Opting Out of Social Security?

jknighton · ‎May 23, 2024

Our company is in a group that opts out of paying into Social Security. We have a mandatory retirement account that EE's pay into, instead.

We received the below email earlier and I cannot find anything online about this. Does anyone know anything about not being able to opt out? Are they confusing this with the phasing out of Desktop Support for older versions? Help! Please.

"Currently our CAD utilizes QuickBooks Desktop 2021 for our bill paying and payroll needs. We are exempt from social security because we have a pension/retirement plan. Well QuickBooks is doing away with our version at the end of the month. After reviewing all of their options, we have come to the conclusion that they no longer offer the option to opt out of social security."

AlverMarkT · ‎May 23, 2024

Thanks for joining us here in the QuickBooks Community, @jknighton. I'm here to help.

I can verify if the discontinuation of QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) 2021 affects the ability to opt out of Social Security (SS) contributions for an alternative retirement plan. I can also lay out an alternative to opt out of SS contribution.

The discontinuation of QBDT 2021 after May 31, 2024, affects the current payroll service in that it would stop automatically calculating taxes for employees' paychecks. We can do manual payroll instead if upgrading to QBDT 2024 isn't an option, manually calculating paychecks and opting out of SS contributions when entering payroll taxes.

Alternatively, QuickBooks Online (QBO) also allows tax exemptions for SS and Medicare. Check out these articles to see its product pricing and learn more when considering moving from QBDT to QBO:

If you decide to switch to QBO, let me add this article as a reference in exempting employees from federal or state withholding: Exempt your employee from Federal or State Withholding.

Keep us posted if there are other questions you'd like to add about opting out of SS after the product discontinuation of QBDT 2021 after May 31, 2024. We'll do our best to assist.

View solution in original post

AlverMarkT · ‎May 23, 2024

Thanks for joining us here in the QuickBooks Community, @jknighton. I'm here to help.

I can verify if the discontinuation of QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) 2021 affects the ability to opt out of Social Security (SS) contributions for an alternative retirement plan. I can also lay out an alternative to opt out of SS contribution.

The discontinuation of QBDT 2021 after May 31, 2024, affects the current payroll service in that it would stop automatically calculating taxes for employees' paychecks. We can do manual payroll instead if upgrading to QBDT 2024 isn't an option, manually calculating paychecks and opting out of SS contributions when entering payroll taxes.

Alternatively, QuickBooks Online (QBO) also allows tax exemptions for SS and Medicare. Check out these articles to see its product pricing and learn more when considering moving from QBDT to QBO:

If you decide to switch to QBO, let me add this article as a reference in exempting employees from federal or state withholding: Exempt your employee from Federal or State Withholding.

Keep us posted if there are other questions you'd like to add about opting out of SS after the product discontinuation of QBDT 2021 after May 31, 2024. We'll do our best to assist.

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Opting Out of Social Security?

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