Change an expense or liability account associated with a payroll item in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll

Learn how to change the payroll item's expense or liability account.

When you're managing payroll, it's important to stay on top of all the details.

If you need to change the expense or liability account associated with your payroll item, QuickBooks Desktop lets you do it. Keep in mind that it'll affect all previous transactions. If you don't want this, you can create a new payroll item and link it to the correct expense or liability accounts. Be sure to switch out the payroll items in employee profiles. To learn how to do this in QuickBooks Online Payroll, check out Change your accounting preferences.

We'll show you how to change a payroll item's expense or liability account.

1. Select Lists, then Payroll Item List.
2. Select the Payroll Item ▼ dropdown, then Customize Columns.
3. From the Available Columns list, select Expense Account, and Liability Account, then Add.
4. Select OK.
5. Right click the payroll item you want to change, then select Edit Payroll Item.
6. In the Edit payroll item window, select Next until you reach the Expense Account or Liability Account dropdown list.
7. Select the new expense or liability account, then Next until you can select Finish.

Note: You can only assign a payroll item to one expense or liability account.