 minutes.  I'm so frustrated.  I keep asking for higher level support and nothing. 

I also have questions on ARPA and need help fixing the record for an employee that was paid under the old Covid provision (not ARPA) and I need to now make the change but the year is over and don't have any more 2021 payroll to offset the additional taxes this employee should've had withheld under ARPA since there's SS,  Medicare and state withholding on the sick leave pay.

This is not the impression we want you to have, @yhtax876. I want to ensure this will be taken care of.

The National Paid Leave and associated Health Premium credits have expired, as of September 30, 2021. With that said, starting October 1, 2021, you no longer can use these items on paychecks. To adjust your payroll for previous eligible periods, you'll have to contact our support team. They use specific tools to pull up your account in a secure place and help you with the process. To know more details, please visit the IRS website.

Our phone support operating hours for QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Payroll is from Monday to Friday 6 AM to 6 PM PT. 

I've added this article for your reference in paying your employees paid leave if they’ve been affected by COVID-19: Track paid leave and sick time for the coronavirus in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

In QBDT, you can get a summary of your employee information, company finances, and payroll details by pulling up payroll reports.

I'm just a post away if you have any other QuickBooks-related concerns. Have a great day ahead.  

Hi, 

I was hoping to see an answer in the thread, but I am wondering if anyone on here is seeing the 2 articles I'm seeing, or interpreting the way I am. One says to select "calculate based on quantity" and one says to select "neither", both on October 22, 2021. Any Pros out there with any input on which one is correct? (Specifically for the National Leave - ARPA under Step 3)

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/accounting-bookkeeping/track-paid-lea...

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/accounting-bookkeeping/track-paid-lea...

Thanks for reaching out to us, FCC2.

Both articles are the same and correct. It just depends on what setup you prefer in calculating for National Paid Leave.

If you need further guidance on the steps, I would suggest consulting with your accountant to ensure your books are updated.

You might also want to learn more about how American Rescue Plan (ARPA) populates in 941. Here's an IRS guideline you can read: Instructions for Form 941.

If you have any other questions or need further assistance. Feel free to reach back out. I'll be here to lend a hand.