Washington Paid family leave 2022 tax change

Good day, @mombo007.

Let me help you update the Washington Paid family leave tax rate in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Payroll. You have to option to manually change the tax rate for each employee in the program. Here's how:

1. Go to Employees and select Employee Center.
2. Double-click the employee's name to open the Edit Employee window.
3. Select the Payroll Info tab and click Taxes.
4. In the Taxes screen that pops up, select the Other tab.
5. Make sure the Washington Paid Family Leave items are there.
   • WA – Paid Fam Med Leave Emp: Employee portion of the total insurance premium
   • WA – Paid Fam Med Leave Co: Employer portion of the total insurance premium will be added to the Payroll Item List.
6. Select the tax to change the rate.
7. Click OK twice to close the window.

For more info, you can check out this article: How to Change Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave for Each Employee in QuickBooks Desktop.

In case you're using the Full-Service Payroll, Intuit will pay and file this tax for you. To update the tax rate, contact them through chat. You can also connect with them by following the steps in this article: Contact Payroll Support.

Moreover, you check out the WA Paid Family & Medical Leave website and their Premiums Calculator to learn about your rates. The size of your company will determine how much you'll pay.

Please update me on how it goes or if need further assistance with the steps. I'll be more than happy to help. Have a nice day!

Not what I asked, but this post might help someone else.

@ReymondO 

RE: You have to option to manually change the tax rate for each employee in the program. Here's how:

You don't have that option, actually.  Which you'd know if you'd actually tried it.

The combined rate for these taxes is controlled by the tax table. The rate entered on the employee is the portion of the total rate of .4%. For example, the rate entered on the employee for the company portion of the tax might be 33.67% and for the employee portion might be 66.33%, for a total of 100% of the combined .4% tax rate.

The user cannot change the .4% rate, which is quite obviously why they are asking when Intuit is going to update it.

You would know this had you actually set up the tax per the instructions and tried using it on a paycheck. You would also know that Intuit has already delivered the tax-table controlled combined rate change to .6% for 2022, had you actually tried it before posting, or read your own documentation.

@mombo007 

RE: When are you going to update the Paid Family leave tax rate from .4% to .6%.

The combined rate has already been updated to .6% for 2022.

Note that:

- The tax table can hold rates for multiple years. For example the current year and next year.

- You will see the current rate on the payroll items list - for today - based on your computer's system date.

- Once the year rolls to 2022 (tomorrow) you'll see the new rate / the rate that applies for 2022.

- If you have the current tax table, then the correct rate will be used on paychecks based on the payroll/paycheck date, regardless of what is displayed on the payroll items list.

- You can tell that the rate has been updated by reviewing your Tax Table Changes notice, which appears each time you get a new tax table.

To review it, select Employees from the QuickBooks menu, then Get Payroll Updates, then click Payroll Update Info. Then select the Tax Table tab and click Washington under the State and Local Tax Updates section. Using the current payroll update, you will see the notice, "The total contribution rate for WA - Paid Family and Medical Leave has increased to .6% from .4% effective 1/1/2022."

I was very tired when I posted this and realized after the fact that it might not show up until the 1st.  Thank you for the clarification of where to find the details of what changed though.  

I find it interesting that they tell us form 940 has been updated in the update, but this is clearly still only printing in draft form.  Do you have any insight into when that will be addressed?

No, I don't know about the 940's status.

The tax rate is correct, but the employee distribution amount is still at the 2021 rate (.6333).   The employee share rate increased to .7322.   How do you change the employee share rate?

Thanks for joining this thread, scancler.
 

To verify my understanding, are you referring to owner/shareholder distributions or a salaried employee's rate change?
 

In the meantime, I'd also recommend making sure you have the latest tax table release each time you're paying employees.
 

Here's how:

1. In your top menu bar, go to Employees, then Get Payroll Updates.
2. Tick the Download Entire Update checkbox.
3. Select Download Latest Update.

Once I have more information about what you're looking to do, I'll be able to help you confirm the appropriate process. I'll be looking forward to your reply. Have a lovely day!

Hi ZackE

I confirmed we are running the most recent tax table version 22204, payroll version 02012206.

Further background on this tax and the issue:

In 2021 the Washington State Paid Family and Medical Leave tax rate was .04%.  Of that, the employee paid .6333 (63.33%).  On 1/1/22 the rate increased to .06% and the employee share to .7322.

Quickbooks has updated the rate from .04 to .06, but the employee share remains .6333.  There is no way (that I see) for the user to update the rate to .7322

Hello there, @scancler. 

I appreciate the details you've provided. I can help you correctly set up the WA Paid Family Medical Leave in your QuickBooks.

To begin, let's verify the set up of the tax item under your employee's profile:

1. Click Employees.
2. Choose Employee Center.
3. Double-click the employee's name.
4. Choose the Payroll Info tab.
5. Click Taxes.
6. Choose the Other tab.
7. Highlight the WA Paid Family Medical Leave item.
8. Make sure that the Rate is 100.0%.

After running through your employee information, download the payroll tax table update:

1. Click Employees.
2. Choose Get Payroll Updates.
3. Select the Download entire payroll update radio button.
4. Click Update.
5. Wait until the download is complete, and click OK.

Then, try creating a paycheck once more. If the paychecks are highlighted in yellow, you will have to revert the paycheck to refresh the calculation.

Keep me posted if you have other concerns about payroll. I'm willing to provide more help. Wishing you all the best! 

Hello,

Since I have to manually change all of my employee's portion individually (from 63.33% to 73.22%) and this leaves a lot of room for data entry errors, is there a way to create a report to make sure all of the employees have the correct rate?

BTW, it seems kind of dumb that quickbooks can't automatically update that rate as well since it's across the board. 

Thanks for your help!

I'm here to help you run a report you need, Karen O.

You can pull up the Payroll Detail Review report to see employee records, payroll item set up, and wage and tax amounts. Here's how:

1. Go to the Reports menu, then select Employees & Payroll.
2. Select Payroll Detail Review, then choose This Calendar Year from the Dates drop-down menu. 
3. Select Refresh.

The report displays all the deductions and other necessary information you want.

Also, I've included an article that can help you personalize your reports: Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop.

Get back to the Community space if you have any other questions. We are ready to help.