Occupational codes

Thanks, but I'm in WA and they now require SOC codes for Q4 2022.  Yes there's many issues by not being able to edit the codes from the employee center.  When you have 65+ employees it's a pain.  One issue is any employee without an email address you are forced to check the box to add email later and then when you hit NEXT it prompts you to verify that you want to skip adding an email address.  Not a problem for one person but when most employees don't have an email entered it's extremely annoying.  It also takes several minutes to load payroll setup, and every time you get interrupted and have to back out, you have to load it all up again.  Also this means every time you add a new employee you'll have to load Payroll Setup separately just to add a SOC code, which is extremely unintuitive when everything else is Employee Center This is yet another thing I'll add to the list of annoying things that Intuit never does anything about, almost like they don't actually use the software, and instead of fixing the hundreds of things that are used constantly they re-work the UI and add more features with more problems.  I still can't figure out why they can't total the quantity column on most reports and I'm forced to export to excel so I can total it.  I've been using QB for 12+ years and all these problems persist.

Not only is the only way to enter the code, which cannot be entered using the actual code, but you have to use the name instead, another total nuisance, it isn't populating the UI Quarterly form correctly either.  Any Idea when QuickBooks Desktop will correct the Washington State form to show the correct code, or when the code will be added to the Employee tax information page or an option to print on the Employee List Report? And better yet, when will the sick pay be excluded from the wage reported?

I would love to know this as well. You posted this question 3 weeks ago. Any response from QB help yet?

Hi poppyseed,

Thank you for joining the conversation. We haven't got any updates right now other than the article that my colleague shared above. No changes in QB for occupational codes as of the moment.

If you have other questions, feel free to go back to this thread.

Now what I have been told is that they will not be supporting SOC codes in QB Desktop, only online and assisted payroll. When I asked to submit feedback, because that is definitely not ok, I was told that it doesn't matter because it is a limitation of the product so it won't be fixed.

Do you agree whith that? Will QB desktop payroll not support your washington state clients with this to help us remain compliant?

Not just Washington. Apparently, Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana and West Virginia also require the Standard Occupation Code in their Quarterly Reports.

Thanks for joining this thread, @poppyseed, and @Rose72.

I can see that the option to set up occupational codes is a crucial feature for any business. As mentioned by my colleagues above, we haven't received any updates about this matter.

Discovering new ways to adapt to our customer’s needs is how QuickBooks gets even better. Your feedback helps our Product Development team determine which feature will be implemented in the next future update. The change is also based on how popular a specific feature request is. 

Additionally, I'll be sharing this articles that can help you manage your payroll in QuickBooks:

• Set up occupational codes for employees
• Set up and manage payroll schedules

Feel free to comment below if you have further concerns with handling your employee and payroll in QuickBooks. I'll be around to help. Keep safe!

Agreed!  This is a major pain!  There's a perfect place for the codes to be entered in the employee record - in the Taxes tab where you mark the state worked, under that is a "Miscellaneous Data" section.  It would be so easy to have a field populate there when a state that is required by law to use an occupational code is selected that the number, not words can be entered.

Is there a report yet to see the employee's names and SOC codes? According to another QB article, "The Washington Department of Employment Security requires Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes for employees. You can set up these occupational codes in QuickBooks so it shows on the Quarterly Employee Wage Report."

If the Quarterly Employee Wage Report is the UI report, this is not helpful as most of the codes assigned to employees are incorrect on that form despite them being correct in the payroll setup page.

Ref: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/employee-management/set-occupational-....

I just printed my quarterly report from QB Desktop and the occupation codes are completely shuffled around despite verifying that they are correct their Employee record.  So that was a complete waste of time.  Not only that, but now my Washington state L&I rates are lopped off, not for all employees, seemingly randomly, from 5 decimal place to 2 decimal places.  And now I have to go back to each record and 'fix' again.  I am not entirely sure how to describe how this might have happened, but occurs every time I enter the Employee Setup.   

Hello there, @MAGC. I want to ensure you'll be able to fix the occupational codes and state rates of your employees in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

Thanks for sharing the details of your concern. To start, let's first ensure that your QBDT program is updated to the latest release as well as the payroll tax table. This will make sure that you have the latest components and fixes for any odd behaviors when running payroll. 

If the same thing happens, we can perform some troubleshooting steps to correct the occupational codes in the report. This process helps fix odd behavior of your name or item lists to go back to their default order. Here's how:

1. Click the Lists menu and select the list you need to re-sort.
2. Next, select the Include Inactive checkbox (if grayed out, there are no inactive names).
3. Then, go to the View tab and click Re-sort Lists.
4. Select OK.
5. Once done, close and reopen your company file.

For reference, check this article: Re-sort lists in QuickBooks Desktop. After that, run the report and check the occupation details and the rate. 

If the same thing happens, I recommend reaching out to our Phone support team to further help you fix the issue. You can also request a screen-sharing session so a representative can further review your setup. 

I'm always here ready to lend a hand if you have other concerns about your employee occupation codes. Don't hesitate to leave a reply below. Have a good one and stay safe.

There is no "LIST" for Occupational Codes.  Therefore, this troubleshooting step cannot work.

There is no "List" for occupational codes, therefore this troubleshooting step is useless.  The report that is produced by QB desktop is completely unacceptable.  All employee codes have been entered and verified on their employee records.  The codes on the report do not match up or are not there at all. I am just thankful that I am a relatively small employer in WA state and will be deleting all of the codes and entering into Additional Info / Custom Field and creating my own report.

That's a great idea.  And then when the report populates every quarter you can fill in the Quarterly report.  I'm not sure why Intuit doesn't add that type of feature to the Employee Records anyway.  The tab where you choose what state is being worked in is the perfect place for them to recognize which states require this and add a place to enter the SOC code.  It would be so easy for them to add this.  But, they're wanting everyone to switch to QBO so they'll do stupid things like this to force people out of QBD.  However, until they can "fix" a lot of things in QBO's payroll it'll be a cold day before I voluntarily move over.

What I don't see on here is that even though there is a spot in the ever made to be special area of payroll setup  input, there is no report it can generate to include that. I looked through the pivotal table in the excel exported reports.  Nothing.  Called 2 different times and spoke with pro advisor help for over a hour the first time and at least the same about last time, and the SOC input goes no where.  The advisor help was so sure they could find a report or one to export that and were very apologetic to say in the end it didn't exist.  Is this just some way to keep the back end looking like they tried?

So frustrated.

Hi there, @Cyndyn.

I recognize your sentiments about generating a report that includes occupational codes. While this option isn't available, I'll help you send feedback directly to our product engineers. Here's how:

1. Open your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) company file.
2. Go to the Help menu, then select Send Feedback Online and choose Product Suggestion.
3. Enter your feedback and click Submit.

They may look into this suggestion and consider adding an option to run a report that includes occupational codes in QBDT. 

You can also visit our feedback forum to check the recent updates and added features in QuickBooks.

I'm still open to your replies if you have additional questions about running reports in QBDT. Have a good one.

Your offer to help is what you are supposed to do. I know how to send feedback, and would like to know why a place in the set up is created when it goes no where?  Also in my current research, I found something that really makes my blood boil.

This was written by QB and they must have come to their senses about making your payroll not able to run if you don't have the codes input. 

I hope you can read this.  It says  at the beginning of Jan 2023, you will not be allowed to run payroll if you have not assigned the codes to your employees.

WHAT?  But they don't work?  QB is not the payroll God that should control everything we do.  This is especially why QBO is so difficult to work with. 

Rant over

It is beyond ridiculous that QB has still not got this fixed!!  WA law requires this information to be entered on their return!  I have multiple payroll clients and some with 60+ employees and they all have SOC codes added to their set-up which takes forever as mentioned above. Yet, when I print the return from QB, it does NOT print all of the SOC codes.  Nor does the Excel report for state taxes print this information!  Nor does the state upload file print this information.  PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE ASAP.  I could scream.

Have you been able to figure this out yet?

You're exactly right, I found out after I made this post that there is no point in entering the SOC codes into Quickbooks Desktop because there is no way to generate a report showing the codes!  I asked a local accountant how they are handling customer SOC codes and she said she uses another field to enter the codes that will show up on the tax reports.  After I wasted most of a day entering all the codes I found out it was a complete waste of my time.  Later I tried for hours to generate a report of the codes I had entered so I knew which new employees didn't have the code, and that's when I discovered there is no way to get that data from QB.  Completely useless and a waste of everyone's time.

I was told that they are just not going to support QB Desktop and Payroll anymore. They are pretty much wanting everyone to move to QBO (which I also use and dislike very much) So, I am dumping QB payroll next month. I've had it. None of the "forms" are formated correctly.

I did not see any codes for a Pastor, Minister of Music, Youth Director or Children's Director....?

Thank you for joining the thread, @MTBC. I'm here to assist you in finding the occupational codes you need.

While I don't have a specific code to suggest, I recommend contacting your state to get assistance in selecting the most suitable code for the occupations of your employees. Different states have different codes, and the state authorities are in the best position to help you choose the right one.

Once you have obtained the occupational code, you can proceed to set it up for your employees.

I'll be here to lend a hand if you have other concerns with your occupational codes.