QuickBooks deleted one of my paychecks.

Thanks for posting in the Community space, @mickeySAS.

I have checked our records and have not found any issues about paychecks suddenly deleted by QuickBooks. To isolate the problem, let's run the Audit Trail report to verify who deleted the paycheck. Here's how:

1. Go to the Reports menu at the top. 
2. Choose Accountant & Taxes.
3. Pick Audit Trail.
4. Tap the Customize Report button. 
5. Select the Filters tab.
6. In the Search field, type in Transaction type and choose Paycheck. 
7. Hit OK. 
8. Filter the dates. 
9. Click Refresh. 

From there, locate the paycheck and check the Last modified by column to know who delete it. 

To recreate the paycheck, if you've created a backup copy of your company file before the deletion of paycheck, then you still have the option to restore it. If not, you'll need to recreate an unscheduled payroll and enter the same information of the paycheck that's been deleted. 

1. Go to the Employees menu at the top. 
2. Select Payroll Center.
3. In the Pay Employees section, select on Start Unscheduled Payroll.
4. Choose the employee name and enter the necessary information. You can use the Audit Trail for the details. 

For more information about creating paychecks, see this article: How do I create a paycheck for an employee?.

If you have further questions about payroll, feel free to let me know by commenting below. I'll be here to keep helping. Have a great day.

The audit trail says "Admin" deleted transaction. I did not delete transaction and I'm the only one with access. Not sure it would be that easy to "accidently" delete a paycheck. I'm guessing there is warning before you do that.

So, If re-enter this paycheck (through unscheduled payroll), will this mess up any taxes ? My 941 taxes paid are still the same (so they include amounts from deleted check).

Also, there is no way to undelete or un void a paycheck? Only re-enter? Is there a way to have QuickBooks look for glitches and adjust randomly deleting transactions ?

I did run audit trail and it shows it was deleted by "Admin" which would be me since I'm the only one who uses the account. I did not delete the transaction though and I imagine it is hard to do on accident. I'm guessing there is warning when you go to delete a paycheck.

So, if I re-enter this paycheck will this mess up taxes ? My 941 taxes paid didn't change so they include amounts from deleted check.

Also, there is no way to unvoid or recover the deleted check? Only to re-enter? Is there a way to contact QuickBooks about the glitch and find a recovery solution?

Thanks

Hello there, mickeySAS.

I appreciate you for following the recommendation shared by my colleague above.

Let's start to find the payroll discrepancies. Run a Payroll Checkup to identify if there's a problem that affect your liabilities. Once verified, proceed to make a payroll liability adjustment to ensure your taxes are up to date and correct . The steps below will guide you through the process:

1. Go to Employees at the top menu and select Payroll Taxes and Liabilities.
2. Choose Adjust Payroll Liabilities.
3. Enter the date for which you are making the adjustment in the Date field.
4. In the Effective Date field, enter the date that you want this adjustment to affect your liability balance.
5. Choose either Employee or Company on the Adjustment is for section. 
6. Under the Item Name column, choose Unemployment Insurance Tax and enter Amount.
7. Then, click OK. 

If the same thing happens, you'll need to contact our payroll specialist. They are the ones who can look into your account in a secure session and assist you with payroll correction. Here's how:

1. Open QuickBooks.
2. Go to Help, then select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. Select Contact Us.
4. Enter your concern, then select Continue.
5. Choose Start messaging.

I’m adding this article for reference: Adjust payroll liabilities. Also, you may want to about the year-end guide in QuickBooks.

• Year-end tasks to guide you through.
• Texas Payroll Tax Compliance. 

If I can be of any additional assistance, please don't hesitate to comment below. Stay safe and healthy.

Thank you for the responses. I think I understand how to fix if necessary. I've been on chat with QuickBooks help - hoping they can figure out why it randomly deleted and retrieve it somehow. I don't want to have to re-enter then check taxes and I also don't want QuickBooks to do this again. The chat people are slow at responding but hopefully they can help.

Thanks for this update, @mickeySAS.

I appreciate you sharing your whole experience so that I can share the feedback, including your feature recommendation, with my team for future consideration within the product. 

As always you can check out our blog, to see the newest changes within QuickBooks.

If you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach back out, I'm just a post away, Take care!

I printed W-2's from the account only to find out that Quickbooks had deleted 3 paychecks each from 6 employees. I had to do corrected W-2's which you can't do from this program. It was very frustrating. I spent 5 hours with numerous online help before I finally figured it out. The "help" button is not very good. It send you to Quickbooks and after explaining the whole problem, they say they're not payroll and redirect me. There should be a direct link to payroll help. not a frustrating circle.

Claudia

I just experienced the same issue. One of my paychecks was deleted by "Admin" and I can guarantee I did NOT delete this check. So please add this to the issues that have come up. I have QB Pro 2018 and will be updating this month so I hope whatever the problem was/is will not be in the 2021 version. I did run the audit report and recreated the paycheck. Now the problem I have is Quickbooks liabilities is showing I have additional taxes due.  I paid the liabilities at the time of payroll so what I paid covers the check I just recreated. How do I enter the information into Quickbooks that I really don't owe the additional amount?

Thanks for utilizing the Community space, BJS.

I can guide you on how to enter prior tax payments in QuickBooks Desktop.

Currently, we haven't received an issue on QuickBooks automatically deleted paycheck. Possibly there's someone who log-in as admin and accidentally deletes the paycheck. No worries, you can enter it as a prior tax payment to clear the taxes due. I'll show you how.

1. From QuickBooks Desktop click the Employees tab.

2. Select Payroll Setup from the drop-down.

3. Choose Continue on the Year-to-Date Payroll page.

4. Hit Yes if there are checks issued by your company this year and then click Continue.

5. Then select Edit beside the Tax Payments option and enter any previous tax information you want to enter.

6. Click the arrow beside the quarter in which you want to enter the tax information.

7. Enter the Balance Remaining, Total Amount You've Already Paid, and QuickBooks-Calculated Amount.

8. Once all payments have been entered for a quarter, select the next quarter and repeat the process until all tax payments have been entered

9. Select Done Entering in Tax Payments when you have completed entering payments.

Feel free to review this helpful material for more info: Texas Payroll Tax Compliance.

Add a comment below if you have further questions about payroll liabilities. The Community and I will always here to help you.

I want to report that I just discovered that 1 paycheck was also deleted.  I am the only one using QB.  No one else uses it.  I did not delete it.  I discovered this as I went to balance my checking account.  I have followed the instructions for entering the new check but now I will have taxes due because they were paid after the check was deleted. How do I handle that?

I've got you covered, @divorcedone.

To handle this situation, you'll need to run a payroll checkup to verify if there's a problem that affects your liabilities. Once confirmed, make a payroll liability adjustment to ensure your taxes are updated and accurate. Here's how:

1. Open your QuickBooks Desktop company file.
2. Go to the Employees menu, then select Payroll Taxes and Liabilities.
3. Select Adjust Payroll Liabilities.
4. In the Date field, enter the date for which you are adjusting.
5. In the Effective Date field, record the date that you want this adjustment to affect your liability balance.
6. Fill out the necessary information. Then, click OK.

If you still have due taxes after the adjustment, I recommend contacting our QuickBooks Payroll Team. This way, they can provide additional steps to resolve this issue. To reach them, please follow the steps below:

1. Go to the Help icon and select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
2. Click Contact Us.
3. Write your concerns in the description box, then select Continue.
4. Select which one of the support options you'd like to use.

You can also check out this article for another way of reaching out to our support team and its support hours: QuickBooks Desktop Support.

You might also want to run a payroll summary report in QuickBooks Desktop. This allows you to view your payroll totals, including employee taxes and contributions.

I'm still open to your replies if you need further assistance processing payroll in QuickBooks Desktop. Have a great day ahead!

I followed the prior postings and got it all set.  I just wanted to let you know that I experienced the same issue.

I redid a paycheck that got deleted but now have a 941 tax deposit showing overdue but it was already deposited the week after the original check was issued. Do I deposit it any way & pay the 1 month late fee or is there a way to clear it?  Sue

Let me help you record the 941 tax payment you've already paid, Susan.

You can manually enter the payment by following the steps below.

1. Go to the Help menu and select About QuickBooks.
2. Press Ctrl + Alt + Y or Ctrl + Shift + Y keys to open the Setup YTD Amounts window.
3. Tick Next until the Enter prior payments section.
4. Select Create Payment to record the payment in the Enter Prior Payments window.
   
5. Enter the Payment and For Period Ending dates, then choose the payroll tax item that you've already paid in the Taxes and Liabilities field.
6. After that, click Next Payment or Finish to complete.

For further guidance about the process, consider checking out this article: Enter historical tax payments in Desktop payroll.

You'll want to check this link: Excel based payroll reports. This will show you the detailed steps on how to generate payroll data reports in Excel.

Please get back to me by commenting below if you have additional concerns. I'll be right here to guide you.

It happened to me as well.