Company Payroll Tax Settings in Patriot Software

About Company Payroll Taxes

You will need to enter tax information specific to your company, including your employer tax identification numbers for each type of federal, state, and applicable local taxes.

See our Company Tax Settings Checklist to gather the information you’ll need to enter.  For specific information and resources for income tax and unemployment tax in your state, see more payroll information for employers.

Setting Up Your Company Taxes as a New Patriot Software Customer

Tax Exemptions

Most businesses must pay federal unemployment taxes (FUTA) and state unemployment taxes (SUTA) taxes.  Choose “My business is required to pay employer payroll taxes” and continue to the next page in the wizard.

501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations are exempt from FUTA and SUTA in most states (see Do Nonprofits Pay Payroll Taxes?).  If your business is exempt from federal or state taxes, you can indicate which taxes your business is not required to pay.  For more details, see Is My Business Exempt from FUTA and SUTA?

Tax Identification Numbers

Enter the tax account number for each type of tax, both federal and state (and local, if applicable). The account number identifies your company when sending tax payments. You can find this number in a letter or coupon booklet from your tax agency, or check with your former payroll provider.

If you don’t have your account number, check the box beside “I don’t have one yet.”  Check this box only if your company recently applied as a new filer for this tax, and you don’t have an account number yet. Otherwise, leave it blank. Note: you can still run payrolls even if you don’t have these account numbers. For more information, see What If I Don’t Have All My Tax Account Numbers?

Advanced Tax Settings

944 Filer: Check this box only if your business is a small employer with federal tax liability of less than $1000 per year, and have received notice from the IRS that you must file an annual 944 form instead of the quarterly 941 forms. For more information, see What Is a 944 Filer?

Enter SUTA Rates

For each state in which you do business, enter the effective date and SUTA tax rate.  Some states may have more than one rate you need to enter.

Managing Company Tax Settings

After you have completed the initial wizard, you can manage your tax settings under the Settings tab:  Settings > Payroll Settings > …

Click the following links to edit the following information:

• State Unemployment Rates:  You should receive an updated rate notice from the state each year.   For more details, see Updating Your State Unemployment (SUTA) Rate.
• State Tax Withholdings:  If you have employees that work in another state, you may need to indicate whether to withhold state income tax.  For more details, see Multi-State Income Tax Withholding.
• Tax Exemptions:  To update your federal and state tax exemption settings.
• Tax Info Per Work Location:  This link will only appear if your business has a location in Ohio, to set up JEDD tax.  For more details, see About Ohio JEDD Tax Settings.
• Tax Location:  Update your business location’s local tax area.
• Tax Settings:  Update your Federal and State tax account ID numbers here, and 941/944 filing status.