Set or Change Payroll Tax Expense Accounts

Hi there, @workafrolic.

Thank you for posting in the Community. Allow me to help walk you through in creating a payroll item and expense account in QuickBooks Desktop. 

To start, the article you use when creating a new payroll expense account is for QuickBooks Online. Let me show you how to create the expense account in QuickBooks Desktop.

1. From the Lists menu, select Chart of Accounts.
2. At the lower left side, click Account.
3. Select New. 
4. Select the Expense radio button, then click Continue.
5. Enter the necessary information.
6. Click Save & Close.

After that, you can create the payroll item and use the payroll expense account you created. You're correct, the Payroll Item button is found at the bottom part of the list. 

Here's how: 

1. From the Lists menu, select Payroll Item List.
2. At the lower left side, click Payroll Item.
3. Select New. 
4. Select Custom Setup.
5. Enter the necessary information. 
6. In the Liability/Expense Account page, select the expense account you created.
7. Select Next until you can select Finish.

For additional reference, I've attached some articles below:

• Create, edit or delete account in QuickBooks
• Edit a payroll item 

If you need to reach out for more help, our Payroll Support will be able to help you get to a resolution quickly.

Here's how you can reach them: 

1. Go to https://payroll.intuit.com/support/contact/?infosrc=qs&service=16.
2. Select your Payroll Subscription type.
3. Click Payroll.
4. Click on the View Contact Info button to get their contact number.

These resources should help to get you on the right track.

Drop me a comment below if you have any other questions about setting up payroll expense and payroll item in QuickBooks Desktop. I'll be happy to help you out. Wishing you and your business continued success.

QB doesn't allow for this, for the Tax items: "I need to change the expense accounts payroll tax items are posting to so that I can use different accounts for different groups of employees"

For instance, there is only One Employer Medicare item, and you cannot make your own to link to other accounts; it won't report on the Payroll reporting or the W2 properly, or manage Base Wage properly.

You can split Pay Items into different accounts. Example:

Hourly Admin and Hourly Production

Not the Tax items.

For Group of Employees, perhaps what you want is to enable Class Tracking. That way, the P&L by Class = Columns, not more accounts and more Rows.

Thanks for the response, qbteachmt, although I admit to being disappointed by the answer.  I get the complexity, but this means I can't set the tax mappings correctly.  And we are already using Class for a different purpose so a second dimension in this field would be super unwieldy.  I'll just have to remember to check and adjust accordingly each tax time. 

Again, appreciate the definitive answer.  ~W

@Anonymous

Please learn from this input. Payroll Expense is not part of the Balance Sheet. It's Profit & Loss info.

@workafrolic

"but this means I can't set the tax mappings correctly."

This is not a related function. Look at your Tax form. There is One Line for reporting Payroll expense and employer taxes. Are you not explaining you want some gross wages as COGS, with related employer taxes? Details really help us provide what you want.

"I'll just have to remember to check and adjust accordingly each tax time."

Adjust what, and why?

@qbteachmt 

I am getting to this thread in trying to determine how I can record gross wages and related employer taxes for some employees in COGS and others within SG&A.  Is there a way to split out both the gross wages and the related ER taxes by employee or employee type?

Hello, @synergyfsc.

You can assign a specific liability account for each payroll item used in your employees' paycheck. This is true to all the taxes paid by you and the employee.

You can read through this article for more detailed information: Change an expense or liability account associated with a payroll item.

Leave a post below if you have other payroll-related questions or concerns. I'm always here to help.