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lapoore
Level 1

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

I have tried everything and chatted with Quickbooks and posted to the Facebook page and have no luck getting my client's files correct.  Here is the issue...they are a Maryland Employer with Pennsylvania Employee's.  They have always withheld the PA employee's PA taxes and PA Local taxes from their paycheck.  I have a client that has payroll through their QBO Account and last March when somethings changed in the payroll on QBO's end, the PA Local tax just stopped coming out of the employee's paycheck (in fact at that point we were even unable to change anything to do with any of the employee's information - that has since been corrected).  I have not to this day been able to get this corrected in the file.  We have their PA employee set up correctly and there is spot for the PA Local taxes to come out of the check but nothing is coming out.  

 

Roll forward to the Intuit transition to the QBO Payroll...One of my Employers who is in the same boat as the above employer had this happen to their PA employee.  It was working correctly in Intuit payroll but now that they are in QBO Payroll, no PA Local taxes are coming out.  

 

I keep hearing from the "experts" or "tech" people that these employers don't need to withhold the taxes that is why you can't.  This is not turn...while we are not required to withhold PA Taxes because the Employer is a Maryland Employer.  However, MD and PA have a reciprocal agreement. What that means is that if you live in PA and work in a reciprocal state, your employer withholds and remits the income tax for your resident state.  Because of the reciprocal agreement your pay taxes to your state of residency. If this wasn't true then why would QBO allow for the PA withholdings to come out and there is actually a place to check that the employee has given the employer a Certificate of Nonresidence.  

 

Why don't these people (the experts and tech people) that you chat with know what this is?

 

How do I get this fixed for my 2 employers so that the taxes come out of their paycheck?

Maybe you can direct me to someone who knows how to fix this issue.  I think that it has gone on long enough with my one Employer - over a Year!

 

I would appreciate any help that you could give so I can get this behind me and make my PA employees happy. 

Laurie

13 Comments 13
Mich_S
QuickBooks Team

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

I can see you've been through a lot fixing this issue about PA local taxes not being withheld in QuickBooks Online Payroll, @lapoore.

 

Let's review your employees' profiles and make sure to select the local taxes box so QuickBooks deducts the PA Local Taxes from your employees' paychecks. To do so, follow these steps:

 

  1. Open the Payroll menu. Then, go to Employees.
  2. Locate and select your employee's name from the list.
  3. Go to the Tax withholding section and click on Edit.
  4. Put a checkmark for the Local taxes box.
  5. Once done, click on Save.

See the photos below for reference:

 

 

 

For more information about handling PA Local Taxes, feel free to read this module: PA Local Services Tax (LST).

 

You can also learn more about how to run, print, and customize payroll reports in QuickBooks Online Payroll.

 

Loop me in if you need extra help with payroll or with any QuickBooks-related. I'm always here to assist you at any time of the day. Take the best care!

lapoore
Level 1

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

I do have the employee set up correctly.  Always has been... see belowimage.png

Ami_D
Intuit

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

Hi there @lapoore ! I just wanted to check in and let you know that we haven't forgotten about this! My colleagues and I are doing some extra research on this this morning and will reply here again when we have more information. Thanks for hanging in there with us. 

lapoore
Level 1

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

Thanks, I hope that someone can come up with the fix soon.

Ami_D
Intuit

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

@lapoore Alright! I got a response back from our product team on this. It looks like, for right now, state local taxes for PA are not withheld in QBO Payroll. Our team is looking into ways to add this ability in the future, but for now, PA local taxes must be withheld manually. 

 

I've shared this conversation with them to use as a reference when working on future updates. 

Please don't hesitate to reply again if you have other questions. I'm happy to provide any information I have or pass along any other feedback to the team. 

lapoore
Level 1

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

@Ami_D  How would I manually withhold PA local taxes?  We thought of maybe a deduction but then it wouldn't be on their W2. 

 

Thanks, Laurie

jthood
Level 1

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

We are also having the same exact issue.  We are a MD employer with a PA resident employed for us.  The employee is set up correctly but QB can't seem to figure this out.  Did they ever provide instructions to manually deduct for your employee?

KlentB
Moderator

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

Hi there, jthood.

 

As mentioned by Ami_D above, you'll have to manually withhold the local taxes for the state of Pennsylvania. To do this, you'll need to create a deduction item tand hen add it when running your payroll. Here's how:

 

 

  1. Go to the Payroll menu.
  2. Select the Employees tab, then choose an employee.
  3. From the Deductions & contributions section, click Edit.
  4. Select Add deduction/contribution, then choose a type of deduction..
  5. Add a description as needed, then choose whether you want the deduction to be calculated as a flat amount or Percentage of gross pay. 
  6. Enter the amount or percentage.
  7. Click Save, then Done.

Keep me posted if you have further questions about taxes and payroll. I'm always here and ready to assist.

jthood
Level 1

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

According to our accountant, the above "fix" is not acceptable as the deduction will not appear on the W-2 form.  Our Accountant also has spoken with several people on your Help Team, escalated to Level 3 and still not getting an acceptable solution.  I KNOW we are not the only MD employer with PA residents using Intuit that are having this problem.  Please advise when your website will be corrected otherwise, we may discontinue your payroll service. 

Rea_M
Moderator

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

I know where you're coming from, @jthood. As a customer myself, I'd also like to have my employees' state (PA) local taxes withheld when running payroll in QuickBooks Online Payroll (QBOP). 

 

Let me help you send feedback and product recommendations so you can relay your experience using QBOP and aid in making the payroll platform better.

 

For the time being, as mentioned by my colleagues above, state local taxes for PA are not withheld in QBOP. While our product team is working on a fix, you'll need to withhold it manually to keep your payroll data accurate. 

 

In line with this, I encourage you to submit product recommendations. We take your suggestions as opportunities to improve the various features of our products. Your valuable feedback will be forwarded and reviewed by our Product Development team to help enhance your experience while using the program. To send one, here's how:

 

  1. Go to the Gear icon.
  2. Select Feedback.
  3. Type in your recommendation in the Share your feedback field.
  4. Click Next.
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process. 

 

On top of that, I'd recommend visiting this page to keep you updated with the latest software improvements and enhancements with QBO: Customer Feedback for QuickBooks Online.

 

Also, you may want to check out one of our Help pages as your reference to guide you in managing your business's growth and payroll taxes and transactions using QBOP: QuickBooks Learn and Support. It includes QuickBooks Help articles, Community discussions with other users, and video tutorials, to name a few.

 

I'm all ears if you have other feedback and feature concerns in QBOP. You can drop a comment below, and I'll gladly help. Take care, and I wish you continued success, @jthood.

cmk5
Level 1

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

We are also having this problem as a Maryland employer with employees living & working in various states. Last year, the employee's residency address & work address were both PA. But now that I have changed the employee's work address to Maryland, the PA Local taxes are not being withheld from his paycheck.

cmk5
Level 1

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

Same problem. We are a Maryland employer with employees living and/or working in various states. Last year, one of our employees lived & worked in PA. This year, that same employee lives in PA but now works in MD. All of a sudden, PA local taxes are no longer being withheld. Why?? PA state taxes are still being withheld.

cmk5
Level 1

State Local Taxes Not being withheld from employee Paycheck

Agree that this is not a fix. W2 will not be correct.

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