The Quarter-End (QE) package goes beyond merely processing payrolls; it serves as a comprehensive summary of payroll taxes for the quarter. This article delves into additional aspects of the QE process, offering a more in-depth understanding of your tax filings.

You can view your quarterly reports in Fingercheck under the Payroll tab by selecting Forms & Notices.

This article will cover the following:

The Tax Account Statement offers a user-friendly, summary of your quarterly payroll taxes, highlighting any tax variances. Addressing any variances is essential for a successful tax filing.

Variances can happen for various reasons, with the most common causes being checks voided within the quarter, a missing tax ID, updated unemployment rates, or a payroll processed for that quarter a couple days after the quarter ended.

How refunds are processed depends on who is holding the taxes. Refunds can be issued by the agency or requested following the QE process. The Tax Account Statement identifies how you can receive your refund.

A Statement of Filing and Deposit will be provided for each state. This statement provides details of what was reported for the quarter, and includes the employee count by month, unemployment rates, reported wages, and taxes deposited, along with the corresponding deposit dates.

The Employee Wage Listing is a concise summary of the quarterly state report filed for unemployment purposes. It includes individual employees, their gross and taxable wages, the weeks they worked, and the number of hours worked. Not all states require the employer to report the number of hours each employee worked.

The Tax Account Statement will display any taxes that had either an underpayment or an overpayment. If you are owed a refund, review the Tax Account Statement to determine if you will receive the refund from the tax agency or if a refund letter will be included in your QE package for you to request the refund from our partner.

A refund form included in the QE package will appear towards the end, just before the IRS Form 941.

Completing the refund form is easy. Sign, print your name, and enter the date. Select the refund method “ACH Refund to Account on Record”. After you complete form, send back to the Fingercheck tax team.

Refunds will not undergo a next-day deposit. Any forms submitted before the completion of the quarter-end process will be reviewed after the QE process concludes, typically by the end of the month following QE.

After you send the completed refund form back to Fingercheck, the refund will be issued within six weeks.

We can’t guarantee when and how refunds will be processed for taxes paid to the agencies. There are many factors that go into determining refund eligibility for payroll taxes, and each tax agency has their own process for employers to request their refund.

Refunds are typically posted after the quarter-end process is completed and your payroll tax account is reconciled.

If there is a refund owed from the tax agency, you should receive a tax notice showing the refund amount with instructions on how to claim the refund.

There are times when we are unable to file the quarterly return. When this happens the filing will be marked as did not file (DNF) for that quarterly return.

The most common reasons why a quarterly return can’t be filed:

The best way to avoid a DNF is to ensure the payroll tax information is correctly entered in Fingercheck. Penalties and interest that are the result of a DNF will be the employer’s responsibility to pay.

DNF situations require your immediate attention to resolve. Once you are made aware of a DNF situation, you should resolve the DNF immediately to avoid late filings which will result in the agency assessing penalties. We make every effort to resubmit the filing so that your quarterly report posts timely, but we can’t guarantee timely filings when a DNF occurs.

You can choose to resolve a DNF yourself without a fee by logging into your employer tax account. All the information needed for the quarterly return is available in the QE package. Contact the tax agency to find out how to log in to your employer tax account and submit the quarterly return.

Why did I get charged an additional amount?

Additional taxes may be owed if the incorrect rate was used to calculate unemployment taxes at any time during the quarter, or you started processing payrolls with Fingercheck in the middle of a quarter, and we are now drafting for quarterly taxes.

How can I get my tax refund?

Complete and submit the refund form to Fingercheck to request a refund for taxes that have not been paid to the tax agency.

What happens if I didn't sign the refund form last quarter?

Taxes that were not refunded will appear on the next quarter Tax Account Statement as a Balance Forward from Prior Quarter.

Where can I see my Tax ID?

You can view your tax ID in the QE package under the Statement of Filing and Deposit. You can also see your tax ID in Fingercheck under Setup > Payroll > Tax Jurisdictions and selecting the state.

I've realized I need to add/remove wages, how can I do that?

You need to make adjustments to the prior quarter. Let Fingercheck know which employees’ have an adjustment to their pay so we can begin working on corrections. Please note that there is a fee involved whenever there needs to be adjustments to a previous quarter. The fee would be discussed after the Support team collects all the necessary information.

Why can’t you issue tax payments without a tax ID?

Some tax agencies allow for payroll taxes to be paid with the state tax ID listed as ‘Applied’, and with the FEIN. This is not an ideal situation as the state may not post the tax payment to your payroll tax account until you complete registering for a payroll tax account.

Why can’t I get a copy of my state tax form?

Most quarterly returns are filed electronically by a bulk filer with no paper form available. Tax agencies require bulk filers to submit quarterly returns electronically. The Statement of Filing and Deposit and Employee Wage Listing are summaries of your quarterly reports.

How come I can’t get my refund before QE?

You must wait for us to reconcile your payroll tax account. You will most likely have to wait to receive your refund from the tax agency if you voided a check in payroll after we issued payment and you do not process another payroll with taxes withheld for that state.

What tax agencies require TPA to be assigned to the tax partner?

Below is a current list of tax agencies that require TPA for successful filings.

Thank you for using Fingercheck. If you have any questions on this article's topic, you can reach out to our team at 1-800-610-9501 or use the chat option below.