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December 30, 2025
Question

Being Overcharged for Payroll Employee Monthly Fee

  • December 30, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 97 views

We pay some employees a monthly bonus check and Intuit is charging us for each check, not each employee.  Is anyone else having this issue?  I've been on the chat and the phone and none of their "experts" seem to know how to resolve this.  The invoices also do not specify which period the fee is for.  For being accounting software, their invoices are badly lacking necessary detail.

4 replies

January 5, 2026

I was charged for double the number of employees for the Intuit QB Payroll Monthly Per Employee Fee Usage.  Does anyone know of a route to request a refund????

QuickBooks Team
January 5, 2026
Hello there, JG7419.
 
You can request a refund by contacting our Live Support Team, who will assist you with your concern and guide you through the refund process.
 
Here's how:
 
  1. Log in to your company account.
  2. Navigate to the Help tab and select QuickBooks Desktop Help/Contact Us.
  3. Click Contact Us.
  4. Provide a brief summary of your issue, then select Continue.
  5. Follow the on-screen steps to proceed.
  6. Choose either Chat with us or Have us call you.

 

I recommend checking the support hours to ensure you can reach them at a time that works best for you.
 
Let me know if you have any other questions or need further guidance. We’re here to help.
March 3, 2026

There is no "Help tab”.

 

As usual, Intuit make is IMPOSSIBLE to get help with issues. 

 

I’m charged a different amount every time even though the number of employees has never changed. The bill is absolutely useless as it does not show the period of time being charged…only the number of charges. It also does not show which company is being charged for which employees. A total mess. How can I just stop this madness?

June 20, 2026

I am filling a formal complaint with the Att. Gen in my state.  I was, and have printed the conversation from chat, told that when I was charged in May for my April payroll runs, it didn't included the April 30th check run.  So in June, when I was charged for May employees, I was also charged for the April 30th run, but only 4 employees out of the 16 that were run on that payroll.  The agent could not explain why, but simply defaulted to "The May billing for the April employees didn't include the April 30th run".  However, the employees paid on the April 30th run were the exact same employees paid on the Prior April payroll run; thus, there should not be any extra charges because it is supposed to be PER EMPLOYEE PER MONTH...not per run. So the same employees on April 30th run being the exact same employees on the April 16th run should not have generated additional billing.  QB better fix this issue quickly.  I did get a confirmation that I would receive a refund, but they did this to me in February as well and I let it slide.  March was billed correctly and April was too, until I received May billing this month and found that they back charged me for 4 in April and when investigated, it was for 4 employees that were already accounted for when I was billed in May for April.  It's highly convoluted, no way to see an itemized bill and a mess for those of us that run more than one company.  It was switch and bait as well because the only reason I gave up my Desk Top Pro was being sold on the "no additional employee charges" on payroll.  And then they changed that two years later.  Had they been honest that it was only temporary, I would have held on to my Desktop Pro.  I encourage anyone running into this issue to file a formal complaint.  If QB will not deal with this issue on their own, then we will force them to. 

June 22, 2026

I am filling a formal complaint with the Att. Gen in my state.  I was, and have printed the conversation from chat, told that when I was charged in May for my April payroll runs, it didn't included the April 30th check run.  So in June, when I was charged for May employees, I was also charged for the April 30th run, but only 4 employees out of the 16 that were run on that payroll.  The agent could not explain why, but simply defaulted to "The May billing for the April employees didn't include the April 30th run".  However, the employees paid on the April 30th run were the exact same employees paid on the Prior April payroll run; thus, there should not be any extra charges because it is supposed to be PER EMPLOYEE PER MONTH...not per run. So the same employees on April 30th run being the exact same employees on the April 16th run should not have generated additional billing.  QB better fix this issue quickly.  I did get a confirmation that I would receive a refund, but they did this to me in February as well and I let it slide.  March was billed correctly and April was too, until I received May billing this month and found that they back charged me for 4 in April and when investigated, it was for 4 employees that were already accounted for when I was billed in May for April.  It's highly convoluted, no way to see an itemized bill and a mess for those of us that run more than one company.  It was switch and bait as well because the only reason I gave up my Desk Top Pro was being sold on the "no additional employee charges" on payroll.  And then they changed that two years later.  Had they been honest that it was only temporary, I would have held on to my Desktop Pro.  I encourage anyone running into this issue to file a formal complaint.  If QB will not deal with this issue on their own, then we will force them to. 

.
BigRedConsulting
Level 15
June 25, 2026

Intuit Online payroll charges you for all of your active employees, not all of the employees you paid.

 

As I understand thins, QuickBooks Desktop does the latter - only charging you for employees you actually paid. So, if there are no paychecks dated in a given month for an employee (and there were not at the close of that month, just before you were charged) then you shouldn’t have been charged for that month for that employee.

When using Online, to avoid being charged for an employee, I think you have to terminate the the employee. Nice, right?

New Member
June 26, 2026

Here’s one for you multistate employers…

Our employee’s work in two states.  As you all are aware, QuickBooks (in 2026) cannot figure out how to do multi state payroll for an employee.  The only sane work around is that I have to have the same employee listed twice.  Lets say I have [PII Removed] working for me.  So I have to have a [PII Removed]- WA and a [PII Removed]- OR.

So if [PII Removed] works in WA one week during the month and the other three weeks in OR, QuickBooks will charge me for two employees. (even though it’s the same employee)

There are no more paychecks being issued during any given month for [PII Removed]; yet we’re being charged double because QuickBooks can’t figure out multistate payroll.

Am I the only one that thinks this is wrong of QuickBooks to be doing?

I reached out to QuickBooks and of coarse their is nothing that can be done.  So I don’t know, maybe they can go by S.S. number instead?

QuickBooks Team
June 26, 2026

It’s not possible to use one Social Security Number (SSN) for an employee working in multiple states.

 

QuickBooks charges a monthly fee for each state where a jurisdiction, work location, or employee is active. Also, QuickBooks does not support processing payroll for a multi-state employee on a single paycheck.

 

To learn more about multi-state employees, feel free to check this resource: Set up employees and payroll taxes in a new state. Then scroll down to “Read here about roaming employees.”

 

Let us know if you have further questions or concerns.

New Member
June 26, 2026

Yep, and that is the issue. Maybe QB should look into adding multistate payroll.

It’s supposed to be a per employee fee.  I just went and researched and cannot find where it says that it’s for each state where a jurisdiction, work location, or employee is active.  But I definitely can find where it says per employee fee.

example: I have one employee who works all four weeks of the month in WA.  $3.00

That same employee the next month works one week in WA and 3 weeks in Oregon.  $6.00

Both examples are four paychecks.  Make it make sense.