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ImaBassetcase
Level 3

Church exemption for Unemployment

I am exhausted from speaking with countless support folks regarding set up for my church's account.   I am trying to migrate our current desktop version over to the online version.  I spoke with five different techs last week in an attempt to just export my company file.  None of them followed up with me as promised and none of them were able to successfully export it.  I finally read the instructions and did it myself - successfully.  

 

I have been setting up my payroll for two days now and have spoken to multiple support techs for this current issue.  I have read all the articles on here than I can find and none of them help.

 

Churches are exempt from state and federal unemployment tax.  QBO will not allow me to enter 0% in the state tax set up, nor will it allow me to leave the account number blank.  I will not be able to run our payroll on Tuesday if I do not find a solution.  I did screen shares with two different folks today and they could not get it to work either. They are asking me to send an exempt certificate to prove we are exempt.  I have sent the state tax exempt certificate, but it is only for sales tax.  There is not a certificate for unemployment. I can find many articles online stating that churches are exempt, but there is no certificate.  It is difficult to communicate with them to get that across - they keep telling me to contact my state government office. WHAT CAN I DO??

 

I am so frustrated at this point that I don't know if I can continue with QB.  This is too much stress for a church volunteer to deal with. Please help.

6 Comments 6
AbegailS_
QuickBooks Team

Church exemption for Unemployment

Hello there, @ImaBassetcase

 

I completely understand your frustration and exhaustion with this matter. I want to assure you that your concern regarding your church's tax exemption has been thoroughly reviewed. Our payroll support team is now actively working on addressing this issue for you.

 

To ensure that your concern is given the attention it deserves, I recommend reaching out directly to our payroll support team. They will be able to provide you with the most up-to-date information and assist you in resolving this matter. You can also request a call back from them if that would be more convenient for you.

 

Here's how:

 

  1. Log in to your QuickBooks Online company.
  2. Go to Help (?).
  3. Select the Search tab, then Contact Us.
  4. Enter a brief description of your concern, then select Let's talk.
  5. Choose a way to connect:

    • Start a chat with a live support.
    • Get a callback from the next available support.

You can check out this article for the other options to reach our support team and more details about their support hours: Contact Payroll Support.

 

To learn more about setting up federal and state unemployment insurance taxes for churches, consider checking out this article: Set up federal and state unemployment insurance for churches and nonprofits.

 

We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to resolve this issue for you. Please do not hesitate to contact our payroll support team for any further assistance.

ImaBassetcase
Level 3

Church exemption for Unemployment

Thanks for your response.  However, the frustration I mentioned was after completing the steps you have outlined above.  That is how I contacted the various payroll experts that were unable to resolve the issue.  

 

Thankfully, the tech that disconnected while she was helping me did call me back this morning.  She again was unable to remove the account number in the UI field, but she assured me that it would have no effect on my payroll submissions, and to ignore it if it gives the error message asking me to complete that form.  

 

I will not know if this is the solution until I submit my first payroll in a few days - which I am reluctant to do.  I will post back here if it does resolve the issue. 

SD61
Level 1

Church exemption for Unemployment

I totally agree with you!

That is one of my many issues with this Quickbooks online. I used Quickbooks desktop for over 20 years and the online is completely different !

In Pa. you do not have to have Unemployment compensation in churches and when we were made to switch over to online they automatically had this set up and payroll was a mess.

Now I can't figure out how to delete the figures off of the W2 form ....Ugh..

I am so ready to get rid of Quickbooks and go back to what they had before and send all the payroll to be out sourced. This is too much work for a volunteer and someone who doesn't do this full time.

 

 

ImaBassetcase
Level 3

Church exemption for Unemployment

Ain't it the truth! Online is AWFUL! I have now switched back to Enterprise Desktop. Although the Premiere Desktop is being discontinued - Enterprise is still available.  They implied that there were no more desktop versions, and that we had to switch to the online. That was not true.  Ask your church to enroll in Enterprise Gold.  It is not as much as QBO when you consider that Enhanced Payroll is included at no extra cost.  Every encounter I had with Enterprise was satisfactory and could tell the support techs were located in the states. It looks and functions exactly what I am used to. 

RichNazBkpr
Level 1

Church exemption for Unemployment

Thank you for sharing your story.  I found your post after spending hours trying to integrate my desktop file to new online file.  I received the same endless loop for state UI for our church.  It's nice to know I am not the only one. 

 

Thanks!

ImaBassetcase
Level 3

Church exemption for Unemployment

I'm sorry you are dealing with this too.  If at all possible, contact Intuit and go back to the Desktop version that is still available.  It is the only workable solution.  Good Luck!!

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