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Request an amendment for payroll

by Intuit•8• Updated 2 weeks ago

If you fixed a paycheck from a previous quarter or year in QuickBooks Online, you might need an amendment. If you have QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium or QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite , you can now request an amendment for your payroll taxes directly in QuickBooks Online.

What's an amendment?

Payroll tax filings report employees’ wages, withheld taxes, and company taxes to tax agencies. You'll need to file an amended tax return if you made any changes or entered new paychecks in a quarter or year in which you've already filed.

The forms you’ll need to file depend on what corrections you made ‌to the previous quarter or year. If the previous year was affected, W-2 forms may also need to be amended. If you only updated your unemployment rate, no amendments are needed.

Prerequisites

You must have an active QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium or QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite subscription to request an amendment in your company file.

Request an amendment

Step 1: Correct your payroll

Determine if you need to to fix your payroll. These are the most common reasons for payroll corrections:
- Underpaid employee
- Overpaid employee
- Paychecks not recorded
- Changes to employee or company contributions
Pick the best way to fix it.

Add pay to the next payroll

If you underpaid an employee and haven’t paid them yet, you can create a new paycheck for the amount owed or add it to their next regular paycheck.

Subtract pay from the next payroll

If you paid an employee too much, you can create an agreement with them to collect the money back on future paychecks or outside payroll. Contact your accountant or a tax professional to determine the best plan for your business.

Create a new paycheck

If you paid an employee but never recorded it, you can create a new paycheck with the date you paid the employee. Since this impacts your tax liability, you’ll need an amendment.

Edit or void paychecks

If you’ve already collected overpaid wages, you can adjust the paycheck. If the employee no longer works for you and you can’t collect the money, contact us.

Correct your QuickBooks.
- Tip: Make all the needed corrections for that period before you start the amendment process. Each corrected paycheck may change your tax liability. This amount is part of what you need to report to tax agencies as part of the same amendment.

Step 2: Request an amendment in QuickBooks Online

After you complete your prior period correction in QuickBooks, you may be asked if you would like us to help with the amendments.This is part of your payroll plan if you have QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium and QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite.

Important: If you have QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, you’ll need to prepare the amendments, and pay taxes directly to tax agencies. Or contact your accountant or a tax expert to prepare the amendments for your company. In the Payroll Tax Center, be sure to mark the payment as paid.

How it works:

Timing: Once you open your amendment case, it usually takes 6–8 weeks for us to process your amendments and submit them to the tax agencies. If your amendments require corrected W-2s, they take about 1–2 weeks to process. Processing times can vary by season.
Tax payments: If you owe extra taxes, we’ll let you know how to pay them.
Copies of the amendments: We’ll share copies of the amended tax returns with you, so you can save a copy for your tax records.

Fines and penalties

If you make changes to your past payroll that affect what you owe to a tax agency, you may receive notices or incur penalties for late tax payments. You will be responsible for these penalties.

Next steps

We'll email you if we need more info after you submit your amendment request.