Troubleshoot paychecks calculating incorrectly

Find out why some paychecks are calculating incorrectly and how to fix it in QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

QuickBooks calculates your paychecks based on the payroll info you’ve entered in your payroll product.

If some of your paychecks calculate differently or incorrectly, this could be because:

• The employee, tax, or payroll item setup in QuickBooks
• The wage limit has been reached
• Your QuickBooks Desktop Payroll and its tax table aren't up to date

Here’s how to fix it. 

Incorrect setup of payroll items

Check if the setup of your payroll wages, deductions, or contributions are correct, then update if needed in your payroll product.

Payroll tax update (QuickBooks Desktop Payroll only)

Make sure that you have a supported QuickBooks Desktop and the tax table is up to date.

Annual or maximum limit has been reached

If some of your payroll items such as deductions, contributions, or vacation or sick pay aren’t calculating properly, run a tax and wage summary report. Verify if they have reached the limit you set up to withhold for a certain period. Or check the setup of each payroll item to see if they are correct.

No Income Tax or State Unemployment Insurance withheld

Verify if you have the correct SUI rates or setup in your payroll product, then update if needed.

Also, check out No income tax withheld from a paycheck and No unemployment tax withheld from to learn more.

Net amount or net pay is zero

Having a zero net paycheck doesn’t always mean it’s incorrect. Check if this paycheck was created to contribute toward an employee’s income tax or retirement.

Incorrect Year-to-date (YTD) amount (QuickBooks Online Payroll only)

If you've missed a payroll from the previous pay date and you've decided to create it after submitting the payroll for the current pay date, you’ll notice that the YTD amounts on the previous payroll are larger than the payroll for the current pay date.

This doesn’t mean that the YTD amount is incorrect. The current YTD amounts will show up on the most recent paycheck created, not on the most recent pay date.

QuickBooks can’t correct the YTD amounts on a paycheck. Instead, you can run a payroll details report to check the employee’s correct YTD amounts.