How do I lay off my employees, not fire them? The only option I have is "Terminate" but I don't want to signify firing them.

You can make this employee inactive, @CliffLee.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Workers menu and select Employees.
2. Locate and click the name of the employee.
3. Select pencil icon next to Employment.
4. Choose Not On Payroll in the Status field.
5. Click Done.

You can view the inactive employee by selecting the Inactive Employees option beside the Find an employee field in the Employees window. Here's more information: Delete or terminate an employee. It also explains about deleting an employee in the system.

Please let me know if you have other concerns. I'm just around to help. Have a great rest of the day!

I don't want to continue to Pay for Payroll if my employees, including myself, are laid off.  Do I have to continue to pay if I pick the option you presented?

I'd like to share details and answer your question about payroll fees, nolanduck2.

The system will only count the number of employees that are active. Once you change it to Not on payroll, you will no longer pay for the per employee fee. 

However, you might still be charged for the monthly subscription fee for the payroll account. If you will not process any payroll transactions at all, you might consider cancelling the payroll subscription to avoid unnecessary charges.

Let me share these articles for additional details and guidance as well:

•  Understand Service Fees for QuickBooks Online Payroll
• Cancel Your QuickBooks Payroll Subscription

Please note that you can reactivate your payroll account anytime you need to process payroll again. Just follow the steps in this article for additional details: Reactivate Your QuickBooks Payroll Subscription.

For additional guidance, I wanted to share these payroll-related articles in case you might need them:

• Run Payroll Reports 
• Close Business and Finish Payroll Tasks 

Don't hesitate to ask more questions if you still need more help when completing your payroll-related tasks. The QuickBooks Team would be glad to jump in and offer our assistance when you need it.