Preparing Tax Forms in QuickBooks
How to Prepare Form 941 in QuickBooks Windows
(Pro, Premier, Enterprise)
Before you are able to prepare your tax forms in QuickBooks, you must subscribe to QuickBooks Standard or Enhanced payroll service.
Step 1. From the top menu bar, click Employees, and select Payroll Forms & W-2s, then Process Payroll Forms.
Step 2. In the File Forms section, select Quarterly Form 941/Schedule B - Interview for your Form 941/Schedule B, and click File Form.
Step 3. Next, click the drop-down arrows and select the Quarter and Quarter Ending dates, and click Ok.
Step 4. You will now complete the interview, then click Next to proceed to your form 941.
Step 5. Review all the information in your form to make sure they are accurate. You especially want to ensure that the scheduled deposits for your payroll taxes (Federal Withholding, Social Security, and Medicare for Form 941) that you have paid, are properly recorded in QuickBooks. QuickBooks will auto include them in the form, but if they are not in QuickBooks then they will not be on the form. You can manually enter the payments you made in the relevant field.
If you need to enter information in a field that is currently blank, go ahead and enter it directly in the field. The new data displays in blue, but will not be blue when you print the form. Also, if you need to edit information that is incorrect, right-click in the field, and select Override. Next, enter the new data in the "Override" box and press Tab. The new data displays in green to indicate that you manually changed data exported from QuickBooks Desktop. It will not be green when you print the form. If you need to undo an override, right-click in the field and choose Cancel Override.
NOTE: There are some information that should not be edited on the tax form. These are:
- Employer Identification number (EIN) or Social Security number (SSN). To edit an EIN or a SSN, close the payroll tax form, edit the information in the appropriate place in QuickBooks Desktop, and then start a new form. Do not save your form and open it again after editing the information in QuickBooks Desktop, because QuickBooks Desktop does not export new data into existing forms.
- The filing period. To specify a different filing period, close your existing form and create a new one. Editing the filing period on the form does not automatically change the other fields on the form.
- The totals. You should not change any field that is a sum of other fields on the form. QuickBooks Desktop calculates these automatically. To change a total, change one of the fields used to calculate it.
Step 6. Click Check for Errors to identify and fix any form errors. If there are errors, they will be listed in the top section of screen. You can click in the error description box to take you directly to the error on the from to make the correction.
Step 7. Click Save and Close to save your changes and come back later, or Print for Your Records to print your form. You may also click Submit Form to electronically file your form.
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