I made a couple of tax payments a couple of days ago, and simply need to export to QB desktop. Can't find that anywhere.

Hi there, @mgerity. The instructions I'm including below will help you export your payroll tax payments to QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

First, set your export preference in QBO Payroll to QBDT.

1. Click the Gear icon and select Payroll Settings.
2. In the Export section, click the Pencil icon on the right.
3. On the Export preferences page, choose where you want to export your transactions.
4. Select Continue in the lower-right corner.
5. Review the assigned accounts and click Done.
6. In the Export section, click on the Export transactions link. This option appears after changing the setting.
7. Follow on-screen instructions.
8. Click OK. 

Then, follow these steps to generate an IIF file for your tax payments:

1. Choose Payroll tax on the left-hand menu.
2. Select the Tax payment history report under Tax resources.
3. Filter the date for the tax payments you want to export.
4. Put a checkmark in the box for one or more payments to export.
5. Click on Export to Accounting.

It sends the file to your Downloads folder. Lastly, import the downloaded IIF file into QBDT.

1. Back up your company file. 
2. Go to the File menu, then select Utilities.
3. Select Import, then select Import IIF.
4. Choose the IIF file you want to import, then select Open.
5. Select OK to confirm the import.

You can use these resources for additional information. The other article gives payroll report lists that you can generate in the program:

• Export into QuickBooks Online or Desktop from Core, Premium, or Elite Standalone Payroll
• Run payroll reports

Don't hesitate to comment below if you need more help with exporting your transactions. I'll always have your back.

Thank you for the response and those instructions.  I ended up finding the ability to view reports, for both tax payments and payroll, filter for Not Exported, and then export the ones that haven't been previously exported.

I guess there are a few things about this that frustrate me.  Keep in mind that I was on Intuit Payroll through my bank, and was forced over to QuickBooks Payroll, which costs me twice as much as I had been paying for years and years.  I guess I would expect that paying 2x as much would have some benefit (in fact, one could argue that the new service should be 2x as good), but that just isn't the case at all.

So, there are multiple problems here:

1)  I now have to export my tax payments and payroll runs separately, whereas I could do them all together in Intuit Payroll.  Considering I have to do this with .iff files, which is massively less convenient than using .qbo, DOUBLING the amount of exporting that I have to do is very frustrating.

2) There is no "To Do" listed for unexported transactions.  Intuit Payroll listed the fact that there were unexported transactions right there in the To Do list.  This gave a very valuable reminder, and more importantly gave a direct link straight to the export page.

3)  It took me 20 minutes to find how to export transactions.  There is no link ANYWHERE that says anything about exporting.  In fact, searching the help for the word "export" gave me a result that told me I had to sign up for Quickbooks Online in order to export, which is false.  It absolutely should not be that hard to figure out how to export payroll and tax payments.

So, in all, this is kind of a wreck compared to how Intuit Payroll was.  So pleased that I am forced to spend twice as much for this.

I do not have an export preference page..help!!

Let's get your export preferences page activated in QuickBooks Online (QBO), @dhoschouer. This way, you can easily transfer your payroll data to QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

You may haven't set up your exporting preferences from your Payroll Settings that's why you don't have the page yet. To activate, you'll need to choose how you want your payroll transactions to be exported from the Accounting section (Not exporting by default). Before doing so, I'd recommend keeping a copy of your QuickBooks chart of accounts handy. You’ll need to type the account name exactly as it appears in your chart of accounts. Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Payroll settings.
2. Scroll down to the Accounting section and click the Pencil (Edit) icon on the right. 
3. On the Export preferences page, select Where do you want to export your payroll transactions (i.e., QuickBooks Desktop for Windows).
4. Select Continue. 
5. Review and update the assigned accounts.
6. Click Done. 

Then, you'll be routed back to the Payroll Settings page, and there you'll see the Export section on the list. From there, click on the Export transactions link and follow on-screen instructions to complete the setup process. 

Once you're done, follow the step-by-step guide provided by my colleague above to generate an IIF file for your payroll transactions. Then, import the downloaded file to QBDT. 

Also, to get a closer look at your business finances and employees, QuickBooks provides a variety of payroll reports. For the complete list and steps on how you can access, customize, and print these reports, I encourage you to check out this article: Run payroll reports.

Please keep me posted on how it goes in the comments below. If you have other payroll and exporting concerns, I'll gladly help. Take care, and I wish you continued success, @dhoschouer.

I do not have an export preference page..the header at the top of the page says Account Preferences - Review..

Thanks for getting back to us, @dhoschouer.

I appreciate you following the steps shared by my colleague above. Allow me to join the conversation and help make sure you're able to see the Export preferences in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

The steps above should route you to the Export preferences page. Since you're unable to see it after trying those steps, I highly suggest contacting our Support team.

They have tools such as screen-sharing (remote access) that can view your account in a secure environment and check the cause of the issue. They can also perform some troubleshooting steps if necessary.

Here's how you can reach them:

1. In QBO, click the Help (question mark) icon at the top right.
2. Type Export preferences or any topic you need help with.
3. Select Contact Us and choose a way to connect with us.

The support hours may differ depending on the QBO subscription you're using. Consider checking out this article for more information: QuickBooks Online Support.

I'm also adding these articles about exporting and importing files from QBO to Desktop and vice versa:

• Export into QuickBooks Online or Desktop from Core, Premium, or Elite Standalone Payroll.
• Export, import, and edit IIF files.

For tips and other resources, you may visit our website for future reference: Self-help articles.

If you need further assistance about exporting and importing files in QuickBooks, just let me know, and I'll get back to you right away. Have a wonderful day.

So I'm going to jump back into the conversation, and ask a question that brings us back to the OP:

Why on earth do unexported transactions not show up as a task on the To Do List?  They certainly did over on the Intuit Payroll I was using before being forced over here.  Both products are Intuit, so how did the other Intuit programmers reach the (obviously superior) conclusion that exporting transactions is a task that belongs on the To Do List, but the programmers over here failed to reach that same conclusion?

Putting the export task on the To Do List with a link to the screen to perform that task would have solved my original problem, and would mostly solve my complaint of having to go to two separate places to do the two types of exporting.  So why aren't these to do items on the To Do List?

I have had this exact same problem for over a year. I have called support on it, and it is still not fixed.  I followed all the instructions, but the tax payment is just NOT there. I can choose Not Exported, Exported, or All, for the quarter, year or month. It is just not there. Usually the tax payment shows up after the actual payment date. Annoying because I usually schedule the payment at the beginning of the month, to pay around the 13th. I do payroll on Mondays, to be paid on Friday, and those transactions show up just fine to be exported. I use Safari to run my payroll, and export it to QB for Mac.