cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Dealseizer
Level 1

Stopped Social Security and Medicare Withholding out of the blue.

Have One employees payroll that will not calculate Social Security or Medicare Taxes both employee and employer share. YES I have all the right boxes checked on there tax set up. This is an employee whom we have done payroll on for years. It just started out of the blue and only on this one employee. YES I have done all the payroll updates. What's the next process? 

6 Comments 6
Dealseizer
Level 1

Stopped Social Security and Medicare Withholding out of the blue.

??? Anyone out there who can help???

ChristieAnn
QuickBooks Team

Stopped Social Security and Medicare Withholding out of the blue.

Hi there, Dealseizer.

 

I appreciate the detailed information you've shared and for performing troubleshooting steps to resolve the issue. I'll provide further instructions to fix the problem to ensure that Social Security and Medicare taxes will calculate correctly.

 

When the payroll taxes are not deducting from your employee's payroll, you'll have to check the order of the payroll items on the paycheck to determine if the payroll item order is affecting the calculation. If you want the payroll item to calculate based only on the Earnings of the employee, it should be the first item in the Other Payroll Items section of the paycheck. If you want to include certain additions and deductions in the computation, add the payroll item after those items.

 

Next, verify whether the payroll item is set to calculate based on quantity, hours, or neither. With this, once a payroll item is set to calculate based on quantity or hours, you have to manually enter the quantity or number of hours in the Quantity column in the Preview Paycheck window. I recommend changing the calculation settings of the payroll item.

 

Here's how:

 

  1. From the top menu bar, select Lists and Payroll Item List.
  2. Right-click the payroll item you want to change and click Edit Payroll Item.
  3. Choose Next until the Calculate Based on Quantity screen.
  4. Change the setting to Neither if this item does not require hours or quantity to calculate.
  5. Select Next until you can click Finish.
  6. Hit Finish.

 

After that, verify if the annual limit has been set or reached. Once a payroll item has been calculating correctly in the past and stops calculating on a paycheck, it might be a checkmark in the This is an annual limit checkbox and a default limit set which the employee has reached. To confirm this, please follow the steps below.

 

  1. In the top menu bar, choose Lists. Then, Payroll Item List.
  2. Right-click the payroll item you want to change and click Edit Payroll Item.
  3. Choose Next until the Limit Type screen.
  4. Verify the limit in the bottom box is accurate. If the limit is correct the employee's payroll item should stop calculating at this limit. If the limit is incorrect, update the amount.
  5. Below the Limit Type, verify whether if the correct option is chosen.
  6. Change the default limit and/or Limit Type selection accordingly.
  7. Hit Finish.

 

For additional information, you can click this article: Payroll items on a paycheck are not calculating or are calculating incorrectly.

 

Then, I also suggest checking the previous paychecks to confirm if the payroll or the Social Security and Medicare Taxes are over-deducted. That said, the QuickBooks system will automatically be making an adjustment once there's an incorrect deduction in previous taxes.

 

If the same thing happens, let's run the Verify and Rebuild Data tool in your QuickBooks Desktop. It could be there are data integrity issues for both company files causing this issue. 

 

Please refer to this article to see details on how QuickBooks calculates taxes to understand the tax amounts reported on an employee's paycheck or the year-to-date (YTD) payroll report: How QuickBooks calculates payroll taxes.

 

I'd like to know how you get on after trying the steps, as I want to ensure this is resolved for you. Just reply to this post and I'll get back to you. Take care always.

Dealseizer
Level 1

Stopped Social Security and Medicare Withholding out of the blue.

That is all good and entered correctly. The other thing I needed to mention is that there isn't even a line item on her pay check or stub for S.S. or Medicare. Employee or Employer pd. There is only a line for Federal Withholding. This is only on this one Employee not all 68 Employees. So this doesn't apply. I also can't delete them as an Employee and start over because we have already created January payroll for them. And it wont let you anyway. Everything is entered correctly on them! Help

Mark_R
QuickBooks Team

Stopped Social Security and Medicare Withholding out of the blue.

Thank you for getting back to us and providing some clarification, @Dealseizer.

 

There might be changes in the Federal withholding information of the said employee that's why SS and Medicare don't show on their paychecks. Let's make sure these Federal taxes are checked from the employee's payroll information. Here's how:

 

  1. Go to the Employees menu, then select Employee Center.
  2. Find and select the employee.
  3. Select the Payroll Info tab and click Taxes.
  4. In the Federal tab, make sure the Medicare and Social Security boxes are checked.
  5. Click OK.

 

Then, let's try reverting the employee's paychecks to see if the payroll taxes are calculating. Please be guided through the steps below:

 

  1. Go to the Employees menu, then click Payroll Center.
  2. Select the Pay Employees tab.
  3. Click the Resume Scheduled Payroll button.
  4. Right-click the employee's name, then select Revert Paycheck.
  5. Submit payroll when you're ready.

 

I'm adding this article for more details: Save or revert pending payroll checks.

 

If you get the same result, I highly recommend reaching out to our QuickBooks Support Team. This way, they can look into your payroll account and perform some steps to get the Social Security and Medicare show on your employee's paycheck.

 

Let me know how it goes, I want to make sure this is taken care of. Thanks for dropping by, I'll be standing by for your response.

alarson
Level 3

Stopped Social Security and Medicare Withholding out of the blue.

HI, we are now having these same issues.  A month ago one employee had over double the social security and medicare taxes taken out and now we have 2 different employees that have no medicare withholding.  This is extremely  frustrating to the point we will be looking for another payroll source. Why are these issues continuing to happen?  Are you no longer supporting Quickbooks desktop payroll?

DivinaMercy_N
Moderator

Stopped Social Security and Medicare Withholding out of the blue.

Hi there, @alarson. I'm here to ensure you'll get the right support in correcting the calculation of your payroll items.

 

To isolate the issue, let's first ensure that your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) program is updated to the latest release and you have the latest payroll tax table. This is to ensure that you have the latest system components and fixes.

 

Once done, let's now review the checks if they have the correct deductions by pulling up the Payroll Detail Review report. Here's how:

 

  1. Open your QBDT company and navigate to the Reports menu then, select Employees & Payroll.
  2. Click Payroll Detail Review.
  3. Next, select Customize Report tab and go to the Display tab, and set the specific date range for the report.
  4. From the Filters tab, click Payroll Item in the Filter section. Next, select Multiple payroll items in the Payroll Item section.
  5. Choose Medicare CompanyMedicare EmployeeSocial Security Company, and Social Security Employee
  6. Once finished, select OK twice.

 

From there, review if the checks display the correct deductions. 

 

To get the correct calculation you'll have to multiply the total wage base of each payroll item by its corresponding tax rate. 

 

If you see that the taxes are over withheld, you have two options to fix this:

 

  • First option: You can apply the taxes to your next paycheck. QBDT has an automatic calculation feature for rate-based taxes deducting overpaid taxes to your next payroll run.
  • Second option: You can offset the overpayment by doing a liability adjustment. 

 

To get more information about correcting payroll items when it's not calculating or is calculating incorrectly on a paycheck, feel free to visit this article: Payroll items on a paycheck are not calculating or are calculating incorrectly.

 

Also, in case you'll want to reach out to our QBDT payroll support team, simply follow the steps in this link: Contact Payroll Support. Our support operation hours are from Monday to Friday 6 AM to 6 PM PT.

 

In QBDT, it's easy to view your employee data and monitor your business finances. You can open any payroll reports that suit your needs. To give you a list of those reports and an overview of what data they show, please head to the Excel-based payroll reports page. 

 

You can count on me if you need further assistance fixing payroll items calculations. I'd be happy to assist you further. Have a good one.

Need to get in touch?

Contact us