CA 2009 Revised Withholding Schedules

The California Employment Development Department has published an April 2009 revision to the California Personal Income Tax (PIT) Withholding Schedules for 2009.

The updated PIT Withholding Schedules are effective January 1, 2009. Intuit QuickBooks Payroll released Payroll Update 20911 on April 23, 2009 to implement these changes.

The revised PIT Withholding Schedules will increase the withholding tax calculations by 0.25% for each wage bracket.

No adjustments are necessary or required by the agency for tax withheld prior to using the updated calculations, although the agency is requesting that employers begin using the revised PIT Withholding Schedules as soon as possible.

You may be affected if you currently withhold California income taxes from employees and make withholding tax payments in the State of California or if you currently have a valid California Employer Account Number.

Intuit QuickBooks Payroll will modify the withholding tax tables in the next Payroll Update 20911, released Thursday, April 23, 2009.

You will need to download and install Payroll Update 20911 as soon as it is released so the correct amount of California withholding tax will be calculated and withheld from employee paychecks from that date forward.

If you have Automatic Updates turned on and have selected all updates to download automatically, your QuickBooks software will download and install the update for you.

If you do not have Automatic Updates turned on, you can download this payroll update manually.

Since withholding tax calculations do not self-adjust in QuickBooks and the revised PIT Withholding Schedules will increase the state withholding tax, you may want to ask your employee(s) if they want to adjust their withholding tax on future payroll checks.

Any employee who chooses to adjust future withholding tax will need to complete a new Form W-4 or Form DE 4 for state withholding.

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Quarterly Payroll Tax Checklist - Federal & Nevada

Are you processing payroll using QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll?

If you aren't, you should be!

Those of us how process our own payroll using QuickBooks Enhanced payroll are fortunate because Enhanced Payroll now includes the ability to produce State Unemployment Forms and, in Nevada, a great worksheet for Modified Business Tax.

This is a great service because it makes Quarterly Payroll Tax reporting so easy. I process Payroll taxes for California, Idaho, and Nevada and absolutely love the forms Intuit has included in this service.

If you haven't upgraded to the Enhanced Payroll Service, take a look online at the cost & features....I think you will find it is worth the price....it saves so much time and reduces the potential for "human error."

Here's a handy checklist for Federal and Nevada Quarterly Payroll Tax Processing. Your state may have different reports, but you can use this guide to start your own checklist.

940 FUTA - Quarterly - No Form or Report to File

940 FUTA must be paid quarterly or when the $500 minimum liability threshold has been reached. I typically just pay this tax quarterly regardless of the amount in order to assure that I am always current and compliant.

This tax is paid through the "Pay Liabilities" module. Print a check to take to your bank or pay online through EFTPS.

941 Quarterly Report

Using the Payroll Forms function in the Payroll module, select 941/Schedule B form.
Create the 941 report onscreen.

• Select YES on the first page when asked about Schedule B.
  
• Confirm on the second page that all liabilities have been paid & that you don't owe anything
• Complete Section 4 on page 3 - IRS Designee information
• Fill in your name, title, date on page 3
• THEN, Save a PDF of the report....I keep a folder in My Documents for Quarterly tax returns.
• Finally, print the report - I select Tax Forms Only and print 2 copies...one to mail and one for my files
• Mail to IRS 941, Ogden, Utah 84201

NV Unemployment - Nevada Economic Security Division Report

Pay the State Liabilities first; note the amounts for UI and CEP, leave the check in your register as "To be Printed" until you are ready to print & mail.

Using the Payroll Forms function, select State. Then select the NV4072 report.

You shouldn't have to do anything here except check the accuracy of the information; compare to the check you created to assure that CEP and UI figures to pay agree.

Save this one as a PDF, too. Then you can print - Tax Forms only - 2 copies. Keep one for your files and mail one.

Modified Business Tax

QuickBooks has not added an actual form that you can process & mail to the Enhanced Payroll service yet, but they have created a wonderful worksheet.

Once again, you will use the State function inside Payroll Forms. Here you will use the Modified Business Tax worksheet to calculate your taxes due.

• Once you open the report, you can enter the amount of qualified Health Insurance on line
• You don't need to fill in anything else because this is just a worksheet.
• Save this one as a PDF, too.
• Use this form to manually complete the form sent to you by the State of Nevada Dept of Taxation or you can go to their website & download a blank form (pdf) to your computer that will calculate automatically. You can then print that form & mail with your check - be sure to print 2 copies, saving one for your files.

Got a QuickBooks Mess? Call The QuickBooks Gal!

If you are using Point of Sale or you're looking for Cash Register Solutions, call us - we're QuickBooks Point of Sale Solution Providers.

Call us for all Your
Point of Sale Needs!
Sales, Installation, Training & Support!

775-348-9200
info@custmbiz.com

Custom Business Solutions
1755 E Plumb Lane, Ste 101
Reno, NV 89502

©2009 Custom Business Solutions

Can't Email from QuickBooks?

Recently a client mentioned that she was having trouble emailing invoices from QuickBooks. The trouble started after she upgraded from QuickBooks 2006 to QuickBooks 2009. She had always emailed before, but now there seemed to be a problem.

If you are having problems, you may try the following steps to see if that will correct your issues:

Go to the “Edit” menu and select “Preferences.”

Select “Service Connection” and from the “My Preferences” tab, UN-CHECK the box next to “If QuickBooks is run by my browser, don’t close it after Web Connect is done.”




Once finished, select Save & Close. Now try sending a client invoice to yourself to assure that things are working correctly again.

By the way, it is a good idea to send yourself a Bcc whenever you send invoices to your clients....lets' you know that the email went through and allows you to see what your client sees.

I also like to keep a folder in my email by month....I store all emailed invoices. Then if a client says he didn't get an invoice, I have it right there in my email ready to forward, complete with the original date that it was sent.

Got a QuickBooks Mess? Call The QuickBooks Gal!

Call us for all Your Point of Sale Needs!
775-348-9200 Point of Sale Direct
info@custmbiz.com

Custom Business Solutions
1755 E Plumb Lane, Ste 101
Reno, NV 89502

©2009 Custom Business Solutions

COBRA Subsidy Information

IRS Releases Information to Help Employers Claim COBRA Medical Coverage Credit on Payroll Tax Form

IR-2009-15, Feb. 26, 2009 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today released new detailed information that will help employers claim credit for the COBRA medical premiums they pay for their former employees. The IRS unveiled new information on this Web site, IRS.gov, that includes an extensive set of questions and answers for employers. In addition, the Web site contains a revised version of the quarterly payroll tax return that employers will use to claim credit for the COBRA medical premiums they pay for their former employees. Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, will also be sent to about 2 million employers in mid-March. The form is used to claim the new COBRA premium assistance payments credit, beginning with the first quarter of 2009. “This is the first step in our effort to provide employers with information on this important health benefit for people who have lost their jobs,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “We will continue our work in the weeks ahead to help employers implement this crucial change for the nation’s unemployed.” The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which became law last week, includes changes to the health benefit provisions of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, commonly referred to as COBRA. The new law will affect former employees and their families, employers and others involved in providing COBRA coverage. Under the new law, eligible former employees, enrolled in their employer’s health plan at the time they lost their jobs, are required to pay only 35 percent of the cost of COBRA coverage. Employers must treat the 35 percent payment by eligible former employees as full payment, but the employers are entitled to a credit for the other 65 percent of the COBRA cost on their payroll tax return. Employers must maintain supporting documentation for the credit claimed. This includes: Documentation of receipt of the employee’s 35 percent share of the premium. In the case of insured plans: A copy of invoice or other supporting statement from the insurance carrier and proof of timely payment of the full premium to the insurance carrier. Declaration of the former employee’s involuntary termination. COBRA provides certain former employees, retirees, spouses, former spouses and dependent children the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at group rates. COBRA generally covers health plans maintained by private-sector employers with 20 or more full and part-time employees. It also covers employee organizations or federal, state or local governments. It does not apply to churches and certain religious organizations. The new COBRA subsidy provisions also apply to insurers required to offer continuation coverage under state law similar to the federal COBRA. More information about COBRA payments and the new law is available on www.dol.gov. If you are using Point of Sale or you're looking for Cash Register Solutions, call us - we're QuickBooks Point of Sale Solution Providers. Call us for all Your Point of Sale Needs! 775-348-9200 Point of Sale Direct info@custmbiz.com Custom Business Solutions 1755 E Plumb Lane, Ste 101 Reno, NV 89502 ©2009 Custom Business Solutions

"Classic" Payroll Adjustment Window

Long time users of QuickBooks have sometimes lamented that the old interface to adjust everything in payroll is no longer there. For all of the improvements that payroll functionality has had, the loss of a simple way to adjust any payroll item in any period was missing.

Well - good news. It isn't gone, just hard to find. With this simple trick you can get there.


First, go to the help menu and select "About QuickBooks."



With that screen displaying (which shows your version, product number, license number, etc) Press the Alt, Control and Y buttons at the same time. This will bring up a window which will let you adjust any payroll item for any employee in any time period!




Give it a try the next time you need to make adjustments and just can't find the way to do so.

Got a QuickBooks Mess? Call The QuickBooks Gal!

If you are using Point of Sale or you're looking for Cash Register Solutions, call us - we're QuickBooks Point of Sale Solution Providers.

Certified Point of Sale Pros!
Sales, Support & Service



Call us for all Your Point of Sale Needs!
775-348-9200 Point of Sale Direct
info@custmbiz.com

Custom Business Solutions
1755 E Plumb Lane, Ste 101
Reno, NV 89502

A List of All Names in QuickBooks?

Have you ever wanted to see and have the ability to manipulate a list of all names in QuickBooks - Vendors, Customers, Employees, and Other Names?

Well, here is a great little tip to do just that.

Go to the "Write Checks" window and click on the "Pay to the Order of" line. Now press the Control and L buttons at the same time.

This will bring up a Name List, which you can sort by Name, Name Type, or Balance.

Call us for all Your Point of Sale Needs!
775-348-9200 Point of Sale Direct
info@custmbiz.com

Custom Business Solutions
1755 E Plumb Lane, Ste 101
Reno, NV 89502

©2009 Custom Business Solutions