Federal tax not being withheld properly

[fbcsequim]

I'm pretty new to Power Church and have had to take over our church's books on pretty short notice. We have a payroll withholdings problem. From what I can tell the tax tables for 2020 were entered correctly and the employees look like they are also set up correctly. However, the pastor's salary is only having about 6% federal tax withheld unless we add a large fixed amount. (He is not in Social Security, so that's not involved here.) Also, a part-time office employee on hourly pay is only having about 1% withheld for federal tax, which is crazy. Both are set up for the Married Filing Jointly table.

Any one have any idea what may be producing this, and how to fix it?

[NeilZ]

I'm pretty new to Power Church and have had to take over our church's books on pretty short notice. We have a payroll withholdings problem. From what I can tell the tax tables for 2020 were entered correctly and the employees look like they are also set up correctly. However, the pastor's salary is only having about 6% federal tax withheld unless we add a large fixed amount. (He is not in Social Security, so that's not involved here.) Also, a part-time office employee on hourly pay is only having about 1% withheld for federal tax, which is crazy. Both are set up for the Married Filing Jointly table.

Any one have any idea what may be producing this, and how to fix it?

The program is setup to withhold using the ANNUAL tables, also since there have been major changes in the way FITW is calculated, you need to make sure that the system is setup properly.

I would review the instructions in the following link to make sure the setup is proper:

https://www.powerchurch.com/support/140 ... tax-tables

[fbcsequim]

I've already checked the tables and the user's pay items, etc. Everything appears to be correct. That's why I posted this question. Everything is set up properly but federal tax is not being withheld properly.

If no one knows why this is happening, then is it an option to have Power Church support connect to our database and take a look? Do they charge for such support?

[NeilZ]

I've already checked the tables and the user's pay items, etc. Everything appears to be correct. That's why I posted this question. Everything is set up properly but federal tax is not being withheld properly.

If no one knows why this is happening, then is it an option to have Power Church support connect to our database and take a look? Do they charge for such support?

You haven't said what version of Powerchurch you're using, as v11.5 and v12.x have been updated to be able to use the new 2020 table requirements.

As you're the only person I've seen with this issue, I suspect something in your setup. Powerchurch will assist you over the phone, and via direct connect to your computer. I believe they still have the policy that if you have not used your initial free support time, they will not charge, otherwise there is a fee unless they find that the cause is a programming issue.

[fbcsequim]

Thanks for this info. We're using PowerChurch 12.2, the latest. Our church has had this software for many years, but I'm new here and took over the accounting recently. The former accountant doesn't know why this is happening either, so he just put a large fixed deduction amount into the pastor's setup to make it withhold more federal tax. That works but it's not supposed to be that way.

Glad to know I can contact the PowerChurch people directly for support. It may cost us but it should be worthwhile.