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Set up and manage work locations in QuickBooks Online Payroll

by Intuit•33• Updated 3 weeks ago

Learn how to add or change your employees work locations in QuickBooks Online Payroll. 

Your employees' specific work locations help us determine which state and local taxes you're responsible for. When setting up your employees, the default work location is your company's legal business address. If your employees work in different places (example: from home or remote), you'll need to review and possibly update their work location. 

Select the task you need to complete below:

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Set up a new work location

Step 1: Find out which state taxes apply and get the info

If your employee works from home, check with your local city and state agencies to see what applies to you.

If your employee works in another state, you can set up employees and their payroll taxes in a new state.

Roaming employees work in more than one state for the same employer. This could be an employee who works in multiple states within the same pay period. Your employee may be subject to multiple state unemployment and local tax withholdings depending on which state(s) they work in, and if they're a resident or non-resident of those states.

Our payroll products don't support multiple state unemployment and local withholding on a single paycheck or on tax filings. We don't recommend using any workarounds as this can cause issues with your state tax forms.

If you use QuickBooks Desktop Payroll, you can use class tracking to track your employees in 2 locations. You may need to make manual adjustments to paychecks and tax forms.

In general, state unemployment will only be paid to one state per employee. That state should be set as the Work Location (in QuickBooks Online Payroll) and the State Lived (QuickBooks Desktop Payroll). To find out which state to report unemployment to, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and all states have agreed to adopt these 4 tests:

  1. Place where work is localized.
  2. Place where base of operations is located.
  3. Place from which the work is directed or controlled.
  4. Residence of employee.

Apply these tests in succession to all services an employee performs under a single contract of hire. If application of a test results in allocation of all services to one state, no further test may be used.

Step 2: Make changes to your employee’s work location

  1. Go to Payroll, then select Employees (Take me there).
  2. Select your employee.
  3. From Employment details, select Start or Edit.
  4. From the Work location dropdown, you'll see a default work location (usually your company's address). Select an existing address, or +Add work location.
  5. If you selected add work location, enter the physical address where your employee works and select the correct address from the list. Don't use a P.O. Box. The physical address help us determine the correct taxes.
  6. When finished, select Save.

Step 3: Set up your new taxes (if applicable)

If your employee works in another state or local tax jurisdiction, you may be required to complete the new state or local tax setup. 

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Remove an unused work location

If never used the work location, you can delete it.

  1. Select Settings ⚙, then Payroll settings.
  2. From Work locations, select Edit ✎.
  3. Select Edit on the work location you want to remove. Note: if you still have employees listed in that work location, you'll need to change their work location.
  4. Select Delete work location. Then select Save.

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Deactivate a work location

If you've created paychecks using a work location, you can't delete it. But you can make it inactive instead.

  1. Select Settings ⚙, then Payroll settings.
  2. From Work locations, select Edit ✎.
  3. Select Edit on the work location you want to remove. Note: if you still have employees listed in that work location, you'll need to change their work location.
  4. From the Active dropdown▼ select Inactive.
  5. Select Save.

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Change my primary work location

The default primary work location is your company's legal business address. If your address changes:

  1. Select Settings ⚙, then Payroll settings.
  2. From Work locations, select Edit ✎.
  3. Select Edit on the primary work location.
  4. Update the address.
  5. Select Save.

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