Payroll Expense and Direct Deposit duplicates

Hi SusanaAl,

Thank you for posting here in the Community space. I'm here to help you reconcile payroll in QuickBooks Online.

You need to review your accounts in QuickBooks to match your bank and credit card statements. First, check the payroll mapping of your accounts to determine the posting of your payroll transactions.

Here's how:

1. Click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Payroll settings under Your Company.
3. Scroll down and review how payroll transactions are mapped.

Once checked, you'll know what transactions are created automatically by our system. It may be possible that the duplicate is an added transaction from your bank feeds. You can undo added transactions in Banking and exclude them to avoid duplicates in payroll.

Additionally, you can use this guide anytime you need help doing or fixing a reconciliation in QuickBooks. I've attached an article you can visit to view our complete reconciliation guide: Learn the reconcile workflow in QuickBooks.

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions about reconciling an account. We'll be here to assist you. Have a great day ahead.

Hi AlcaeusF,

I did check my payroll settings and I see where my paychecks are all posted to wages expense.  None of these duplicates appear in my bank feeds and are automatically created by your system.  Additionally, I always try to find a match or exclude them if that happens to be the case to avoid getting duplicates when reconciling.  So what is creating this duplicate when I go to reconcile my account and I see two exact amounts for payroll? Except one shows as payroll expense the other as a direct deposit but same dollar amount?

I appreciate you taking the time to share more details of your concern, @SusanaAl. 

Let me provide you with a list of common factors that might be causing duplicate payroll transactions in QuickBooks Online Payroll (QBOP). 

Here are the primary causes:

• Another check was created during the same pay period.
• The system added them by mistake (due to incorrect payroll mapping).
• Entries are added by the Online Banking system.

If you've created another check within the same pay period, you can review the Paycheck history report and what the checks are for.

Here's how: 

1. Go to the Reports page,
2. Then search for Paycheck history in the search box.

If you determine that these are indeed duplicates, you can run the Profit and Loss report and proceed to delete them.
 

To access the entry, here's how:

1. Click on the corresponding amount to redirect you to the Paycheck list page.
2. Locate the duplicate checks and mark them for deletion.
3. Click on the Delete option to remove them from your records.

It is also possible that these transactions were automatically added by the Online Banking feature. The system might have added these transactions instead of matching them.

In this case, we need to undo those payroll entries and either match them or exclude them. Kindly follow these steps:

1. Go to the Banking page, then click the connected bank's widget.
2. Go to the Categorized tab.
3. Check those added checks, then click Undo.

They should now appear under the For review tab. Simply click on each entry, select Find match, and locate the corresponding entry within QuickBooks. Then match both transactions.

If you do not want these transactions to be added, you can exclude them by checking them and selecting Exclude.

Additionally, I'm including a link to guide you on paying and filing taxes in QBO:: Pay and file payroll taxes and forms in Online Payroll.

Kindly notify me how this goes by leaving a comment below. I'm around the clock and ready to provide you with the necessary assistance.

I have recently found that we have this exact same issue, though it appears to be new and related to a software update as this was not showing duplicates earlier in the year, but now they go all the way back to 01/01/23. Were the suggested fixes helpful for you? Did you find that there was a mapping error?

This is causing problems for me too - I don't see an obvious fix in payroll mapping settings, yet my profit and loss is way off with duplicate payroll expenses.

Hello there, Skiptone.

I'm here to help fix the issue you're having with duplicate payroll expenses in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Since you have already reviewed and confirmed the payroll mapping settings, and the issue continues to persist, I recommend reaching out to our Payroll Support team. They have specialized tools that can securely access your account and investigate the root cause of this unusual behavior. If necessary, they can also assist you with additional troubleshooting steps.

Here's how to reach them:

1. In QBO, go to the Help (question mark) icon at the top right.
2. Click Contact Us.
3. Enter your concern, then select Let's talk.
4. Choose a way to connect with us.

To check for our Support hours, please refer to this article: Contact Payroll Support.

In case you need additional resources for payroll-related tasks, you can visit this link to access a page that contains various topics, articles, and videos to assist you in your endeavors: QuickBooks Online Payroll.

Please let me know if you have additional questions about this or anything else. I'll be here to assist. Keep safe.

I'm having the same issue, even if you do go back to exclude all the Wage reports, bank reconciliation remains a problem. The DD transactions do not pull through since you're excluding the bank imports. THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM and have spent hours on the phone with QB to resolve with no success. 

The only current work around is to include them in transaction history, then do bank rec, then go back and undo them all, and exclude them, then look at P&L. This is ridiculous considering we can't get an accurate P&L until after the month end. 

Some sort of AI update has shifted the mapping in their code - This was never a problem before August update - and QB has yet to find the problem.