Why cant I do payroll taxes after entering payroll

There's a specific due date on when you can pay your taxes, rhalldds.

If you are set up on either monthly, semiweekly, or the next-day deposit rule, there's a reference period used by the IRS to determine your tax due dates. But before we start, are you getting any error when trying to pay your payroll taxes? This helps us isolate if this is some sort of a setup-related issue. Furthermore, let's presume that you fall under a semiweekly tax deposit, we have a certain table that you can check with the corresponding due dates: Semiweekly Tax Deposit Due Dates. 

Also, you pay taxes three banking days after the end of any semiweekly period in which you accrued liability. For more information, please refer to this article for more information about Federal Tax Deposit Schedule: Payroll 101.

Don't hesitate to let us know if there's anything else that you like to help us with. We'll always make sure to get back to you.

Hi there,

We just learned that we have to shift to semi-weekly tax payments, though our payroll is set for the 1st and 15th of each month.  How the heck do we do this?  We have Quickbooks Desktop and e-file all of our tax liability payments thru Intuit.  We currently pay our taxes twice monthly, though the option under "Edit Payment Schedule Fed Form 941" shows "Semiweekly" as payment after each payroll, whereas the IRS asks for payment more frequently under this scheduling.  So, to fulfill this new demand, does this mean we have to file payroll every week?  Also, I do not see forms / liabilities showing up in the payroll center...  I don't quite understand this process and would appreciate some help.  Their schedule shows payments due frequently, ie 7/17, 7/22, 7/24, 7/29 and so on.  This is kind of ridiculous. Help, PLEASE :)

Welcome to the thread, @StudioMAccounting.

I appreciate you providing detailed information about your concern. Allow me to help in clearing things out. 

The payroll schedule that you'll follow is the one stated on the tax notice coming from IRS. If it is semi-weekly, then you need to set it up.

Here's how:

1. Click the Employees menu at the top. 

2. Pick Payroll Center.

3. Choose Change Payment Method under Other Activites. 

4. Go to Schedule payments, then select the tax liability you want to edit or schedule a payment for.

5. Hit Edit, then enter the information.

6. For QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Enhanced users:

• If the payment frequency option you need isn’t available in the drop-down list, select the Let me use a different payment frequency checkbox. Select Next, then set up a custom payment schedule.
• The IRS doesn't offer a weekly liability payment schedule. If you're required to make a payment several days after running payroll, the IRS considers it a semiweekly basis. Choose After Each Payroll from the Payment frequency drop-down to set it up.

7. Once done, tap Finish, then Finish Later.

As for your concern if you need to file payroll every week, there's no need for you to do that since once you create a paycheck, liability is scheduled automatically. 

Take a look at the set up and pay scheduled or custom (unscheduled) liabilities article to know more about this process.

Leave a comment below if you have any other payroll concerns, I'm happy to answer it for you. Have a great day!