Form 941 shows incorrect number of employees

I hope you're doing well, lwade.

I'm happy to share some details about the 941 form and why this happens.

The Line 1 field of the 941 Form will show the number of employees paid with a pay period that includes the following dates:

• March 12 (for Q1)
• June 12 (for Q2)
• September 12 (for Q3)
• December 12 (for Q4)

You can run a Payroll Transaction Detail report to check the pay periods of your paychecks.

Here's how:

1. Go to Reports > Employees & Payroll > Payroll Transaction Detail.
2. Set the Dates.
3. Click the Customize Report button.
4. In the Columns section, type Pay period in the search field.
5. Select the Pay Period Begin Date and Pay Period End Date to include the columns.
6. Hit OK. 

Review the pay period on each paycheck. If no paychecks are created that includes the dates above, your line 1 box will display 0.

To learn more about the other boxes of the 941 form, please check out this article: How QuickBooks populates the 941.

In case you need help with other task in QuickBooks Desktop, feel free to visit our general help topics page. This will route you to the related help articles, Community discussions, video tutorials and more.

I'll be around if there's anything else you need. Just leave a reply below, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Take care and stay safe.

This is exactly what I am seeing, zero employees. And now I know why, so that's helpful. But, if I file the 941 as is (showing zero EEs when actually it should be 1) is that going to cause a problem with the IRS or whoever actually receives this form? I am using QB Desktop 2019 and have a subscription through my bank to QB online payroll. Some apparantly have an option to override this form field, however I don't appear to have that option. I called the help desk twice and neither CSR knew anything about this. Total waste of time calling them (actually, they have to call you, but you get the point). Thank you.

I am seeing exactly the same thing, zero employees when there should be 1. Now I know why, so that's a help. But if I file the 941 as is, showing zero employees, is that going to cause an issue with the IRS? Some apparantly have the option to override the form field, but I do not, not that I can see. I am using QB Desktop 2019 and have a subscription to QB online payroll through my bank. I talked with QB support twice and neither CSR knew anything about this. Total waste of time. Thank you.

I'm here to provide some insights about the number of employees showing in the 941 tax form, @axman53.

The Line 1 field of Form 941 will show the number of employees paid with a pay period that includes the date of March 12 (Q1), June 12 (Q2), September 12 (Q3), or December 12 (Q4). You're seeing zero employees on the said line may be because your pay period didn't fall on those mentioned dates. Then, when you'll file the 941 as is, showing zero employees, it won't going to cause an issue with the IRS.

To check, I'd recommend pulling a payroll report for each of your versions of QuickBooks. Go to the Reports menu and open the Payroll Transaction Detail report for QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) and Payroll Details for QuickBooks Online (QBO) Payroll. I've attached screenshots below for your reference.

To learn more on how QBO and QBDT populate the lines on Form 941, I'd recommend checking out this article: How QuickBooks populates Form 941.

Also, to get a closer look at your business's finances and employees' accounts, I'd recommend pulling up payroll reports. You can see the complete list of available reports through this article: Run payroll reports.

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have other payroll concerns and questions about Form 941 in QuickBooks. Drop a comment below, and I'll gladly help. Take care, and I wish  you continued success, @axman53.

Perfect! Thank you very much. Don't know why I bothered to call phone support.

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@Rea_M wrote:

I'm here to provide some insights with the number of employees showing in the 941 tax form, @axman53.

 

The Line 1 field of the Form 941 will show the number of employees paid with a pay period that includes the date of March 12 (Q1), June 12 (Q2), September 12 (Q3), or December 12 (Q4). You're seeing zero employees on the said line maybe because your pay period didn't fall on those mentioned dates. Then, when you 'll file the 941 as is, showing zero employees, it won't going to cause an issue with the IRS.

[...]

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have other payroll concerns and questions about Form 941 in QuickBooks. Drop a comment below, and I'll gladly help. Take care, and I wish  you continued success, @axman53.

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I encountered the same issue and contacted QB support. They informed me that this error is a known issue, and the current workaround is to file the 941 form 15 days after the quarter ends. By doing so, the 941 form will automatically correct itself with the accurate employee amount. If you file the 941 form monthly, which is due on the 15th of each month, you'll need to wait until the 13th or 14th to submit the form. If you submit it earlier, it will show 0 employees, but if you file 2 days before the due date, it will display the correct employee amount.

Did not work for me, I'm filing a Form 941 for second quarter that includes April and the form shows 0 employees. It's always been 1.

@123145997890064  If you are filing your 941 report monthly, you are making a fairly large mess of things.

The 941 tax, if you owe more than $2,500.00 in a given Quarter,  must be paid monthly.

The 941 report is a Quarterly report, to be filed by the end of the month following the Quarter in question.

@jjenson  As others spoke of above, this is not a bug. The 941 report explicitly asks for the number of employees that worked during the pay period including the 12th of the 3rd month of the Quarter in question (March, June, September or December, respectively).

This is tied in to the Bureau of Labor Statistics who, for some reason, really want to base their statistics on employment data tied to the 12th of a particular month.

Because of this, you can legitimately have Box 1 for # of employees show 0. This is especially common if you have weekly pay periods; all it takes is one week off a Quarter that happens to include the relevant 12th.

It is dumb, but it is also exactly what the IRS asks for on their own 941 form.

You can generate payroll reports to verify whether the paycheck dates are within the specified 941 quarter, jjenson. I'll add more details regarding this matter.   

For instance, if Form 941 pertains to the second quarter, the relevant dates would be from April 1 to June 30. If paychecks are distributed within the designated dates, the count of employees who received paychecks and were subject to taxation during that period will be shown.

If the paycheck dates are correct but the employee count is not accurately represented on the 941 form, we kindly ask you to contact our Support Team for further assistance. Here's how:

1. Open QuickBooks, go to Help, then select QuickBooks Desktop Help/Contact Us.
2. Select Contact Us, give a brief description of your issue, then select Continue.
3. Sign in to your Intuit account select Continue and then Continue with my account.
4. We'll email you a single-use code. Enter your code and select Continue. Then pick to chat with us or Have us call you.

Furthermore, to learn how to view your past forms and payments in QuickBooks Desktop, refer to this article: View your previously filed tax forms and payments.

If you have any additional inquiries or concerns regarding payroll or Form 941 in QuickBooks, please feel free to reach out. I welcome your comments below and will be more than happy to assist you.

@MsNorthPND18  No, they won't be shown based on paycheck dates.

The # of employees is based on the pay periods connected to the paychecks dated within the Quarter, not the pay date, and certainly does not take into account the entire Quarter date range.

Have you not read anything that anybody, including your own colleagues, has been saying in this thread?