SUI calculations wrong even after QB CS agent made adjustments

I'm here to share insights about the calculation of your taxes, @Roy Beaulieu.

In QuickBooks Desktop, your payroll taxes are calculated based on the updated rates mandated by your federal and state tax agency. You're on the right track, it is recommended to manually update QuickBooks and your payroll tax table to ensure your payroll taxes are accurately calculated.

It'll also consider all your payroll data and item setup within the payroll calendar year in the calculation of your taxes. I'm adding this reference to understand more about how your taxes are calculated: How QuickBooks Calculates Payroll Taxes?

You may also read these references with the compilation of things that are needed to consider for the calculation of your SUI payroll taxes:

• Troubleshoot Incorrect State Unemployment (SUI) or Withholding (SIT) on Paychecks
• QuickBooks Desktop Calculates Wages and/or Payroll Taxes Incorrectly

It'll always be my pleasure to help if you've got questions other than your payroll taxes concern. I'll be here to lend a helping hand. Take care and stay safe!

My understanding about NM SUI, as confirmed by the QB CS agent who helped me, our rate is specific to OUR business, number of employees, and usage of the insurance, and not included in QB payroll updates. That's how I missed these updates in the first place. I've confirmed this with an accountant.

Thanks anyway for the reply.

I'll reread what you provided in these links. I'll run some of the mentioned report and get back here with the results today.

Thanks.

As I suspected, QB isn't using the correct SUI percentage even though the correct amount was 0.33% on just a few screens before. I was guessing it was using the wrong percentage because its calculations were WAY too high. When I run the Payroll Detail Review report, I see the calculations for each paycheck. Each check has the percent entered, although sometimes this was an error as I described in the opening post. But this report shows QB isn't using 0.33%.

How can this report show 2.2900% where the screen before CLEARLY had 0.33%?

I'll make sure your State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) tax is calculated correctly, Roy.

I appreciate you for sharing a screenshot with us. I want to make sure I'll provide you the best fix for this. Did you receive any error messages on your end? If so, can you share them with me? This way, I can gather more information about it the give the best fix.

If you haven't, I'd recommend running the Verify Rebuild tool. This scans your company file for issues and quickly resolves them right away. Let me show you how:

To Verify:

1. Go to the Window menu and select Close All.
2. Then, go to the File menu.
3. Select Utilities.
4. Click Verify Data.

To Rebuild:

1. Go to the File menu.
2. Select Utilities.
3. Click Rebuild Data.

You can also see this link for more details: Verify and Rebuild Data in QuickBooks Desktop. 

I'm also attaching this article that you can use for additional troubleshooting steps: Troubleshoot Incorrect State Unemployment (SUI) or Withholding (SIT) on Paychecks

Once you're set, feel free to utilize this resource on how to file your payroll taxes seamlessly: E-pay 940 and 941/944 tax forms.

I'm always here to help you whenever you need assistance with your payroll. I can also answer any QuickBooks concerns you may have. Just add the details in your reply and I'll take care of it for you. Have a good one!

These screenshots come from the Run Payroll Checkup. The following one shows correct UI percentage.

The following screenshot is the error screen Checkup ends with. Clicking the View Error produces the report I shared in my last post. Clicking Continue > only tells you that the error must be fixed. I'm guessing the only place to "fix" it would be a few screens back though I'm not sure. I'm not about to try this as the 2.29% is wrong.

I'll make a backup and run the Verify Rebuild tool and then rerun this troubleshooter.

I ran verify, backup, and rebuild. No useful issues were fixed and the Run Payroll Checkup produces the same thing as above. Here is the results of the rebuild.

Per the link you provided titled: Troubleshoot Incorrect State Unemployment (SUI) or Withholding (SIT) on Paychecks here is my Payroll Items List displayed by:

1. From the Lists menu, select Payroll Item List.
2. Double-click State Unemployment.

As I said, the correct percentages are listed: 

Q1 2.29%

Q2 0.33%

Q3 0.33%

Q4 0.33%

Thanks for bringing this one to our attention, Roy Beaulieu.

I appreciate you for performing the steps to get your QuickBooks working. We can try repairing your QuickBooks Desktop for Windows to fix any damaged data on your company file. If the same thing happens, we can clean install QuickBooks Desktop so Windows can fix company file issues. A clean install won’t affect your data at all.

Before doing it, let's create a backup copy of your company file just in case you ever run into problems, just use your backup to restore your data. Then, gather your QuickBooks product info by following the steps below: 

1. Download the installer for your version of QuickBooks.
2. Have your license number handy. It should be on the original package or in the purchase confirmation email if you bought a digital version.
3. Write down your product year and version.

Then, follow the next steps in the Clean install QuickBooks Desktop article. If the problem persists, I'd suggest contacting our QuickBooks Support Team. They'll pull up your account in a secure environment and investigate what's causing this issue. You may send a message via chat, call us at a time convenient to you, or we’ll get in touch with you instead. To ensure we address your concern, our representatives are available from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays and 6:00 AM - 3:00 PM on Saturdays, PST. See our support hours and types for more details about this one. Here's how: 

1. Click the Help icon on the top menu. 
2. Choose QuickBooks Desktop Help. 
3. Tap Contact us.
4. Select Search for something else and enter your concern in the Tell us more about your question: field. 
5. Tap Search. 
6. Choose Start a Message or Get Phone Number to connect with our support. 

Feel free to visit our Payroll page for more insights about managing your payroll transactions on the software. 

I want to make sure everything is taken care of for you, please let me know how it goes or if you have any other issues or concerns. Just leave a comment below and I'll get back to you. Take care always.

Clean QB didn't help. I not only did a new install of QB, it's on a different PC. In case it's a bug in 2019, I upgraded to 2021. I did payroll update, data rebuild, ran the same payroll checkup wizard thing. No change. I even started to cut a bonus check for 1,000.00. QB wants to calculate $51.33 as SUI on 1,000.00! Like I said in the opening post, it looks like it's trying to "catch up" or "fix" things. I think it wants to go with the 2.29% since that's what 2021 opened with even though I've clearly told it the tax rate has changed. 

In my mind, there are only a few possibilities.

1. The instructions to make Payroll Liability Adjustments are wrong.
2. My implementation of those instructions are wrong as also would be the Intuit CS agent who helped me.
3. The program is written wrong as per the advice I've received from an accountant who deals with this issue.