FICA and SS deductions

Hi there.

To change the percentages deducted for FICA and SS in QuickBooks Desktop, you can edit the Medicare and Social Security. However, the rates are fixed, but you can still change the info on the taxes. Let me walk you through it by going to the Payroll Item List.

Here's how:

1. Open QuickBooks Desktop.
2. Click Lists on the top menu, then select Payroll Item List.
3. You can see different item lists that you can change.

The current tax rate for Social Security is 6.2% for the employer and 6.2% for the employee, or 12.4% total. The current rate for Medicare is 1.45%. If everything is good, and you still notice that the amounts deducted are incorrect, autocorrect may be triggered. You can run the Payroll Summary Report to check if your employee is over/under-withheld during the last payroll.

Here's how:

1. Go to Reports from the top menu.
2. Select Employees & Payroll, then click Payroll Summary.
3. Change the Date to filter the date period.

You can also review your year-end checklist for QuickBooks Desktop Payroll. You can use this to prepare your tax forms.

If you have further concerns besides changing the deduction amount of FICA and SS, please feel free to reply below. It would be my pleasure to assist you always.

@MarkAngeloG  RE: To change the percentages deducted for FICA and SS in QuickBooks Desktop, you can edit the Medicare and Social Security.

What? No you can't!  The rates are fixed and controlled by the payroll service. They always have been. For 35 years. What have you been smoking?

For some reason, 2 of our 6 employees are being charged way more than a correct amount of FICA and Medicare withholdings. There are software glitches. I just don't want to be on the phone with Quickbooks to resolve it. It's not foolproof. 

Thanks for joining this thread, mejustme. I'm here to share some insights and help you fix the issue with incorrect calculations for your payroll tax deductions in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

I suggest ensuring you have the latest release of your tax table and that your QBDT is up-to-date. This way, you'll always have the latest features and fixes.

One possible reason why your FICA and Medicare deductions are calculated incorrectly is because of their separate wage base limits for Social Security and Medicare taxes. You can run a tax and wage summary report to verify if they have reached the limit you set up to withhold for a certain period.

Furthermore, I suggest checking the setup of your payroll item first before reviewing your payroll summary report for your payroll runs.

If the payroll item is set accordingly, follow these steps to review the payroll run:

1. Go to the Reports menu.
2. Choose Employees & Payroll, then click Payroll Summary.
3. Change the filters to display the paychecks.

If everything is accurately set up, you can revert your employees' paychecks and recreate them to ensure taxes are calculated correctly. Let me show you how:

1. Go to the Employees menu then select Pay Employees.
2. Tap Scheduled Payroll or Unscheduled Payroll.
3. Click Resume Scheduled Payroll. You’ll see some employees’ names highlighted in yellow. These are the employees that have had changes.
4. Right-click on the employee name that’s highlighted in yellow.
5. Click Revert Paychecks.

After that, recreate those paychecks and review if the FICA and Medicare withholdings are calculated correctly.

Leave us a comment if you still need help or have other questions about payroll deductions in QBDT. We're always here to help. Have a wonderful day!