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How to set up, track and pay Child Support Garnishments in QuickBooks seems to be a pretty popular topic of discussion, I see this question frequently on many of the QuickBooks forums and news groups that I frequent, so here is a little tutorial for setting up a weekly Child Support Deduction.

Quick Facts About Child Support Garnishments:

• Child Support is a post (after) tax deduction from the employee paycheck.
• It is possible that you will have more than one employee with a Child Support Deduction.
• It is appropriate to have employee specific deduction items in your Payroll Item list.
• It is not necessary to have employee specific liability accounts on your Chart of Accounts.

Creating a Child Support Garnishment deduction item in QuickBooks is pretty easy.

• From the Lists menu -> choose Payroll Item List
• Click on the Payroll Item button (lower left) -> and choose New
• Select the EZ-Setup method -> click the Next button

• Select the Other Deduction option -> and click the Next button

• Check the Wage Garnishment option -> click the Next button

• Enter information about who the money is sent to (this is a QuickBooks vendor), the account number that must be displayed on the check, and how often the money must be sent in -> click the Next button and then click Finish.

At this point QuickBooks has created a payroll deduction item in your Payroll Item List called Wage Garnishment.  You will probably want to edit this item, changing it’s name to something more meaningful – perhaps something like Employee X Child Support OR Employee X CS.

• Go to Lists -> Payroll Item List -> find Wage Garnishment and double-click on it to Edit.
• In the Enter Name for Deduction field (it will say Wage Garnishment) just type in Employee X CS -> and click the Next button

• For the liability account, make sure that you select (or create) a sub-account of the normal Payroll Liabilities account – a quick trick to add a subaccount right here on this window is to first select the standard Payroll Liabilities account, then click into the box and type in “:Child Support” (without the quotes), you will immediately be told that the account doesn’t exist and you should select Set Up; create the account and then select it.
• Keep clicking the Next button on the following windows, changing nothing, until you arrive at the last window; where you will select Finish.

Adding the Child Support Garnishment to the Employees Record

• From the Employee Center, find and Edit the Employee
• Switch to the Payroll & Compensation section by using the Change Tabs drop down menu
• Click into the Additions, Deductions & Company Contributions section, and in the Item Name column, select the deduction item, and give it an amount.

Each week when you run payroll, the specified amount will be deducted from the employees paycheck and sent to the Liability account and will be shown on your Chart of Accounts or a Balance Sheet Report.

To actually generate the check to be sent to the Agency collecting the money, you’ll go to the Payroll Tab of the Employee Center and select it from the Pay Scheduled Liabilities section.

I hope you find this written tutorial helpful, if so please leave a comment.

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