After being told repeatedly that banking information has to be set up in order to "potentially" view the report, I inquired if setting up a dummy account would suffice as a work-around. Tech support wasn't sure if this would work, but low and behold, it actually worked. In order to make the liability payment, you will need to use "Create Custom Payments."

Perhaps their next update will correct the issue :)

After the last update I can't even get that to work. What version of QuickBooks are you using?

Got the same error and am having the same problem.  The only payment option showing for Virginia Unemployment is EPay.  I pay through the state website and have no desire to use QB to make my payments.  This error only began occurring after the most recent payroll update.  We now have no way to even get the VEC 20 quarterly unemployment form to open without setting up EPay.  We have one week to file our forms and pay our taxes for the first quarter of 2021.  We need a solution to this problem immediately. 

Fake bank account is working as a work around!  Thank you so much!!!!  I don't know what I would do without the amazing members of this community!

I am having the exact same problem.  I've read all the posts and tried all your fixes but it still won't let me change the payment method.  Writing a check isn't an option and I keep getting a constant error message that there is data missing when I do payroll.  This just happened with the new update.  

Let's hope they get this fixed soon!!!!  So annoying.

Hello @JustJean,

I appreciate you for getting in touch with us about QuickBooks E-Pay. I would feel the same way too in that situation if the ability to change the payment method is unavailable.

Since we comply with the VA regulations, we're aware of the changes in the program. As of now, it's mandated by the state to use e-pay for the payments. It's the reason why there's no option to change the information in QuickBooks.

Also, you usually encounter an error message if there is missing payroll information that you need to complete within the system. To get rid of any issues, I recommend running the Payroll Setup Wizard feature.

This helps ensure that all necessary information is entered or set up correctly in QuickBooks. Please follow these steps:

1. Click the Employees tab at the top menu bar.
2. Select Payroll Setup.
3. Complete the setup. 

For additional reference, you can use the following article to learn about the recent payroll updates for each Desktop version, as well as the changes to the tax tracking types in QuickBooks: Latest payroll news and updates.

Please know that I'm just a post away if you have any other questions regarding making tax payments and running payroll. Take care.

I realize that it is mandatory to efile.  However, I file electronically through their website whish is how I prefer.  Please make the change to allows us NOT to efile through QuickBooks.  Thank you.

Thank you for taking the time to look into this problem. I do understand that e-filing is required by Virginia and appreciate that QB updated the payroll to comply. Since we do not wish to pay through QB, will just continue with the work around.

Providing the best experience with the product is what we aim for, JustJean and kjq.

The e-pay and e-file services for 940,941 and 944 taxes are design for a quick and easy way to pay and file your payroll taxes. Also, payments and filings are not submitted automatically, you must submit forms and payments. If these features are not being used by your business and are something our engineers need to look into, just submit product suggestions by following these steps:

1. Go to the Help menu and choose Submit Feedback Online.
2. Select Product Suggestion.
3. Fill out the form, then click Send Feedback to submit your suggestion.

Your valuable feedback goes to our Product Development team to help improve your experience in QuickBooks. To keep updated with any upcoming QuickBooks updates and enhancements, feel free to visit these blogs:

• QuickBooks Resource Center
• The QuickBooks Blog 

You can always post again if you have questions about your account. I'll also address other QucikBooks concerns you might have. Have a great day ahead. 

A lot of us already have accounts and pay through E-file (the states filing and payment system) which is what the new regulation required.  We should be able to have the choice to continue to pay through the state's online system and not be required to pay through QB only. 

I am also having the same issue with the VA Unemployment tax. I have filed electronically with VEC but I can not get my quickbooks to record the payment by check. I have tried everything suggested but the option to change filing method does not work as the option for check is no longer there - only epay. I do not want to have quickbooks pay this electronically. I want to do it myself and record the check. This must have happened with the last update. INTUIT fix this issue ASAP!!!! This is so aggravating and has caused me to waste valuable time trying to fix it. I don't suppose INTUIT would like refund me for the time lost trying to fix this INTUIT created problem. 

Yes Virginia has us file electronically (by the way this has been the way we have filed for years), so we file electronically and then I come back to quickbooks and was able to record the payment by check (not printing it just recording it). Now I can not record the payment. What is up? Please fix this issue.

Hello there, @Bobepp.

Thank you for reaching out to us. Let me help you with E-payments.

An update from the state of Virginia can sometimes be the reason for your issue. As a workaround, you can add a dummy bank account and you can also follow these steps:

1. Click on VA Unemployment.
2. Choose between E-Filing or Printing.
3. Click on Print. 
4. Select Save.

You can read this article for the detailed steps of adding a bank account: Set up bank accounts for Bank Feeds in QuickBooks Desktop.

Let me know if you need further help. Stay safe and have a good one!.

Apparently you are not reading the posts.  There is NO OPTION to print a check.  Therein lies the problem that needs to be addressed by QuickBooks.  If it was as simple as changing that option, I would have done it a long time ago.

Hi, JustJean,

I can see that my colleague AlcaeusF has already responded to your concern about being unable to change the filing method for the state of VA.

You can follow the workaround shared by H Frame as it works on their company file.

Also, I recommend following our QuickBooks Blog page to keep you in the loop with what's new and coming.

Stay in touch by commenting below if you need additional information about this. I'll be right here whenever you have follow-up questions.

QB does not give me the option to mail check, I just want to manually sign into my VA account and process and pay my VEC. I DO NOT need Quickbooks to do it for me!

We have got to have a solution to this NOW! Filing is Due next week.  All I need right now is the report information so I can go through my VEC account!

I've spent a total of 7 hours on chat with the Premium level support team and FINALLY someone admitted that it was part of the payroll update and that QuickBooks did it on purpose because the VA Employment Commission told them efile and pay is mandatory.  The ridiculous part is that the VEC has mandated this for about 2 years now, so we had already setup all of our VA clients to e-file and pay directly on the VEC website.  The support team also informed me that there's no way to change it (they gave me some multi-step crazy way that I could go in and "record" the payment, but it still won't let me view the form without a bank account setup for e-pay).  Also, IF you do choose to setup the e-pay through QuickBooks, it won't let you schedule a settlement date for the payment to draft, so instead of being able to start filing quarterlies at the first of July for 2nd QTR, I'll have to either wait until closer to the end or tell my client that it's going to draft whenever I file it.  This is STUPID!  TN SUTA has been mandatory to e-file and e-pay for YEARS!  And QB still produces the form with a simple warning at the top that says, TN requires this be e-filed, Do not mail.  Why can VA not be done the same way???

Nancy, see my latest post today.  I've spent hours and hours with support and basically it can't be fixed.  They finally admitted that updating it over and over wasn't going to change anything since they actually did it on purpose.

Intuit needs to roll back this change.  I still had several payrolls to finish for the quarter, so I've tried all kinds of scenarios and NOTHING works to fix it back to the way we've always done it.....just filing on the VEC website and then recording the payment in QB.

Thank you for describing so thoroughly!  I finally caved in on one account yesterday and just setup the e-pay.  I went through the whole process and filed, got confirmation printout and everything, but now it shows the payment in the E-payment section as "Complete" AND STILL shows the payment in the Pay Liabilities window as still needing to be paid!!!  And don't get me started on dealing with this in APRIL!!!!!!!

The second I click on the form or the liability, it just gives me an error message that says "In order to perform this task, you must first setup a bank account for e-pay"

VA is NOT the only state that requires e-file and e-pay!!!  But with other states, it still allows you to choose "check" and record the payment.  QB just gives a warning about the state requirement....None of the others that I've done require E-file and E-pay THROUGH QuickBooks!  And we regularly do TN and NC payroll filings.