Can I remove a state that I do not pay taxes to?

Hello, @useremployment.

I'll yield some knowledge about states in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Yes, you can remove the state by inactivating it by going to the Payroll Settings. But before doing that, make sure that no active employees are currently assigned to the work location. Once confirmed, please follow the steps below. 

1. Go to the Gear icon, then choose Payroll Settings.
2. Under Company and Account, click Work Locations.
3. Select the exact state, then mark the Inactive checkbox.
4. Hit Save.

I've attached great articles that you can check out about archiving forms, managing taxes, and other relevant topics. 

• Archive old forms
• Taxes
• About multistate employment payroll situations

Feel free to reach back out to me should you need anything else about QuickBooks. I'd be happy to help you out. Have a great day ahead.

I do not see any option for Work Locations. 

I never added California.  We are based in MN and only work and operate in Minnesota.  I just switched from Desktop to Online.  My accountant and I have been trying to figure out how to get rid of the state of CA since neither of us added it to my company's profile.

Thanks for getting back to us, useremployment.

There's a possibility that you're using the new interface for Payroll settings. You might be able to see it under the General tax section.

If you're still unable to locate and delete the other work location, I'd recommend contacting out Payroll Support Team. They can review your payroll subscription and help you delete the work location. You can reach them using this link: Contact Payroll Support.

Let us know how this goes so we can further assist you.

Did ANYONE solve this? I have the same problem and payroll support can see the issue but not resolve it. I do NOT WANT automatic payments/report to a state where I DO NOT OWE TAX

I can provide additional information about automatic tax payments and form filings, @Dsimm54057.

You can also follow the steps provided by MichelleBh and JamesDuanT above on how to remove your state from the active work locations to exclude it from the automatic tax payments and form filings in QuickBooks Online. 

If you're referring to automatic tax payments and form filings? If so, you can turn this feature off from your Payroll Settings. You can now handle your taxes manually and no longer have the feature to automate tax payment and form filing. 

Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear icon ⚙ and pick Payroll Settings.
2. In the Taxes and forms section, clear the Automate taxes and forms checkbox.
3. Select Save.

Here's more information about turning off automatic tax payments and form filings.

See the following reference for more information about multistate employment situation: About multistate employment payroll situations.

Let me know if you still have questions about automatic payments. I'm always here to help you out. Take care and have a great rest of the day!

I have same problem but I'm using QB Pro 2019. What would be the solution in that case?

Glad to see you in the Community, NICFM.

I'll be glad to share what I know about tax payments. 

For employees who live or work in a state that is not set up in QuickBooks Desktop, you can set up the applicable payroll items for the new state and remove them in the employee profile.

Check on this article for you to be guided on how to set up payroll taxes in a new state.

You can also read check on this article to get answers to your payroll tax payment and filing questions .

Don't hesitate to come back to the Community if you have other questions about tax payment. I'm more than happy to help out again.

I have follow the steps provided by both employees of Intuit.

I do not see any option to make any state inactive.  I am starting to feel frustrated.  And I am starting to wonder if Intuit, knows that there is an issue and is not fixing it for some nefarious reason.

Can you please provide a walk through under the "New" updated payroll system?

Hi MrBurnside,

I don’t want you to feel frustrated, and I want to help you remove the state that has nothing to do with your taxes. But, let us understand first why a liability exists for a state so that we'll know which settings to adjust.

A state tax liability will come out if it's in your company address, payroll settings (esp. work location), or if it's in your employee's address and state tax in their W4. For example, if an employee is living in another state.

I'm sure you know how to check your company's address in the Company settings and to change the work location, as discussed in the previous reply. So, let's proceed to the addresses of your employees. To check them, you can run the Employee Details report, and then edit the employee with the wrong address.

If the liability is still there, please contact our Payroll Support. They'll be able to do a screen-sharing session to see your payroll setup. That way, they can also verify if this is an ongoing issue or not.

Always feel free to visit us back here when you need help with your payroll or with other topics. Have a good one!

I had the same issue - what fixed it was following the steps earlier for turning off "automate taxes and forms" that was listed above. I turned it off and California went away. Turning it back on, California didn't come back. What a strange glitch!

So frustrated!  I can't get rid of state, that we aren't in and no one lives in.  We just need it gone.  Everything mentioned, does not work on QBO.  I reached out yesterday, to support and they kept hanging up calls and chats.  This just needs to be taken care of.

I am experiencing the exact same frustration with QuickBooks Online - none of the suggestions above work (the UI is mostly NOT what is present in QBO) and Automated form filing was already off.

Surely there is a way to do this? Even if the worst case is calling customer support to have them do it manually?

Hi jfletch2!

Thanks for joining us here. Allow me to assist you with the additional state showing on your account.

One of the reasons why there's showing a different state on your account is that you added an employee from that state. Even if that employee is no longer active, the state will still appear on the account to make sure that data is accurate and intact. To verify, pull up, and review the Employee Details from the Reports menu and make sure to set the filters to All (All Employees, All Work Locations, etc).

You can delete the employee as long there's no paycheck or any payment history. Then, the state will also be removed. 

1. From the Payroll menu, select Employees.
2. Search and select the employee and click Edit Employee.
3. Click Delete, then Yes to confirm.

If you paid that employee before, the system won't allow us to remove them nor the state. For your reference, here's how to make an employee inactive: Terminate or change your employee's status on payroll. 

In addition to the work location shared by my colleagues, you won't be able to see it if you're on a full-service plan. You'll need to contact our Payroll Experts so they can remove it for you.

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

Do you need to run payroll reports? Here's an article for the detailed steps: Run payroll reports.

Comment again here if you have additional concerns. Take care!

Intuit Support - 

As many other customers voiced frustration, there should be an easy method to remove the state from the filing requirements once employee in that state is terminated or no longer active on the payroll.  Instead you make it extremely difficult if not outright impossible. Meanwhile it continues to incur charges for out of state filing ($288/yr/state).  We have been paying these unwarranted charges for almost 4 years!  This is a bad business practice and sooner or later someone will file a class action to recover these fees! 

Hi all, I too have been so frustrated. I finally saw the answer that suggested looking at all the employee addresses - sure enough I had a new hire that put his mailing address from another state and that triggered the payroll service to think we needed to file taxes in that state   I fixed the error by putting in an address in our state and the additional State Filing was gone 

I've called into Quickbooks online payroll support on multiple occasions to get 2 states that I had an employee in 3 years ago turned off so the automated requirements to send money and filings stop.  Both employees in those 2 states are shown as terminated, and i even updated the employment location to be another state.  There are NO employees in the states that I can't remove.  However, they still keep coming up in my Taxes - Payroll, and forcing me to send epayments for $0.  

I spent 1 hour on the phone last week with a quickbooks online payroll support rep who made me repeat what the problem was 6-7 times (she couldn't understand) then told me after one hour she couldn't help me and would escalate the ticket.  Then at the end of the call asked how she did and I said you didn't resolve the ticket, so she didn't send me a survey.  Then yesterday I got a call back from someone else from quickbooks asking if they solved the problem that I reported last week, and I said no, and after another hour of trying to explain it she said she can't help me.  I just got another survey today about the issue, but I can't click any of the boxes to leave a survey.

If I didn't have to spend 1 hour on the phone each time talking to someone who doesn't understand the product well it would be less painful.  I've also in the past had a quickbooks support person disconnect all 15 states we're in right at the end of the year when all the payments and forms are due, and I had to manually pay and file every single document in every state while they reconnected all the states.  I'm petrified of any Quickbooks Online person making changes that doesn't know what they're doing.

Please help me disconnect 2 states without all the hassle.

This is not the impression we want you to experience when using our Payroll service, Chris7771. 

I appreciate the time and effort you've spent with one of our support agents to get this sorted out. I'll personally share your feedback with our team regarding this one. We'll be able to take action on improving our customer service. If you haven't inactivated the work location in QuickBooks Online (QBO), just follow the steps below: 

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Click Payroll Settings.
3. Under Company and Account, click Work Locations.

4. Select Work Locations.

5. Mark the Inactive checkbox.

6. Tap Save.

To learn more about assigning a new work location, see the Set up and assign a new work location article. If the same thing happens, I'd suggest contacting our Payroll Support Team. I know you already contacted us however, this is the best thing we can do for them to further investigate what's causing this issue. Just provide the reference number provided by the previous agent for our team to review your case.

You may call us at a time convenient to you, or we’ll get in touch with you instead. To ensure we address your concern, our representatives are available from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays and 6:00 AM - 3:00 PM on Saturdays, PST. See our support hours and types for more details about this one. Here's how:

1. Go to the Help icon on the top right. 
2. Enter your concern in the search field.
3. Choose Talk to a human.
4. Click the OK. To get you to the right human, in a few words, tell me what you need help with option and tap I still need a human. 
5. Press Contact us.
6. Tick Continue. 
7. Choose Chat or Get a callback.

Also, I'm adding our Tax forms page for more insights about and managing your tax forms in QuickBooks. Feel free to visit our Payroll page for more insight about managing your payroll transactions in QuickBooks. 

Please update us after trying the steps or contacting our support as I'd like to ensure this is resolved for you. Just leave a comment below and I'll be back with you. You have a good one. 

I am on the phone with Quickbooks Online Payroll right now.  They used my phone number to look up my account.  They asked for my email for verification.  They said that the email i gave doesn't match the decision maker email that is on my account.  I went to my account page to confirm it's my email and it was.  After an hour chatting with the rep and using glance so she could see what i was talking about, she realized that somehow when I added my last employee to payroll online, it made their email the decision maker on my account!!!  She said to wait while she's creating a ticket for her manager for how entering an employee in quickbooks payroll would give them decision maker access to my account.  

Oh my god!  After being on the phone with quickbooks support for an hour she now told me that her boss said i need to call back because I didn't provide her with the correct credentials when I called in the first time.  So because the last employee I added somehow made them decision maker on my account that I now need to hang up after being on the phone for an hour, call in and use the new employees email they added as decision maker to confirm so I can then ask the next person i get to remove them as decision maker on my account.

I'm literally beyond words.  I am in 15 states with a ton of employees and this is what Quickbooks support has turned into.

Since Quickbooks Online changed their payroll UI, when I click Payroll Settings, I don't see option 3 ("Company and Account - Work Locations").  That's the way the payroll used to look.  I'm not given those options anymore.  Is there a reason those were taken away?  Could it be my payroll subscription (I'm using Quickbooks Online Payroll Core)

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Click Payroll Settings.
3. Under Company and Account, click Work Locations.

4. Select Work Locations.

5. Mark the Inactive checkbox.

6. Tap Save.

I appreciate you reaching out here in the Community, @Chris7771. Let me share some information about your concern.

Yes, you're correct it's because of your subscription. The steps you’ve provided is for Payroll Enhanced while the subscription you are using is QuickBooks Online Payroll Core. The interface varies, depending on the subscription you're using.

You can contact support to get insights with regards to your subscription. This way they’ll be able to look into the situation and dig deeper into it.

Let me know if you have other concerns by leaving a comment below. I'll be around to lend you a hand. Keep Safe!

That sounds bizarre that Quickbooks doesn't provide users using Quickbooks Online Payroll Core a way to remove states they no longer have employees in.  Don't you feel that functionality should be able to all users of the Online Payroll system?

Hi there, Chris7771.

Let me share additional information about deleting work locations.

As mentioned above, the user interface of the program may slightly vary depending on your payroll subscription. For the Core, Premium, and Elite versions, you would need to contact our payroll supports. This way, we'll be able to pull up your account and then delete or deactivate the work location for you.

Although I understand that you need to remove the states that no longer have employees on your end. To help improve your experience in QuickBooks Online, I encourage sending feedback to our Product Development Team. Your ideas and suggestions will help us monitor what functionalities our customers need, want, and expect Here's how:

1. Sign in to your QBO account.
2. Click the Gear icon, then choose Feedback.
3. Enter your comments and product suggestions.
4. When you're done, click Next to submit feedback.

I've also attached some articles that will help you in managing your employees' information and work locations;

• Edit or change employee info in payroll

• Set up and assign a new work location

Feel welcome to visit the Community again with any concerns or questions you may have. We're always here to help

As you suggested, Yes, I've contacted payroll support 5 separate times.  All 5 times have been on the phone for over one hour.  All 5 times they said they were going to create a case and escalate it.  All 5 times I never heard back again.  All 5 times I never got a survey emailed to me as to my experience with them solving this issue.

qbo payroll core added a state that does not relate to any of our employees or the company. At all, ever. This fact has been acknowledged by multiple support at qb payroll online but no one has removed the state. This is disgusting way to run a program. The user has to constantly check to see if someone miraculously has removed the state. There was absolutely no reason for the state to get listed. What's up with this?