Hi there,

We are an employer with less than 50 employees, but we are opting to pay 100% of the contribution (employee pays 0% and employer pays 100%).  When I go through the payroll set-up, the only options I see are Employee .63% and Employer 0% -or- Employee .63% and Employer .367%.  I am on hold with Quickbooks Support which isn't much help.  Is there any way for an employer with less than 50 employees to opt to cover the entire contribution?  I don't see that option available in the Payroll Settings.   I use Quickbooks Online. 

Hi there,

We are an employer with less than 50 employees, but we are opting to pay 100% of the contribution (employee pays 0% and employer pays 100%).  When I go through the payroll set-up, the only options I see are Employee .63% and Employer 0% -or- Employee .63% and Employer .367%.  I am on hold with Quickbooks Support which isn't much help.  Is there any way for an employer with less than 50 employees to opt to cover the entire contribution?  I don't see that option available in the Payroll Settings. I use Quickbooks online.

Hey there, Hollyg223.

Thank you for sharing your resolution for getting the Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave to calculate.

The steps will help a lot of customers who are also having the same issue. Please know that the Community is a one-stop shop for help about QuickBooks.

You can post anytime if you have questions or want to share your best practices using the product. Have a great rest of your day.

I’m glad to see you today, sonjatara.

Thank you for sharing some details on how your company pays for the Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave.

Currently, the option to create a customized rate for the Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave is unavailable in QBO. To keep your payroll records, you may want to consider consulting with an accountant.

They can provide you with expert advice on how to properly input this using the program. Once you have the information handy, please get back to me so I can properly guide you on how to set up the payroll item.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Wishing you the best.

Hello,

I am using QBs on-line and was able to set up the new FMLA tax for WA easily. It was already there as an option. Thank you for that.  

Now, I have a dual member LLC where both owners are employees of the business. It automatically makes them subject to the tax. In WA you have to OPT IN to be covered if self employed. And the OPT IN process will not be available until February.  Quickbooks On-line, needs to have the option to OPT out for employee owners in all types of self employment situations. They get paid at the end of the month. How can I opt out for now, since they are not required to pay premiums yet??

Hi there, @giraffes5gb.

Good job in setting up the new FMLA tax for Washington. I can share some information about the setup for dual LLC member.

At this time, the only options available for WA Paid Family Medical and Leave Premium ER rates are:

• Employee: .6333%, Employer: 0%
• Employee: .6333%, Employer: .3667%

Self-employed individuals pay only the employee share of the premiums. In that case, you will have to choose the first option.

I also encourage you to send your feedback to our product engineers. This can help them know the best feature to improve with the products and services we offer. Just click the Gear icon and choose Feedback.

Keep me posted if you have additional questions about payroll. I'd be happy to help you more and answer all your inquiries. Have a good one. 

 Hi! 

You did not answer my question at all. Self employed people are specifically excluded under the WA FMLA program. So, I need to know how to make them excluded as my clients have not opted in, which IS REQUIRED to be in the program. So, how do you make a self employed exempt from the program AS REQUIRED??????

The rates of the Washington Paid Family leave tax is 0.4%. of gross wage, excluding tips.

The employee only has to pay premiums on 63.33% of 0.4% of gross wages. The employer is responsible for the remaining 36.67% of 0.4%, unless they are an employer of fewer than 50 employees. Employers with less than 50 employees do not have to participate in paying the employer portion, but may opt in. The employee never has to pay more than the 63.33% of 0.4% of their gross wages, whether the employers pays the employer portion or not. For example if gross wage is  $5,000 X .4% = $20.00 total tax

Of this premium .6333 is   employee portion, $12.66

Sadly there is no opting in or out.  This is a required program for anyone who is issued a W2.  I've found this email address to be super helpful and very responsive: ESDGPPaidFamilyandMedicalLeave@ESD.WA.GOV if you want to ask a more specific question to the State.  I consider myself Self-Employed, but I have to pay the employee portion because I have wages and get a W2...we only have 2 employees, so we don't pay the employer portion.  Just a little example.

As for removing the item from an person's profile, go to the Employee's name>Payroll Info>Taxes>Other...find the item and either delete it from the list or just make sure the cell below is empty/zero.

Here is that email that was removed from my prior post...you'll need to fill in the spaces and use the @ symbol:  ESDGPPaidFamilyandMedicalLeave at ESD.WA.GOV

Sadly, I believe you are mistaken. Excerpt from Washington State Employment Security Dept website:

 I'm self-employed. Can I opt in?

• Who can opt in?

  Self-employed individuals, including independent contractors, sole proprietors, partners and joint ventures, as well as federally recognized tribes are not required to participate in Paid Family and Medical Leave but may opt in to the program to receive access to benefits. If you are self-employed and do not wish to be part of Paid Family and Medical Leave you do not have any action to take.

  I own an S-Corp. Am I required to participate in Paid Family and Medical Leave?

  Maybe! An S-Corp is a federal tax designation and isn’t enough information for us to know if you’re required to participate. In Washington, S-Corps are either a corporation or an LLC.

   

  Corporations

  If you receive compensation from your corporation in exchange for service provided to it, you are required to participate as an employee of that organization. Corporate officers are required to participate.

   

  Limited Liability Companies (LLC's)

  Members of an LLC are exempt from the program even if they are taking a wage from their LLC. Owners of a sole-proprietorship, partnership, or LLC members are not required to participate but can elect coverage.

  If any of these organizations have employees, they have employer responsibilities. See our Employer Page for more details about these responsibilities.

I have an S corp that is an LLC and QUICKBOOKS MUST PROVIDE A BUTTON TO MAKE THEM EXEMPT.  They only way they can be covered is if they OPT IN, and those procedures have not been issued yet. Therefore, Quickbooks cannot force someone who is exempt to pay this tax.

Hello there, @giraffes5gb.

Thank you for sharing the article you've read from your state's website. Allow me to add more information on how you can opt out Washington State Paid Family Leave.

Here’s how:

1. Click Workers.
2. Choose Employees.
3. Select the employee's name.
4. Under Employee Details, click on the pencil icon beside Pay.
5. Click on the pencil icon under the question What are (employee's name) withholdings?.
6. Scroll down until you reach the Tax Exemptions section, then click on the drop down arrow.
7. Select Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave tax.
8. Click Done.

For additional insights, you may check out this article: Employee Payroll Tax Exemptions.

Keep in touch if you have other questions about setting up your State Tax information in QuickBooks Online. I'm always here to help.

Yes!! That worked well! I appreciate the heads up on that. I am sure others will have that question. I appreciate your help.

I'm delighted to hear it works on your end, @giraffes5gb.

Thanks for making QuickBooks a part of your small business journey. With QuickBooks as your copilot, the days of of manually tracking your employees contribution are now over and faster.

QuickBooks  is committed to helping you cut down on paperwork and maximize your deductions.  As your business continues to grow, you can be sure our program will grow alongside it. To see the new app features that are in store, stay tuned to our blog: https://intuit.me/2L2zqTv.

If there are any app features you’d like to get more familiar with, feel free to visit our Community page. I’m always here to help.

Just to be clear here (I just got off the phone with WA Paid Family and Medical Leave department), in cases where an employer has less than 50 employees, the employer portion of this tax is elective, hence the max employee withholding of the 63%.  In this case, the contribution to the state fund is less than the 0.4%.  With that said, there is an incentive for small employers to participate in paying the remaining 37% in that if they have an employee who is out on leave, they can request/petition/beg for funds from the state fund to assist in the hiring of a temporary employee.  If the small employer does not pay their portion of the tax, this is not an option to them.  

I'm thinking I'm accurate on this, but if you have questions, I would recommend contacting the state.  They did tell me that they were adjusting some of the verbiage on their website due to the frequency of calls on this subject.

DeniseD...

did you delete the adjustments?  i am very confused about why these adjustments showed up in the first place and whether or not it's safe to delete them to clean up the books.  (or HOW to delete them in an efficient manner.)

i appreciate any feedback on this!

thanks!

Hello there, kelrbush.

Allow me to add up some information specific to your question.

Did you manually enter the Washington State Paid Leave adjustment to the employee's paycheck? Or have opt it to an employee which is suppose to be not included.

If this is the case, we can fix this by deleting and recreating the paycheck. 

For instructions you can refer to this article: Edit or delete paychecks.

Otherwise, you may need to have a payroll correction. I recommend you get in touch with our Payroll Support Team so they can help you make corrections.

Here's how you can reach them: https://payroll.intuit.com/support/contact/?infosrc=qs&service=64

Drop me a reply if you have other questions or clarifications while working with this and I'll get back to you. 

Liability Adjustments automatically showed up when the QuickBooks Tool initially ran for setting up the WA Paid Fam Med Leave.  The Liability Adjustments showed up on each employee's name (in their "Transactions") for each quarter of 2018.  I am confused about how or why this happened and would like them to cleared, as the WA Paid Fam Med Leave has nothing to do with 2018.

The adjustments were not manually entered; I had no control over them, as far as I'm aware; and it was not about our employees opting-in who were not supposed to be included.  They all qualify and are required to participate.

thank you

Thanks for visiting the QuickBooks Community, kelrbush.

I’m happy to see you joining in on this thread. Allow me to share some details why there’s an automatic adjustment showing in your employees’ name.

This can happen when one runs the Payroll Checkup tool. The diagnostic tool will help verify the current setup by scanning your payroll data for missing information and discrepancies.

Feel free to read this article for more details: Run Payroll Checkup.

Since these adjustments are automatically entered, you can delete them to correct the payroll data. To do so, press Ctrl +D on your keyboard.

Don't hesitate to reach out back to me if you have additional questions about payroll. I'm here to make sure you're taken care of. Have a great rest of your day.