Has anyone ever experience Quickbooks "System Administration" creating an account on its own? In my case it was another checking account, and has a Payroll Tax applied.

Hi there, @DavidMcKenize.

I'll share insights about your new account created by an unrecognized user in QuickBooks Online.

System Administration is QuickBooks itself creating an entry or a record that is triggered by an automatic task. Say you have a pending tax payment nearly due on its schedule, QuickBooks, with a user named System Administration, will attempt to prepare and file this transaction to avoid getting penalties.

With this, I recommend contacting our Payroll Care Team and letting one of our specialists know about the newly created checking account in your QuickBooks account. With their tools, one can determine why such tax payment is recorded in its register. You can do so:

1. Go to Help.
2. Select Search.
3. Click Contact Us.
4. Enter Why is a checking account automatically created in my QuickBooks with tax payments recorded in it? in the What can we help you with? text area.
5. Choose Start a chat or Get a callback to connect with our team online.

Now that you're able to identify why a new checking account with tax payments is in your account without your knowledge, here's an article to read and determine what it takes to file your taxes and forms in QuickBooks: Pay and File Payroll Taxes and Forms in Online Payroll.

For all the features and functions of QuickBooks Online, you can log in to any of our supported browser versions and use this reference for guidance: Help Articles in QuickBooks Online. Also, you're able to read subtopics that will describe how a feature is used and how to accomplish tasks related to its functions.

Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions aside from working with your online account in QuickBooks. Use the Reply option below to leave a comment and don't forget to include my name, @JonpriL. Take care always!

Thanks for the reply however it does not solve the issue at hand. I understand how the System Administraion works. What I need to know is why QBO created a new unlinked checking account. For a year I have used my linked checking account for all payroll and taxes. Last week a phantom checking account was created and a tax payment issued to it. I have not changed any settings, it also changed my payroll settings to this phantom account. I am losing faith in the system.

This isn't the kind of service we want you to experience, DavidMackenize.

I'm here to share some information on how you can view if there's someone who created an account.

It's possible that it was created as an offsetting account after a tax adjustment was applied.

You can view the audit log to verify activities record before an auto-generated account in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

1. Open the transaction you'd like to investigate.
2. Choose More.
3. Tap Audit History.
4. Hit Show All.

You can also check payroll settings to verify that it has accurate data.

1. In your QBO account, navigate to the Gear icon and hit Payroll Settings.
2. Next, choose the account that is generated.
3. Check if the info is correct and update it if necessary.
4. Once done, tap Save

If there's no tax adjustment made, I recommend reaching out to our support team. They have tools to review your concerns.

You may also check this page for other troubleshooting steps for printing paychecks, pay stubs, and forms in QBO: Troubleshoot printing paychecks, pay stubs, and forms.

Should you have any follow-up questions about the auto-generating account in QBO. I'm always around to help. Stay safe and have a good one!

Yes I know how to look at the Audit Log, QBO added an account and changed my settings.

The "HELP TEAM" has no answers and just keep saying they have excalated my case. After some exploring I see I am not the only one who has had these Phantom accounts happen to them after a QBO update. It is just really hard justifying this price when no one can provide an answer

Thanks for following up with us, @DavidMcKenize. 

So I can narrow this down a bit further, did you make any changes to payroll when this occurred? If so, what changes did you make? Also, would you mind sharing a screenshot of the created account? 

I'll be sure to keep an eye out for your reply. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Chat with you soon! 

No changes were made I have been paying payroll/taxes from the same linked Checking account for a year. Fast forward to last Saturday and this fake account was created with a single IRS Tax Payment scheduled for July 27, then a week in advance. Nothing has changed at all.

If this post without a screenshot its because Intuit will not let me as it is not a "authenticated" screenshot.

I can see how you want for QuickBooks to work the way you want it to be. I'm here to share a few information about system administration, DavidMcKenize.

Generally, the function of system administration is to assist you in maintaining system health. That's the reason why you might see changes posted in the Audit Log or anywhere in your chart of accounts. I've provided them below:
 

• When you change a record, and the change affects another record.
• When you connect a third-party app to QuickBooks and the third-party app sends data to your account, or when it makes a change to your existing data.
• When you create a recurring transaction, such as a recurring expense. When QuickBooks automatically adds an instance of the transaction to your books, a System Administration event appears in the audit log.
• When you set up other events to happen automatically, even when you’re not signed in. Like System Administration event may appear when there's an update to your bank feeds.

Also, the system administration doesn't only work in QuickBooks but to other selected software as well. Since, you're informed that this has already been escalated, I would recommend reaching out to our support team to check the status of your case. They have the tools to pull up your account in a secure environment. Here's how to reach them:
 

1. Click the (?) Help icon and enter Talk to a human (then type it again when prompted).
2. When asked by the bot, enter your concern
3. Select I still need a human, then proceed with Contact us or Get help from a human.
4. Choose either Chat or Callback.
    

This should keep you going with your payroll. In addition, you may want to take a closer looks at your payroll information. There are several reports that you can use to view your business and employees data. I've added this article for your guide: Run Payroll Reports In QuickBooks Online Payroll.

Feel free to get back to us if you have any concerns about system administration. We're here to help you as always. 

Yes I have experienced this and have been so very frustrated to try and fix this and all the transactions that are going being synced into both accounts.  Quickbooks support is no help.  No one can seem to figure out what happened.  How did you get this escalated to a higher department?   

Hi there, @ryeclan. I want to make sure you get the help you need.

To ensure we're on the same page, can you provide more details about the specific issue you encountered? Any extra information is appreciated.

We are looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great day!