How to Resolve Missing Payroll Liabilities from a Paycheck
It sounds like the liabilities are not assigned to the earnings. We did send a notice regarding changes for payroll item setup in 2019 before the December update was released. You can review this bulletin here. To verify you completed the information in the bulletin, please do the following.
- Please review the earning setup to ensure the liabilities are included in the grid section at the bottom. If they are not, click the Add All Taxes button. This will allow the liabilities to calculate during the payroll processing.
- To correct the liability portion of posted paychecks that do not include the liabilities on the check, please do the complete the steps for each employee to audit the FICA liability calculated.
- a) Run the Payroll Summary Report for the pay period you are reviewing.
- b) For each employee, calculate the Adjusted Gross for FICA SS and FICA Med. The Adjust Gross is calculated as Gross Wage minus any qualified FICA exempt deductions.
- c) Multiply the Adjusted Gross by 6.2 for FICA SS and 1.45% for FICA Med.
- d) If the amount calculated does not total the amount of FICA SS and FICA Med on the Payroll Summary report, subtract the calculated amount in step #3 from the amount of FICA SS and FICA Med on the Payroll Summary report.
- Create a Payroll Liability Adjustment for the employee for the FICA SS and FICA Med difference. (Employees | Adjust Payroll Liabilities)
- • Right click on the list and choose the option to New Liability Adjustment Entry.
- • Date = Enter the same date of the paycheck.
- • Effective Date = Enter the same date of the paycheck.
- • Adjust is for: = Employee (select Employee in the drop down)
- • Payroll Item = FICA SS
- • Increase = Difference calculated in step #4.
- • Memo = Adjustment for under calculation on paycheck.
- • Expense, Asset or Liability for Employee Liabilities = Account (this is the Expense ID selection in the FICA SS and FICA Med payroll item setup). NOTE: If the Expense Account on the liability is different, you will need to create a new adjustment for each distinct account selection.
- Repeat Steps #2-5 for each employee for the period.
- Once the period adjustments are complete, run the Payroll Summary report for the next period affected.
- Report steps #2-5 for each employee, for each liability missing.
For future payroll processing, it is recommended to run the Payroll Summary report prior to posting the paychecks to audit the amounts calculate. You may view non-posted checks by clicking Show Non-Posted Amounts report preference. Once you have reviewed the calculated values, you may post the checks and/or make any necessary corrections.
