We pay monthly but have been notified by the IRS that we have to pay 941 taxes bi-weekly now. How do I set that up in Quickbooks when we don't run a second payroll?

Hello, @ace_street. I'm here to provide you with more information on filing periods for 941 taxes.

QuickBooks Desktop and the IRS states four different filing periods for the 941/944/943: Semi-Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Annually. Here's how to edit the schedule with ease:

1. Go to the Employees menu, then Payroll Center.
2. Select the Pay Liabilities tab.
3. Under Other Activities, choose Change Payment Method.
4. Navigate to Schedule payments, then double-click the tax liability you want to edit or schedule a payment.
5. Enter the information.
6. For QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Enhanced users:
   • If the payment frequency option you need isn’t available in the drop-down list, select the Let me use a different payment frequency checkbox. Select Next, then set up a custom payment schedule.
   • The IRS doesn't offer a weekly liability payment schedule. If you're required to make a payment several days after running payroll, the IRS considers it a semiweekly basis. Choose After Each Payroll from the Payment frequency drop-down to set it up.
7. Hit Finish, then Finish Later.

If you're unsure about what to choose for the Payment (deposit) frequency drop-down menu, then I recommend reaching out to your tax accountant for advice. 

Let me know if you have additional questions or concerns. Wishing you and your business continued success!

If we make FED deposit frequency changes for 2022, do we have to wait until physical 2022 to do this? There seems to be no way in desktop enhanced payroll to set the start date for the changes to deposit frequency. Thank you.

Welcome to the thread, BP2773.

Once you receive a notice from the IRS or a state agency about a new deposit schedule or filing requirements, you'll need to update the account before the effective date.

If you're using QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Basic and Enhanced Payroll, you'll need to enter the new tax deposit due dates into your QBDT account.

To enter tax deposit due dates, here's what you'll need to do:

1. Go to the Employees menu at the top.
2. Select Payroll Center.
3. Choose the Pay Liabilities tab.
4. Under Other Activities at the bottom, select Change payment method.
5. Edit the due dates to the updated one.
6. Click Finish.

For more details, see this article: How to set your tax deposit due dates.

For future help, feel free to read this article: State withholding tax deposit frequencies.

Please let me know if you have any other concerns. I'll be around to help you out. Have a great day.

Thank you for your help! To test, I went ahead and changed the tax due dates through the manage payroll section of payroll (pay liabilities) section as recommended - before the effective date, which is 1/1/22. However, this changed tax liability data for 2021 paychecks, resulting in errors in calculation. As I thought, I must wait until the actual year of 2022 to enter changes??? I restored a recent backup from earlier today and now only show one tax calculation error due to a change made outside of the payroll setup (a phone call with a QB help staff member in the spring - how to fix this now??). Can you verify that liability schedule/due dates effective in 2022 can only be changed after the calendar year changes in order to only affect 2022 paychecks and tax liability calculations?  Thank you!

Hello again, BP2773. I appreciate you for keeping us updated.

To ensure we're on the same page, can you add more details about the specific error you encounter about the calculation?

In the meantime, you are correct in restoring a backup. Then, to ensure your tax calculation is right. I suggest updating the Federal deposit frequency after filing and paying 2021 taxes.

If you have followed up questions, let me know in the comment section. Take care and have a good day.

Hi again!

The errors were tax calculation errors per employee - presumably because of the system SUTA rate change I put into the system before paying 2021's final payroll taxes and filing the final forms for 2021, as well as the change in Federal 941 deposits I put in before filing and paying the last of the 2021 payroll taxes. (Which answers my first question - wait until after filing/paying all current year payroll taxes before changing SUTA rates, FED deposit schedules, etc. for the new year.)

I will wait until after 2021 taxes are filed and paid before changing tax deposit schedules or rates for unemployment.

Thank you!