TRYING TO SELECT 941 FOR QUARTER ENDING 6-30-20 BUT IT KEEPS SAYING NO PAYROLL FOR YEAR SO FAR... I KNOW , I WANT TO FILL A ZERO RETURN.....HOW TO GET IT TO OPEN ?????

Thanks for posting in the Community space, @25dglenncpa.

I'll be glad to walk you through the steps on how to file a zero return and open the 941 forms. You can choose from the two methods below on how to do it.

First, create a dummy employee then process a 0 Net check. This way, you can pull up the 941 form with zero wages from the File Forms window. Just make sure the check date and the period are matched when you print it.

Once done, you can delete the dummy employee and the paycheck. Then, file the printed form directly to the IRS. 

Second, you can file out the forms through the IRS website and manually enter the information from there. This way you can print the form with the information you needed:

1. Go to this link: https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions
2. In the Search field, enter 941.
3. Tap the form on the result to open a PDF 941 file.
4. Enter the information manually then use the Download or Print option.

In case you want to print and save a copy of different tax forms, click this article: Process, print, and save QuickBooks Desktop Payroll tax forms. This also provides various related articles about the different forms in QuickBooks Desktop.

You can also visit this website: IRS Payroll Tax Compliance. It contains information about the withholdings, unemployment, other taxes, e-file, pay, agency, and employer registration.

I'm always here to help if you have any other concerns or questions. Just tag my name in the comment section and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Have a nice day!

Yes, someone unfamiliar with payroll filing rules thought this was a good idea and decided to save you from yourself by stopping you from filing when you don't have any payroll. Which make logical sense when you don't know the rules and (it seems) don't care to find out what they are.

While this has been reported here for over a month Intuit still hasn't fixed it, even though they could have.

Is there a plan to fix this so we don't have to create a dummy zero payroll check in order to prepare a 941? I am sure you are aware that employers may still be required to file the form even with zero payroll. Completing a form via the IRS website when we pay for a payroll service is not what many of us are looking for. Please advise.

Well, in the old days there would have been. It would likely be fixed already and actually would never have existed in the first place, at least not intentionally.  This issue seems like it was intentional coded by Intuit, as there's an actual message that says you have no payroll (as if that matters) and that message never existed before. 

You should, of course, be able to run any form you want to run, whether or not QB has any data for it. This has always been the standard.  But, someone at Intuit thought that was a bad idea, even though it was a really, really good idea.  I really do not know how this made it into a live release of QuickBooks. It's so abjectly wrong that it's astounding, really.

This is insane. I am unable to just run the forms without paying people this quarter and you are asking me to create a dummy payroll. Why again am I paying the subscription fee if I have to create a dummy or manually fill out a 941 in pdf format, which by the way is not letting me enter the employer EIN because it is just not working? FIX THIS because it is your responsibility to all QB stakeholders. FIX it or I go somewhere else. This is not a headache to add to your customers in these times. 

RE: "Why again am I paying the subscription fee?"

You're paying for the right to use payroll and for timely and accurate updates to payroll compliance rules, tax calculations, and payroll tax forms.

However, it does not seem you are getting that.  This issue has now been reported to Intuit for a couple of months, which is plenty of time to fix it.  Intuit has chosen not to do so.

IMO this huge mistake, first to implement the exact wrong thing and then to not fix it (which should be as easy as commenting out the code that is stopping you from creating the form), will lead many customers to not file at all.  Since the message says you can't, they will think that means they don't need to.  Which is totally wrong.

It is hard to imagine how an entire team of people designed, reviewed for compliance, then coded, tested, documented, and released this change and not one of them noticed that it is abjectly at odds with reality.

Exactly. I almost made the mistake. I was just uncomfortable enough to do my own research. I just spent precious time reading all the instructions on the 941 and other websites to confirm that indeed even though I did not make payroll this quarter I still needed to file this form. they are probably saving themselves a few miserly cents per client when they force us to do a manual 941 or mess our books up by creating dummy employee payroll, only to make many of their clients victims of the IRS. Just ridiculous. I am now curious how many people will miss today's filing because they misunderstood that the problem is with QB and not the IRS saying you do not have to file. 

I agree, this is insane!  As a QB ProAdvisor and Payroll Provider using QB to provide services to my client, I am VERY UPSET about this and find it complete unacceptable.  Just another reason to leave Inuit and use someone else.  I have been approached by ADP, Paychex and others to move my business there I am seriously considering doing so.  Inuit - ARE YOU LISTENING??.  You were late to the mark on the PPP loans, did not provide correct, timely information and now you do this?  We have quite a few clients who may not have payroll for a quarter, particularly in this pandemic situation.  This must be fixed now!