The question was, "Will this affect the ability to print W-2s???" not whether it affects the ability to FILE them.  Can we print W-2 forms in QuickBooks Desktop without entering all of these newly required fields?

No, it won't affect your ability to print W2 forms in QuickBooks Desktop, Samin.

Although you'll get a message to complete the missing required fields, you can ignore it to proceed and get a copy of the forms. See this guide for the detailed steps depending on your payroll service: Print your W-2 and W-3 forms.

I'll also include this module to find out more tips for preparing your tax forms in QBDT Payroll: Year-end checklist for QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

You can always get back to us if you have other queries regarding payroll or QuickBooks. We'll make sure to lend a hand as always. Take care of yourself!

Can you please tell me why it takes so long now to click in and out of an employee profile?  By the time I get in on the new version, I could have had my task done and closed on the old version.  It is killing me that it is taking forever!  I had to update 45 employee's pay rates and it took FOREVER!  QuickBooks....you are making it harder for us instead of easier for us.  WHY???

I can imagine the trial you've been through when managing your employees, @Number Cruncher1. I've got the information about your concern.

I've checked here and discovered this issue is already fixed. Since it persists on your end when trying to click in and out of the employee profile, I recommend contacting our QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Support Team. They can give you updates and resolutions to this matter. 

I'll show you how: 

1. Go to the Help menu, then select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
2. Select Contact Us.
3. Please give a brief description of your issue, then select Let's Talk, and then choose a way to connect.

You can check our  available hours when contacting support to ensure we address your concern promptly.

For future reference, various reports can help you manage your employees. To view a list, here's an article you'll want to check: Excel-based payroll reports.

If there is anything else I can do to assist you with QuickBooks, particularly payroll-related activities, you can reach out to the Community at any time. I'll be standing by for your response.

I use the Desktop Version and when I try to update the employee profile as now asked to do, I get an error message, 'Incomplete Employee Profile' stating I need to enter a phone number, however I do have a phone number entered? It's giving me this error message on each and every employee I try to update and won't let me save and keep the additional information (address, email etc) on the employee. Help please.

Hello there, @GPI1986. I can see how hard you've tried here and appreciate your efforts in trying to update your employee information in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT). No worries, I'm here with some troubleshooting steps so we can get rid of the error and be able to successfully save the changes.

While it is true that phone numbers and email addresses are now required when entering employee information, I acknowledge that not being able to proceed even if you've already entered one is unusual behavior.

With that being said, let's run the Verify and Rebuild utility since there might be an issue with your company file's data that's causing the error. This tool scans data issues within the company file and self-resolves them. 

Beforehand, make sure your QuickBooks Desktop is up-to-date. This way, you always have its latest features and fixes. Follow the steps below on how to verify data:

1. On the top menu, click File.
2. Choose Utilities.
3. Select Verify Data.
4. Click OK when QuickBooks doesn't detect any problem with your data.
5. If Verify finds an issue with your data, you'll be prompted to Rebuild Now or View Errors.
6. Click Close or View Errors and take note of the specific error message.

Next, here's how to rebuild data:

1. On the top menu, click File.
2. Choose Utilities.
3. Select Rebuild Data.
4. Click OK if you receive a prompt to back up your company file.
5. Click OK when the rebuild has been completed.
6. Run Rebuild Data again to make sure there's no error.

I've also included this article that discusses the required info tab on your employee info: Edit or change employee info in payroll.

Additionally, in case your employee moved to another state and you need to complete a new state setup, feel free to browse through this article: Set up employees and payroll taxes in a new state.

Don't hesitate to drop a comment below if you need additional assistance in updating your employee information in QuickBooks Desktop. I'm always here to lend a helping hand. Have a great rest of the day. 

@QueenC  RE: While it is true that phone numbers and email addresses are now required when entering employee information,...

Which is stupid, as that information is

1) Not required to pay an employee

2) Employers are not required to gather such information from employees

3) An employee is not always required to tell their employee what their personal email address or personal phone number is, and even when it is justified, the employer should get written consent from the employee on how that number will be used.

4) Not every person has a phone and an email account.

When is Intuit going to fix this, and stop asking employers to enter information that is not related to payroll or employment?

This just started for me after some ridiculous update last pay period that didn't deduct federal and state taxes from some but not all employees

NOW I need to run payroll and have a new employee with only basic information which always allowed adding employees before.  I cannot SAVE this employee in order to PAY him since I do not have said information - which will put me in violation of labor laws by not being able to pay him for his time worked.

Yea, but, but, I mean, but you need to enter that information right now so when you sign up for Intuit's benefits packages someday it'll already be entered. I mean, you wouldn't ever want to do it later, right?

Also, you'll need to enter the same information for all your terminated employee if you ever need to edit them. I'm sure it'll be easy to get that information from them, since of course you keep track of them all.

Which of course makes total sense. But only to some small-minded Intuit marketing person.

Its a push to direct market to your employees without their permission.

Hi! Did you find a solution for employees that don't have an email adress or phone number? I have a couple of employees that don't have an email adress and I don't know what to do. Thank you!

Hello there, ClaudiaForemo.

The fields and tabs may differ based on your payroll service. If your payroll service doesn't need the details for entering the email address and phone number, you can save them directly.

However, if it's required to enter their email address and phone number, you can create a dummy for them and enter it in their employee's info.

For the list of required fields in each tab in adding employee information, you may refer to this article to see the table: Add your new employee to QuickBooks Payroll.

I've included these guides to help you process your employees' payroll and invite them to QuickBooks Workforce so they can access their W-2s and pay stubs:

• Create and run your payroll
• Invite your employees to QuickBooks Workforce to see pay stubs and W-2s if you use QuickBooks Deskto...

Feel free to reach out whenever you need assistance with adding employee information to QuickBooks. We're here to help at any time.