Wrong deductions for 401k

Thank you for visiting the QuickBooks Community again, utilitree. I appreciate you for sharing detailed information about your concern. With this, yes, the incorrect payroll item that was used in payroll is fixable and redeemable. That said, I'll be sharing troubleshooting instructions to ensure you can correct the details of the payroll being submitted and the employee's data stays accurate.

QuickBooks Desktop has a tool that allows you to correct payroll information for employees. To fix incorrect payroll item being used when running payroll for two of the employees, I recommend using a liability adjustment. Before we get started, here are some of the most common reasons why you'll need to use liability adjustments:

• Fix a payroll item with the wrong tax tracking type.
• Correct YTD wages, taxes, and deduction items.
• Change the amount for company contribution items such as HSA or 401(k) company match.

Then to start with, you can run a payroll check-up. If you have to run a payroll checkup for a previous year, you'll need to change your computer's system date to the last day of that year. Then, run a payroll summary report again for the month or quarter you need to adjust and take note of the amount of Payroll Items that need adjustments. Please know that these details are only performed if needed.

Once done, you can now begin to adjust your payroll liabilities by following the steps below.

1. Go to the Employees menu at the top and choose Payroll Taxes and Liabilities. 
2. Select Adjust Payroll Liabilities.
3. In the Date and Effective Date fields, select the last paycheck date of the affected month or quarter.
4. In the Adjustment is for: section, select Employee Adjustment to correct your employee’s YTD info. Then, choose the employee's name. Please perform this even if the item being adjusted is a company-paid item.
5. Under the Item Name column, select the payroll item you want to adjust.
6. Enter the Amount of the adjustment.
7. Enter the amount under the Income Subject to Tax column if you need to make a wage base adjustment.
8. Select Accounts Affected and click OK.
9. Choose OK to close the Affect Accounts window.
10. Select Next Adjustment if you have additional employees to enter an adjustment for. Otherwise, click OK to save the changes.

After that, I suggest checking in your QuickBooks if the liabilities are already updated. You can open this article to see extra details and how to perform the process: Adjust payroll liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

Lastly, you may refer to this article to view steps on how you can set up scheduled payments and create checks to pay benefits and other deductions to your plan administrators, such as 401(k), insurance premiums, or garnishments: Pay your non-tax liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

I got your back if you have any other concerns about running the correct payroll in QuickBooks. Don't hesitate to leave a reply below, utilitree. Have a great day!

Thanks for getting back to us here in the Community, @utilitree.

You'll have to process a liability adjustment to both 401K and Roth payroll items so you can fix employees' liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Payroll. I'll gladly share further details about this.

When you use a liability adjustment, you're able to correct each of your employee's YTD wages, taxes, and deduction items. With this, you need to process one for both 401K and Roth payroll items to correct and balance out their amounts. Then, remove the unnecessary (401K) payroll item to each of your employees' profile. This also ensures their YTD deduction shows Roth instead of 401K and correct their paycheck data.

Once you're ready, you can refer to this article for the step-by-step guide: Adjust payroll liabilities in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

Also, a variety of payroll and employee reports can help you manage payroll and keep track of employee expenses in QBDT. You may want to check out this article as your reference to guide you in customizing them to get the data you need: Customize payroll and employee reports.

If you have other payroll concerns or questions about liability adjustments in QBDT Payroll, please don't hesitate to let me know in the comments below. I'm always ready to help. Take care, @utilitree.