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Quarterly Tax Report Doesn't Match Tax Liabilities Report

First, let's explain that the Quarterly Tax report is a “history based” report. This means that the amounts enter the history individually but the report can only report on the total amounts, not the individual amounts.

The Tax Liabilities report is a “transaction based” report. This means that the report is generated by reading the actual payroll transactions and calculating totals at the time the report is created.

If these reports do not match, then this means that a portion of the “history” has been changed.

How can history be changed?

History can be changed by going to Card File -- Cards List -- Employee tab, double click on the Employee card -- Payroll Details tab -- Pay History. You can highlight any dollar amount and enter another dollar amount.

Another way history can be changed is a bit more complicated. For example, you record an employee's check and notice that something didn't calculate correctly. You then go to Payroll -- Payroll Categories -- Deductions. When you open the details of the deduction, you notice that this deduction was marked as exempt for this employee but it shouldn't have been. You deselect the exemption for this deduction. Next, you go back to the check previously recorded and decide to delete the check, after you have changed the deduction from the original way it was recorded.

Explanation of the Problem: When you record a paycheck in AccountEdge, the system calculates each amount in the paycheck from the information in the Recurring Pay section of the employee's card. When you delete the check, the system again calculates each amount based on the information in the Recurring Pay section of the employees card. Because there was a change in the way the check was recorded to the way it was deleted, the amount that is the difference between the two is then 'stuck' in history. This amount has been placed in a history based 'bucket' not maintaining the individual transaction, only the total amount. Then, when the check was deleted, the different amount was taken from the history 'bucket', leaving the difference. This amount cannot be removed.

What can be done about this situation?

You can use the Tax Liabilities report to fill out your quarterly tax forms. This report is transaction based, reporting exactly what was recorded.

Will this affect the Quarterly Tax reports for the rest of the year?

This will not affect the Quarterly Tax report for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters. However, the 1st quarter and the Year to Date reports will be off by the amount that is 'stuck' in the history.