Setting up payroll, do I enter only employee taxes or also employer?

Hi, @yonester.

When entering prior payroll history, you enter only the employee-paid portions of taxes. The system will automatically calculate the employer portions for Social Security and Medicare based on the employee wages and taxes withheld. After you complete entering the employee YTD totals and per-check-date history, QBO will show the calculated amounts for verification before finalizing setup.

You only enter the employer FUTA and state unemployment amounts on the last part. Take a  look at my screenshot below:

To know more about setting up payroll, you can refer to this link: Get started with QuickBooks Online Payroll.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to reply.

Thanks for the reply. When I go through these steps I don’t see the third one. I.e., I only see totals by employee and totals by pay date. So I have nowhere to enter FUTA and state unemployment.

Thanks for getting back to this thread, @yonester.

Since it is still January 2026, you will not see the Enter tax details panel yet. January falls within the first quarter of the year, which has not ended. Therefore, FUTA and state unemployment taxes for this period are still unpaid.

As shown in the screenshot above, the year-to-date reflects September 30, 2023. It indicates that previous quarters have already been completed and their taxes have been paid, allowing amounts to be entered.

Let us know if you have additional questions. We're here to guide.