James, QB Pro
Hello.
I wanted to share my story and see if anyone has been going through some similar experiences. I am interested in every point of view, though I am hoping to get some responses from Bookkeepers, Accountants and HR professionals. My story specifically relates to the Payroll module and the Payroll Tax module in QuickBooks Online. I am hoping to hear about recent experiences from others who manage, rely on or use either of or both of these modules as part of their job for a business or as a professional for business clients.
Many of my clients who use QBO for payroll are in Washington state. This year, our Paid Family Medical Leave, (an employee withholding) had a rate change effective January 01. We know that the payroll module should retroactively withholding more/less on future checks for previously withheld amounts that were using the old rates before the new rate was plugged in, so it wasn't anything on a deadline radar for our office in January.
As we collectively waded through W2s, 1099s, 941s and closing out year end. Once we started to try and change the rate in the QBO Payroll setup for our clients, it was mid-January. The new rate was already pre-set as a part of a dropdown in the Payroll Tax Settings un Washington State, so all one had to do was select it and then click save. Pretty simple stuff.
As the next payroll cycles rolled in, we started getting e-mails and phone calls from these clients letting us know that their payroll was "broken". Some part of the architecture was causing QBO to believe that all of the initial steps for setting up payroll were still incomplete. Mind you, these were business who had many payroll cycles already complete using QBO payroll. Though I don't know if it matters, they also all have automated filing and payments enabled.
12 clients in total had this happen, and for each, we had to spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone with Intuit to have them individually repaired. It becomes difficult when faced with the prospect of "billable time" when a product that you've recommended to your clients needs this kind of attention. Eat the cost, for now... there are other payroll processing solutions available to recommend, but it is still early yet.
Today in meeting with colleagues, a new issue was made known, when trying to update the WA State Workers Compensation rate (A partially withheld, partially employer-paid tax) the system defaults the input fields to a "%" when the withholding is computed in cents per full-time equivalent hour worked. This is a composite per-hour rate that is assigned based on the nature of the employees work. Obviously a person who cuts down trees or hangs from light poles pays a higher rate than a receptionist, and so, QuickBooks can't be programmed with 1 universal rate each year. Since the rate is per hour, there is obviously no moving of decimals here that would make any sense. As of right now, (Feb 8, 2024) the system is unable to accept new rates. Another
As I sit here (I wish that I were making this up...) I am receiving e-mails from the same clients from the first issue telling me that they are getting emails from Intuit that read the following " ACTION REQUIRED! Update your 2024 Washington Paid Leave rate - Payroll is blocked until you add your Washington Paid Leave rate." The same rate that we called a dozen times to fix, upon logging in to any of these clients payroll modules, there is no "block" from running payroll nor is there any indicator in the overview screen or on the payroll tax module or payroll settings of any outstanding issue. And even if there were, is the message itself is a bit alarmist?
In summary; Our recent experiences as an accounting firm have left us deeply concerned about the quality of the payroll product offered by Intuit through QuickBooks Online. I am writing this in the hope that our recent experiences have been relatively uncommon among the professional community.
Is this only Washington employers, or have professionals that work in other states seeing similar issues?
Did anyone have issues with W2/W3 filing or 941/940 deposits?
Do other state tax rates have the same kinds of issues being difficult to update or causing errors?
Do other clients also receive alarmist emails from the provider for no reason?
Cheers and happy tax season.
