Can you change the accounts that the sales tax posts to? all my GST is posting to GST Payable, I would like it to post to GST Collected and GST paid.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Recording your sales tax accurately is important for your business. The great news is that QuickBooks Online offers a sales tax feature where you can prepare and file your returns in a few easy steps. That being said, changing the accounts the sales tax posts to is not an integrated feature of the system. I'll make sure to forward your suggestion to my development team for consideration.

To know more about how to file sales tax with QuickBooks Online, check this community article.

Feel free to reach out if you need any help.

[nmotani2]

As a user of sage50, I prefer separate  accounts showing GST paid and collected and GST adjustments if required at year end. Also an account for GST instalments. On quickbooks, as it is all integrated, hard to track it. 
I am a new user and have not yet come to the stage of filing GST return as yet. I understand that quickbooks generate the form for filing GST and so does sage50 with an option to use the form. 
I will know more when I come to this function. 
In the meantime, please educate me on this feature and functions and how to use it. 

[Lourdes-Fernandez]

Good morning tophattfinancial,

I'm sorry to hear your having troubles with your sales tax codes and accounts. Depending on where we are creating the transaction (Banking Tab or manual transaction entry) we want to be mindful of the different GST's available. If you are already in a A/R transaction such as sales receipt or invoice, then it should automatically assign itself to GST Collected.

If we are working in the banking tab section, this is where we want to be super mindful of the tax codes as we want to ensure we pick GST (Sales) rather than GST (Payables).

I would be super curious to see your set up for the Sales Tax Center, and your tax codes to see where exactly this may have happened along the way. The Sales Tax Center is defiantly a good place to start reviewing your set up though. Typically when we initially set up our Sales Tax center and provide the correct information, QuickBooks Online does an amazing job at setting up the Tax codes automatically as it should be.

I'll forward some information in regards to the Sales Tax Center, Tax Codes, in hopes it may help you with what it happening.

Set up and use sales tax in QuickBooks Online
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-ca/sales-taxes/set-up-and-use-automated-sales-tax-in-...

Taxes
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-ca/taxes/07?product=QuickBooks%20Online

If for whatever you can share some image to help us help you that would be awesome! Feel free to ping me with a @ then my user name :D

Kindest Regards,
Lourdes Fernandez

[Rebecca R]

Hi there @nmotani2,

Welcome to the QuickBooks Community! QuickBooks Online makes collecting and filing your sales tax easy and accurate. Once set up, the sales tax module does all the calculations for you and lets you know when your payments are due, ensuring that you file on time. Let me give you a hand with this so you know how the feature works and how the money movement takes place within your accounts.

When you set up a provincial sales tax code in the Taxes module, QuickBooks automatically creates some accounts for you in the Chart of Accounts. Depending on your province, these may be slightly different, but generally, you'll see a GST/HST Payable account and GST/HST Suspense account. If you're tracking in BC, for example, you'll also notice a PST Expense (BC) account created. You'll also see a new column on Sales and Expense transactions for Sales Tax. You can select the code that you've added from the dropdown.

Once you enter a transaction with a tax code selected, QuickBooks will record the amount of tax collected or paid to your GST/HST Payable account as an Increase or Decrease. When you're ready to file your taxes for the period, you'll navigate to the Taxes tab, then to Sales Tax. You'll choose the period to file, and select Prepare return. The amount that's owed will move from the GST/HST Payable account, to the GST/HST Suspense account until you record the payment or refund. Once recorded, the Suspense account will be cleared. 

You can collect and pay taxes in multiple provinces, and even set up your own custom codes if necessary. I'm including some helpful articles below that I hope you'll review to learn more about this process:

• Set up and use sales tax in QuickBooks Online

• Manage sales tax payments in QuickBooks Online

• How to set up a new sales tax code

If you'd like further support on this, don't hesitate to reply to this thread. I'm happy to assist you. It's what I'm here for!

[Hewings]

Question, were the creaters of Quickbooks accountants?   This is not the accurate way to record HST.   You need 3 separate accounts.  One being HST Collected on Sales.  Two being HST Paid on Purchases and Three HST Paid/Refund.   When you have one account that this is dumped into, its never a good idea for an auditing.   I have been pulling out my hair wondering why this is all dumped into one GL.  Never in my career of accounting has any company ever recorded information this way.

[Hewings]

What you have said here, is the correct way to record HST.  I totally agree with you.   This is where Sage is a far more superior product.

[MichelleB_OX]

Hi there

Somehow a prior user has set up 2 GST payable accounts.  All of my GST paid from Bills and my GST charged from Sales Invoices is linked to a GST Payable account. Then when I file a return through the Taxes module that payment shows up in a separate GST Payable account so when my payments are booked my GST never clears to $0.  Does anyone know how to fix this?  I will do a journal entry at Dec 31st to clear it but this will continue until I fix it.

[Trish_T]

Hi MichelleB_OX,

Thanks for joining us here.  QuickBooks Online automatically creates the accounts associated with the features you use.  When you set up your sales tax, there's no need to add accounts to the chart of accounts, as QuickBooks takes care of this for you.  If you're seeing duplicate GST/HST payable accounts, the secondary account may have been added.  In this situation, you can make an account inactive, or you can merge them, but you must be certain, this is the best course of action, as merging accounts cannot be undone.  

As mentioned previously in this thread, you should have two accounts.  One Payable and one Suspense.  Transactions with sales tax are added to the Payable account.  The Suspense account should remain at zero, depending on your sales tax filing, and whether it's a payment or a refund.  Filing a return moves the liability amount from the Payable account to the Suspense account and recording your sales tax payment, moves the amount from your Suspense account to the bank account.  However, it's important to ensure your sales tax is correctly set up, so it's recorded accurately.  Although there currently isn't a way to delete a tax rate, you can deactivate ones not needed.  For accuracy in your sales tax reporting, you'll create rates based on whether you Collect it on Sales, or Pay it on Purchases.  The sales tax rates can be set as default to your products and services, so it's time efficient when completing your forms.  Following the information provided, eliminates the need for journal entries, as QuickBooks automatically calculates sales tax on your forms, so your filings are accurate.

I hope this helps!  If you have other questions or concerns, feel free to touch base.  We're here for you!