IRA payroll set up

Good morning, @texaslonghorns.

Welcome to the Community. I'm here to get you on the right track.

There are two ways that you can set up a payroll item for retirement benefits.

• EZ Setup (uses standard settings)
• Custom Setup (allows editing of settings)

For more details on how to set up the item in QuickBooks, I recommend checking out: Set up a payroll item for retirement benefits (401(K), Simple IRA, etc.).

Once you have the payroll item added, you'll need to add it to the employee record. Here's how:

1. Click the Employees menu at the top, then choose the Employee Center.
2. Double-click the employee to open the Edit Employee window.
3. Hit the Payroll Info tab.
4. In the Additions, Deductions and Company Contributions section:
   • Select under Item Name to bring up drop-down list.
   • Choose the new payroll item for the retirement plan.
5. Check the box for Employee is covered by a qualified pension plan, if the employee participates in an IRA plan.
6. Hit OK.

If you have further questions, feel free to reach back out. I'm always happy to get you back to business. Take care and have a great week ahead!

I followed this process.  The item I added is an allowance that needs to be added to taxable income and also used in our Simple IRA calculations.  It is calculating correctly as far as the amount. But it is not being added to total wages for purposed of calculating IRA deductions and company match.

Thanks for giving us a follow-up, CindyW2.

I appreciate your effort in following the process of setting up IRA payroll set up. Since the amount is not adding to the total wages, I suggest contacting Payroll Support. This way they can review your Payroll set-up to make sure calculations are accurate.

Here are the steps to contact support:

1. Click Help at the top menu and select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
2. In the Have a Question? window, enter a topic.
3. Click Contact us.
4. Hit the Stat Messaging button.
   

Our operating hours for chat support depend on the version of QuickBooks that you're using. Please see this article for more details: Support hours and types.
 

You might also want to visit our help page to browse articles that can guide you with your QuickBooks tasks. To get started head to our QBDT help articles at this link.

Keep me posted on other payroll questions and I'll be around to further help. Have a good day.

I am wondering if there was a solution to this request.  We have added a "benefit allowance" to the employee's paycheck and the 401(k) contribution is not counting the allowance even though it's set up as compensation.  Hoping there was an answer to your question as mine looks to be the same situation.

I appreciate you joining this thread concerning setting up compensation in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), @lmbart. Let me route you to the correct line of support that can assist you with payroll setup.

Since the amount is not counted as compensation even though it is set up as one, I suggest contacting Payroll Support. This way, they can review your payroll setup to make sure the calculations are accurate. Here's how:

1. From your QuickBooks Desktop account, click the Help menu at the top.
2. Click the QuickBooks Desktop Help menu and select Contact Us.
3. Provide information about this concern in the search box, then select Continue.
4. Sign in to your Intuit account and tap Continue. Afterward, select Continue with my account.
5. Please enter the code that will be sent to you via email and select Continue.
6. From there, could you select how you want to connect with us? It’s either to chat with us or Have us call you.

On the other hand, you can refer to this article for their support hours and schedules to contact them at your convenience. This article also includes their contact number at the bottom of the page: Contact Payroll Support.

Keep me posted on any other payroll inquiries you may have, and I'll be available to offer further assistance. Have a good one!

Hello!  Have you looked into the order of the payroll items in the employee's setup - Payroll Info tab?  I believe this had caused issues for us in the past as we had the retirement plan payroll item listed after the Health insurance deduction, therefore, the retirement plan amount was calculating after deducting the health from the gross wages.  By placing the retirement plan payroll item before the health deduction item, the amount was calculating correcting off of gross wages (before the health deduction).  Hope this gives you some direction and it solves your particular issue!