Set up payroll to pay and file your payroll taxes and forms

Choose how you want your 941, 944, 943, state and local payroll taxes and filings handled. We can pay your taxes and file your forms. You can also e-pay and e-file them in QuickBooks, or do it yourself.

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Take care of your tax payments and filings automatically or electronically

Complete these tasks so QuickBooks will pay your taxes and file your forms automatically, or you can do them electronically in QuickBooks.

Prerequisites

If you want to file your taxes automatically and didn’t connect your bank during the initial payroll setup, you’ll need:

• Your legal business name, address, and phone number
• The company principal officer name, address, date of birth, mobile phone number, and Social Security number
• A bank account to use for tax payments and direct deposit.
  • If you’re filing your taxes automatically, provide your Online bank login credentials to connect instantly.
  • If you’re filing your taxes manually, provide the routing and account number.

Step 1: Choose how to file your payroll taxes

1. Go to Settings ⚙, then select Payroll Settings.
2. From the Taxes and forms section, select Edit ✎.
3. Review or choose one of the following:
   • If you want QuickBooks to automatically pay your taxes and file your forms, select Automate taxes and forms.
     Important: When you turn on Auto-Pay/File, you need to process any taxes you owe first, or it won’t automatically process future taxes. Afterwards, Auto-Pay/File, automatically pays and files future tax payments starting on the first day of the following month.
   • If you want to pay and file electronically in QuickBooks, select I’ll initiate payments and filings using QuickBooks.
   • If you want to handle your taxes and filings yourself, select I’ll pay and file the right agencies through their website or by mail. You can generate the payments and filings in QuickBooks to send to the agencies.
4. Select Save, then Done. 

Step 2: Complete your tax filing tasks

Complete each of the tasks shown on the QuickBooks’s Payroll app’s Overview page. If there are warnings for a task’s status, select the Action link (Finish up, Start, or Mark as done).

Follow this link to complete the steps in product.

Note: if you’re viewing this article from Help in your QuickBooks, you’ll need to close it to see the Action column. 

If you need additional help with a particular task, see the list of tasks below.

Next steps

What you do next depends on how you choose to file your taxes and forms.

• If you are filing electronically, your Principal Officer needs to e-sign the authorization forms. They’ll be asked specific questions that only they can answer.
• If you picked I’ll pay and file the right agencies through their website or by mail, you have to file the paperwork yourself.

Related links

• Access state agency websites for payroll
• Understand federal forms and tax payments for 941, 944, 943, and 940