paid wage reports not matching 941/payroll history report

[wps-engr]

While checking information for this quarter's 941, I discovered that the FICA, medicare, and federal income taxes withheld for my employee (and shown on his biweekly payroll report) do not match what is given in a payroll history report. Of the 6 pay periods, two do not match. The common point seems to be that some vacation was taken during both of these periods.

Disregarding the fed. tax calcs...
During one period, SS and medicare were calculated correctly, but now show as different numbers on the payroll history report.
During the other period, SS and medicare were originally calculated INCORRECTLY and remain incorrect on the payroll history report. Backing into the gross wage here (based on .062 and .0145), I calculate a gross that is $51 less than the actual.

Any guidance as to why I get these discrepancies? I have only the one part time employee, so we aren't talking much money here - but it seems this will complicate my accounting and tax reporting. Thanks for any advice!

Edit: Also the Federal Tax on Payroll History report and Form 941 does not match what was actually withheld - has this been recalculated as a result of tax table updates?

[Paul Mayer]

The 941 Form actually Audits the payroll data entered into PayWindow. It can be any number of problems from improper use of deduction settings to manual edits of the payroll transactions.

I would need to see your database to find the problem. See this FAQ on how to get it to me and reference this message thread.

http://zpay.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1449

[wps-engr]

I just emailed the db.

[Paul Mayer]

OK, I found four edits in your database where the data was manually edited. 1/13 for the 1/15 payroll and 1/28 for the 1/31 payroll which affected the first quarter and the 5/12 for the 5/15 payroll and then 5/29 for the 5/31 payroll.

I open them in edit mode and to test your calculations, I clicked the Pay button to recalculate the taxes and the taxes including the FICA and Medicare taxes changed. I'm guessing that you are adding the Vacation and possibly the bonus after the original calculations, you need to click the Pay button again to recalculate before saving in those cases.

[wps-engr]

Yes, it is reasonable that not clicking the pay button could create the error. But shouldn't the payroll history summary match what was entered instead of what MIGHT have been paid if I had pressed the pay button?

[Paul Mayer]

No, all reports are created from your saved transactions. There is an old computer saying, "Garbage in, garbage out." So if you make errors by manually changing things, that what you will get as a result.

The 941 Form on the other hand needs to actually do the math for FICA and Medicare since with hundreds or employees, there is generally a fews cents difference and as a bonus that "audits" your data as you saw by giving you the absolute results.

If you use the software as it is designed to be use, you will have no problems. "Enter all pay due, click the Pay button to calculate and save and close."