Washington ESD unemployment tax rate changes in QuickBooks Desktop - help needed

I tried that but I'm not seeing where to manually enter the new Washington ESD rates. The payroll setup seems to only show federal options clearly.

Look for 'State Taxes' section specifically. Washington unemployment should be listed there with an option to edit rates.

The rates do change annually based on the trust fund balance. You should check the Washington ESD website for the current year's rates rather than assuming they're the same.

Good point, I'll double check that. Don't want to mess up my quarterly reports.

Interesting, I didn't know there was a service to help get through to Washington ESD. How much does it cost?

They focus on the value of actually reaching someone rather than cost. For me it was worth it because I was spending hours trying to get through on the phone myself.

That's actually smart. I've been trying to call Washington ESD for weeks about a different issue and can never get through.

How do I find my experience rating? I've been in business for 3 years but never looked into this.

Log into your Washington ESD employer account online. Your quarterly reports should show your assigned rate. If you can't find it there, you'll need to call them.

True but at least you can manually override the rates once you know what they should be

This is exactly what I needed! Thank you. I found the Washington UI item and was able to update the rate.

Be careful doing this though - make sure you're using the right rate for your company's classification

Good point. I'll verify with Washington ESD before I run payroll to make sure I have it right.

Don't wait too long - you want to make sure your first quarter 2025 payroll is accurate

I tried that but couldn't figure out how to navigate their site. It's not very user-friendly.

Yeah their website is pretty confusing. If you can't find it there, calling is probably your best bet.

Good reminder. I'll check all the payroll taxes while I'm updating things.

That sounds about right. The rates fluctuate based on the unemployment trust fund balance each year.

I've thought about that but for now I want to keep doing payroll in-house. Maybe someday though.

Fair enough. It's definitely doable in QuickBooks once you know where everything is.

I might try that. I've been avoiding calling Washington ESD because I know it takes forever to get through.

Yeah that was exactly my problem. Much easier to let them handle the calling part.

Definitely good advice. I always backup before making major changes now.

Smart idea. I'll do a test run first to make sure everything calculates correctly.

This is what I do too. Better to catch errors on one paycheck than mess up the whole payroll.

It is complex but once you understand your specific rate and how to update it in QuickBooks, it becomes routine.

Glad it worked out! Make sure to check for rate changes each year going forward.

Great outcome. This thread was helpful for me too since I need to do the same thing.

Good point. I'll double check that I have all the Washington state payroll taxes set up correctly.

It really is manageable once you know the steps. The hardest part is usually just finding where everything is in QuickBooks.

That's good to know. I've been dreading having to call them about something else.

Yeah, definitely worth checking out if you need to reach Washington ESD for anything. Made the whole process much less stressful.

Happy to help! It's nice when a problem gets solved and helps other people too.