Payroll posted to wrong account How can I fix this?

Welcome aboard to QuickBooks Community, @adrey.

We can go to your payroll setting to correct fix this issue. Let me show you how:

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Payroll Settings.
2. Click Preferences.
3. Select Accounting Preferences.
4. In the Checking Account drop-down arrow, select the correct account.

You can also check the Year-end checklist for QuickBooks. This will guide you in accomplishing different tasks in QBO.

If you have other payroll concerns, you can always post in the Community. I'll be right here to help at any time.

@ReymondO 
I’ve already changed it so it doesn’t keep happening, but I need helping fixing the ones that are already showing up in the wrong account. Since they’re in the wrong account, I can’t reconcile my bank account.

Hi there, @adrey.

The option to move paychecks directly to another bank account is unavailable. As a workaround, enter the payroll checks manually as journal entries so you can use them to reconcile the account.

You can either combine all of the employees' paycheck totals into one journal entry or create a separate transaction for each employee. To make sure the amounts are accurate, you can run a payroll report (Payroll Summary, Payroll Summary by Employee, or Payroll Details) for reference.  

Here's how: 

1. Click + New on the left panel.
2. Select Journal Entry.
3. Under the Journal date, enter the paycheck date.

For more details about how to enter the debits and credits for wages and taxes, as well as a sample paycheck, please check the following article: Manually enter payroll paychecks in QuickBooks Online.

I also recommend consulting an accountant on what specific accounts to use recording the transaction to ensure the accuracy of your books. I've also attached some articles about tips and guide to reconcile an account: 

• Reconcile

• Year-end reconciliation

Let me know if you have any other questions. Simply click the Reply button below to add a post. Have a wonderful day. 

This just happened to me as well.   The journal entry is a fix for the getting the payroll entered into the correct account, but I don't understand how it resolves clearing it out of the incorrect account.   A journal entry requires a debit and a credit, but the incorrect account doesn't require two entries to zero it out.  It just needs one entry to zero it out.  Right?

I had this issue and discovered a much better solution:

Merge the incorrect account (usually one of the default Quickbooks accounts, not part of your own chart of accounts) into the correct account.  The old (incorrect) account will disappear.  If merging into your main checking account, this will allow you to (finally!) reconcile all those payroll debits.

Merging the accounts is a much better option as long as there are not a lot of transactions. There should be a warning in the payroll set up about this. Hard to believe there is no feature to easily move to another bank account. This is a very poor feature. 

There should be a warning about this in the payroll set up. This is a very poor feature. 

QBO I am so severely frustrated that you do not have a fix for this. This seems like a simple thing. I switched bank accounts back in June and we are just learning how to reconcile. Guess what?! Six months of payroll posted on a dead bank account. How fn stupid is that? And no fix!!!!

This is such an utter failure on QB part. I have followed the steps to change bank accounts for payroll REPEATEDLY and three months later the funds are still being drawn on the old account. Time to drop our Quickbooks account and move to something that actually functions. 

Good Afternoon, @TCampi. 

This isn't the impression I want to leave you with. The Community is always here to have your back. If the funds are being drawn out of the old account, after trying to change the bank account, then I recommend contacting our Customer Support Team. They have additional tools to look further into your account to make sure the account is changed successfully. Here's how to get in touch with them: 

1. Go to the Help icon in the top right-hand corner. 
2. Select the Contact Us button. 
3. Type in your question and press Let's Talk. 
4. Scroll down and choose to Get a Callback. 

If there's anything else I can do, please let me know. I want to make sure all of your concerns are addressed. Take care!

I am going through this now and have to transfer payroll from the account not being used to the new one and not sure how 

Greetings, @Emit Reeb.

You'll want to create a journal entry to transfer the payroll to the right account. Let me show you how.

Before doing so, I recommend getting in touch with your accountant for additional guidance in recording this. This way, we'll ensure the accuracy of your accounts after making these changes.

In your QuickBooks Online (QBO):

1. Go to the + New button.
2. Select Journal entry.
3. Fill in the needed details to create your journal entry.
4. Click Save and close when done.

Here's an article you can read to learn about the basic in creating a journal entry: Create a journal entry in QuickBooks Online.

Once done, run a payroll report to check if the amounts are accurate in your QBO. Also, I encourage checking our Employees and payroll taxes page for reference. There, you can read some of our great articles and learn some tips in managing your payroll.

Do get back to me if you have other concerns. I'm always here to back you up. Have a great day!

I just had the same issue... i didnt realize that it had set up payroll to record to my old checking account, although it drafted from the correct one... 

how can this happen, draft from one account but record to another with no way to go in and edit and change what account it was applied to.    

Hello there, @scapesbysteven.

The bank account where the payroll is post depends on your set up. You can update payroll information, to ensure it will be taken out to the correct account. 

Here's how:

1. Click the Gear icon at the top. 
2. Choose Payroll Settings. 
3. Hit the Preferences link at the top.
4. Select Accounting Preferences.
5. Pick the Customize button to edit. 
6. Go to the Bank Account section and choose the correct account in the drop-down menu. 
7. Once done, click OK.

From there, once you've process payroll, it will be taken out based on the account selected. 

Moreover, in case you need tips and related articles in the future about the "How Do I" steps in QuickBooks Online, visit our QuickBooks Community help website for reference: QBO Self-help.

If you have any questions or clarifications, let me know by leaving a comment. I’m more than happy to help. Have a great day!

I am using QuickBooks desktop and do not have the gear icon, but I want to do the instructions you gave to change the account payroll is coming from.  how do I find another way around since I can't start with the gear icon?

I appreciate you for providing detailed information above about the product you're currently using, TVFletch. This way, I can provide you the equivalent instructions in changing your payroll account in QuickBooks Desktop.

The steps provided by my colleague above is for the online version of QuickBooks. Updating your bank account to track your payroll transactions in QuickBooks Desktop starts by going to the Employees menu. Then, you can change your information in the system's Payroll Account Management Portal page.

1. Go to the Employees menu.
2. Select My Payroll Service, then choose Accounts/Billing Information.
3. Sign in using your Intuit Account login.
4. Go to Payroll Info section, then under Direct Deposit Bank Account select Edit.
5. Enter your payroll PIN, then select Continue.
6. Enter the new bank account details, then select Update.
7. Wait for the confirmation, and then select Close.

Once done, you can now update the account that direct deposit paychecks and fees will post to if necessary. Here's how:

1. Go to the Employees menu.
2. Select Send Payroll Data.
3. On the Send/Receive Data window, select Preferences.
4. In the Account Preferences page, select the new bank account from the drop-down list.
5. Select OK to save your changes.
6. Select Close on the Send/Receive Data window.

After that, you'll have to verify your new payroll account. For the detailed steps, kindly refer to this article's Step 3: Verify your new direct deposit bank account section: Change your direct deposit bank account for QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

Moreover, when you run payroll, viewing the status of you employee's direct deposit paycheck in QuickBooks Desktop is possible through the Employees menu. You can refer to this article for the complete details: Check the status of an employee's direct deposit. It also explains each payroll status to help us understand the process.

Please let me know if you have other concerns. I'm just around to help.

I changed the bank account successfully on the back end, so the money was debited from the correct account, but I failed to change the drop down account when running payroll. I find it unbelievable that there isn't a pop up alerted you to the fact that the debited account is different than the account it will be recorded in. And further, that you cannot go into each transaction and just change the account.  This needs to be FIXED.

thank you

Hello there, @jennykedwards. 

Thanks for joining this thread. I understand how this option would be helpful to you and your business. 

At this time, this option isn't available in QuickBooks Online. To ensure that your concerns are addressed, I'm going to personally submit feedback to our Product Developers so they can consider this feature in one of the upcoming updates for QuickBooks. 

I'll be more than happy to help if you have any other questions. Have a fantastic rest of your day.

Same here.  Payroll withdrew the actual money from the correct checking account but QB keeps posting the transaction to the old checking account.  Will it ever STOP doing that??? Or do I have to do a journal entry every month to correct this bug.   

-N

Hi there, layagassociates.

Let me share some information about your query. I see that my colleagues already suggested how to post transactions to the right account.

Updating the payroll set up and ensuring that the correct account is changed will normally post the transaction to the new account. However, the process seems not that successful on your end. Meanwhile, I would recommend creating a journal entry to transfer the transactions to your new checking account.

We'll need to investigate this further and look for the main reason why you're experiencing this kind of behavior. Our specialist will help us to find out what triggers the new account of why transactions are still posting to your old checking account. 

Here's how to get in touch with them:

1. Log in to your QBO account.
2. Click the Help icon at the upper-right corner.
3. Click the Contact Us button.
4. Enter a brief description of your concern inside the What can we help you with? box. Something like "Payroll posted to wrong account ​​​​​​".
5. Click Let's Talk.
6. In the Choose a way to connect with us page, you can select the any of the following:

• Start a chat 
• Get a callback 

To make sure we address your concern on time, you can check their work schedule in this article: Support hours and types. You can go to the QuickBooks Online section to view the details.

Let me know how the call goes. I'll be around to assist in case you still need more help. Take care.

I feel your pain my friend!....  I have changed banks and as able to set up the "Payroll" bank accounts in QOB. I have run payroll once since, the money was taken out of the new account however the QOB shows in the chart of accounts that it came out of the old account.  I was told I needed to change something in the "Accounting Preferences" in Payroll Settings, however I don't have that option anywhere. I've spent over 3 hours  on the phone over multiple calls with customer service only to be told theres a glitch on their end and I may need to cancel my Full Service Payroll and QOB accounts that I have been using for 2 years, and create a new ones and start from scratch. Ummmm NOPE! And on here I only get useless responses telling me the same nonsense as if they are just using standard responses and not even reading my post.

Hella aggravating! Its messing up my accounting.

Same thing keeps happening to me im so flustered with Quickbooks for the past year :(. just been one mess after another. im about to give up and pay my accountant to do it all for me. But now i have created a mess for him still trying to figure out the mess from 2019 to do my taxes. 

So I'm in the same boat.  Changed bank accounts, but forgot to change the account in the drop down menu in payroll settings.  Great questions, how does the program not throw up an alert, and how is it not possible to simply change the account after the payroll has completed?  There are a lot of frustrating things about QBO that should be easy to fix.  I've regretted my decision to use QBO and extremely frustrated with it.  My office manager with 30 years experience has never had so many issues with this type of software.

I so agree with this! How can there be a drop down to change accounts for every other item but not payroll items that are a check? This needs to changed.  I doubt we are the only people having this issues especially after PPP loans.