An Advanced Guide to Update Payroll Tax Tables in QuickBooks

Before installing new payroll tax tables, you need to ensure that you have an active QB Desktop payroll subscription. Here’s how to do so:

• Tap the My Payroll Service icon and quickly click the Account/Billing Information option.
• Firstly, you have to access your QB Desktop company file, after which you should choose Employees.

• At this point, access your Intuit account and review the Status menu. 
• If you find Status as Active, it means you have an active payroll subscription. Otherwise, you need to renew your payroll subscription immediately. 

Once you have an active payroll subscription, you can promptly acquire new payroll tax tables through the following steps:

• Open your QuickBooks Desktop application and select the Employees menu.
• Now, choose My Payroll Service, after which you should click the Tax Table Information option.
• Note the first three digits under the You are using tax table version section. This is your current payroll tax table version. 
• If you don’t have 11934004 as your current payroll tax table (2024 version), you will need to download fresh tax table updates.
• Move back to Employees and immediately click the Get Payroll Updates tab.

• Choose the Download Entire Update option, after which you should click Update to begin the download process.
• You will receive a confirmation message when the download of fresh payroll tax table updates is complete.

Payroll tax tables for QB Online payroll are automatically updated. Therefore, you don’t need to follow any update process. 

Note: You won’t be able to obtain the SUI (State Unemployment Insurance) rate when downloading new payroll tax table updates. Here’s how you can update your SUI rates successfully:

(a) For QB Desktop Payroll 

• Open the QB Desktop window and choose the Lists menu.
• Now, select the Payroll Item List tab, after which you need to double-click the ‘[state abbreviation] – Unemployment Company’ option.
• Tap Next until you obtain the Company Tax Rates window.
• Type the valid rates for each quarter, after which you should click Next. 
• Finally, you should tap Finish on the window. 

If you have any surcharges or assessment rates for state unemployment, follow the process detailed below to update them:

• Move to the Lists menu in QB Desktop, after which you should choose Payroll Item List.
• At this point, double-click the State Surcharge icon and click Next.
• Follow each step until you get the Company Tax Rate window.
• Finally, type the required surcharges or assessment rates, after which you should click Finish.

(b) For QB Online Payroll

• Firstly, open your QB Online account and choose Settings.
• Click the Payroll Settings tab, after which you should choose Edit next to the name of your state. 
• Go to the State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) section. 
• Click the Change or Add New Rate option, after which you can type the new rate. Additionally, you can type the effective date for the new rate.
• At this point, type any additional assessment rates or surcharges.
• Finally, click OK to save the updated rates. 

Now, let’s move to the following section to explore how we can fix common problems related to the payroll tax table update process.