How can I reset mac laptop to factory settings?

Can you give more details about "but I can not seem to remove the Apple ID"? Do you mean that you are unable to sign out in step 3 of What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support because you don't know the password or because you are getting an error message (if so what message) or something else? At which step do you have trouble and what are the details?

See all of the steps in What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support

Hubby Rex Said:

"How can I reset my mac laptop to factory settings?: [...]I need to turn it in to my former employer but it keeps pulling up my apple ID"

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Ask your former employer for assistance.

Quickest/least-painful way:

1) Preferences->Users & Groups. Click the padlock at the lower-left to unlock the panel.

2) Press the '+' sign at the bottom/left to add a new Administrator user. Give it whatever name/password you want.

3) Log out of your old userID AppleLogo->Logout

4) Log in with the new user/password.

5) Preferences->Users & Groups. Click the padlock at the lower-left to unlock the panel.

6) Click your old Username in the left panel and press the '-' (minus sign) at the bottom/left to delete it. Accept any/all prompts to delete ALL data from that user, including home directory.

All set.

DeeperDiver wrote:

Quickest/least-painful way:

1) Preferences->Users & Groups. Click the padlock at the lower-left to unlock the panel.

2) Press the '+' sign at the bottom/left to add a new Administrator user. Give it whatever name/password you want.

3) Log out of your old userID AppleLogo->Logout

4) Log in with the new user/password.

5) Preferences->Users & Groups. Click the padlock at the lower-left to unlock the panel.

6) Click your old Username in the left panel and press the '-' (minus sign) at the bottom/left to delete it. Accept any/all prompts to delete ALL data from that user, including home directory.

All set.

Not a true factory reset. Any applications installed on the Mac will remain, along with any background services that they operate (such as daemons or user agents).

The only way to truly factory reset macOS is to erase the volume it resides on, then reinstall macOS.

Verify that you precisely followed all of the steps listed in the "Related Article," What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac

The instructions also refer to How to erase your Intel-based Mac - Apple Support. Were these instructions followed precisely?

I am trying to do the same but I can not seem to remove the Apple ID.

I have been through the steps multiple times and googled for help as well.

Please advise!!

The OP is concerned about their AppleID. The procedure I posted takes care of that without having to wipe the drive and re-install MacOS. Deleting any apps under the new UserID takes only minutes.