The amounts entered may be incorrect. Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA) are expected to be percentages.

I'm here to provide some insights on how QuickBooks calculate taxes, Jonathan C. 

The system won't allow entering incorrect tax deductions. It reminds us to enter the correct SS and Medicare deduction amount in the employee's prior payroll. The correct number is 6.2% for Social Security and then 1.45% for Medicare. Take those numbers and place them in the SS and Med. boxes respectively.

I'll share with you this article about entering historical paychecks in QuickBooks Online: Set Up a Prior Payroll. 

If you're still prompted with the error message, I'd suggest reaching out to our Payroll Support Team so they can look into your setup. They also have resources that can easily walk you through the recording prior payroll.

Here's how to contact us:

1. Go to the Help ( ? ) menu and click Contact Us.
2. Enter a brief description something about the error message and you're unable to proceed when entering prior payroll. 
3. Click Let's talk and select the best way you'll want to reach out to us. 

You can check out our support hours and types for more information about our availability.  

Once everything is set up, you can get started with payroll by paying and filing taxes within QuickBooks. 

I'm just around the corner if there's anything else that you need help with. Take care!

I appreciate the response, but it seems as if you skipped over the details in my original post. I already did what you suggested in your response and the error message has gone away. That's no longer the issue. 

Hi.  I am having the same issue.  Were you able to get an answer on your question" Since the amounts I entered differ from the actual YTD Social Security and Medicare as reported from the prior payroll company, is this something I need to worry about in terms of messing up totals somewhere down the line on tax forms or w2's? The amounts differed by only a couple cents."

Thanks for posting your payroll question in the Community, Alison0605.

The message is usually caused by percentage-based taxes that are more than two decimal places. The payroll system is either rounding it up or down so that the amount equals a number that is two decimal places.

The amount difference, even for just a couple of pennies, can trigger an error when filing the W2 and other tax forms. Our system generally requires any tax discrepancies to be resolved before you can file a form. 

Having said that, I would recommend reaching out to our Payroll Support Team. They can access your account and help you create an adjustment to make sure the numbers are correct.

Here's how to reach out to them:

1. Go to the Help menu in the upper-right hand corner to open the QB Assistant window.
2. Type in "talk to a human", then press Enter.
3. Click Contact Support Team, then let them know that you need to make adjustments to your prior payroll amounts.
4. Press Enter once again.
5. Select No, I still need help, then choose Contact Support Team.
6. Look for the Chat option and click on it.
    

I also have these articles to share for additional guidance and information when running payroll in QBO:

• Get Answers to Your Payroll Tax Payment and Filing Questions 
• Change Your Payroll Tax Payment Schedule 

Don't hesitate to always ask questions in the Community if you need more assistance when running payroll. The entire QuickBooks Team is always here to when ever you need it.

I am having the same problem when migrating to QBO Payroll from QBD Payroll. I plug the numbers into QBO for employees past payroll history from the QBD Payroll Summary Report. I get the same error message. When contacting QB Support, they said they don't understand this problem abd don't have a resolution to it. I am just about to run our first payroll and need this resolved ASAP. Any help is appreciated.

I appreciate your proactive approach to resolving this matter and understand the urgency of getting it sorted out before your first payroll, alpha.

The error message you're encountering is due to differences in data formats between QBD and QBO and how historical data is being interpreted in QuickBooks Online.

I acknowledge that you've previously been in touch with our Payroll Support Team. Still, I strongly advise considering reaching out to them once more. This type of situation is typically manageable by our specialized payroll team . They will use their available tools and examine your data. They will then guide you through the necessary steps to rectify the error and ensure your payroll runs smoothly.

1. Go to Help in the upper-right corner.
2. In the Search tab, click Contact us.
3. Enter a brief description of your concern.
4. Click Continue.

We are committed to assisting you in every way we can to ensure your payroll is processed correctly and on time. Please let me know how the call goes. The Community is here to help.

Thank you for your quick reply, Sarah. I submitted my problem to the QB Payroll Support team last Wednesday. Today is Tuesday and I still have not heard anything back yet. I was supposed to our first payroll on QBO this morning. This problem has shown up in QB forums for a few years so obviously is not a new bug. Any suggestions as to how I should proceed?

As you can see from the replies, QB support is pretty much worthless. Just calculate manually and enter those figures. There is no other way around it. It should only be off by a few cents at the most. The IRS allows for rounding to the nearest whole dollar anyway, so a few cents should not make a difference. That's how I reasoned it. Although, I am not an accountant or tax preparer, so do so at your own risk.

Thanks, Jonathan. The amount of SS from Desktop Payroll says 30.71. The percentage (6.2%) comes out to 30.71634. I get the error whether I enter 30.71, 30.71634, or 30.72. I think the only way to make it work is to fudge the Wage amount slightly so that the SS amount comes out to an amount with no more than two decimal places. So completely frustrating. Their W-2 will be slightly off by a few cents but at least both their copy as well as out company submitted W-2's will be the same.

Solved. I had a Pay Type of "Team-Overtime" that was of type "Commission". I "deleted" it and recreated it as of type "Regular Pay" and then everything worked. The Pay Types are frustrating and confusing.

Having the same problem in 2024. Obviously they don’t have an answer still. Very frustrating. 

Hello there, @kleahicks.

It isn't the experience we want you to have when using the program. In this situation, we recommend getting in touch with our Customer Care Team so they can gather more details and come up with a solution to help you address this situation to enter the needed amount to complete your tasks. We'll write down the steps to get you going:

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company.
2. Go to Help (?).
3. Select Contact Us.
4. Enter your concern, then select Let's talk.
5. Choose a way to connect with us:

• Start a chat with a support expert.
• Get a callback from the next available expert.

See this article for more details: Contact Payroll Support.

On the other hand, here are some articles to help you manage tax payments and their schedules inside the program:

• Change Your Payroll Tax Payment Schedule.
• Get Answers to Your Payroll Tax Payment and Filing Questions.

Feel free to comment below if you need assistance managing tax payments or have additional QuickBooks-related questions. As always, we'll be around to help you out. Stay safe.

Thanks for reaching out. We (client and I) have spoken to 3 different QBO payroll specialists and none have been helpful in this instance.  I can understand if you weren’t already on QB but we were.  Been working on this for two weeks and I’m ready to switch payroll

providers. That’s not good for a ProAdvisor to admit.  The software team should be able to handle a simple rounding issue!!  I’m losing my religion over this issue!! 🤬