Allocating BAS Payments

Hi ugsbooks, 

I can assist you with categorising these payments. If you use the GST Centre in QuickBooks to mark your BAS as lodged, this automatically creates a journal to your ATO clearing account. Firstly, you record the payment in the GST centre, then you match this to the BAS payment in your bank feed:

1. Select GST in the left hand menu.
2. Select Record Payment on the activity statement you want to record a payment against.
3. Enter the Amount.
4. Select the Account the payment was withdrawn from and the Date of the payment.
5. Select Save
6. Select the Banking tab and locate the payment. It may have already matched the payment in which case you can select 'Match' to complete this. If not, select 'Find Match', locate the payment you have just recorded, and Save. 

If you don't use the GST centre in QuickBooks, you will firstly need to create a journal to record the payment, then match the payment from the feed to this journal as per Step 7. This article will guide you through the steps of recording this manually - scroll down to the last section 'How to record a GST Payment when not using the Lodge BAS function in the GST Centre'. Keep in mind that the 'BAS Liabilities' account name has since changed to 'GST Liabilities', and the 'BAS Suspense' name is now 'ATO Clearing' - although you can create your own accounts if you prefer, as this is only a guide. If you will be recording this manually you may also like to reach out to your accountant to ensure it is being entered correctly.

-Kass

Hi Kass 

So I created the manual journal entry as described in the article, however when I go into "banking" it doesn't create a match?

Is there something I need to do to enable this?

Hi ugsbooks,

My apologies - if you are manually recording your GST payment, instead of matching the Payment you will be adding it. Now that you have recorded what was owing to the ATO, adding the BAS payment from the bank will offset what is showing as owing. 

1. Go to the Banking tab and select the transaction.
2. Select the category to which you have recorded the journal  - eg the ATO Clearing account, or whichever account you have used/created as your clearing account. 
3. Select Add. This will offset the journal you have entered and should bring the balance to zero (if you have no other amounts owing in this account).

-Kass

Ok but I thought when you created a journal entry that when that amount appeared in your banking you would be able to create a match?

My journal entries for pay runs wont automatically match either??

I have allocated these amounts to ATO clearing which makes my balance zero in my Chart of Accounts yet there is still a balance of over $8000 in the gst liabilities payable account????

Hi ugsbooks,

Regarding your first question on matching journals: 

This works differently between if you use the GST Centre as set up to track lodgements and payments, or if you track these manually. As you are doing so manually, the first step is the journal you have created that records the amount that was lodged to the ATO. You are increasing the amount owing on the ATO Clearing account to reflect what is owed.

You then add the amount from the banking screen to reflect the payment made to balance off what is owing, which is why it brings your ATO Clearing to zero. If you really wanted to, you could create another journal recording the amount paid from the bank account to the ATO Clearing, and then match that - but this is an extra step that is not required as adding the payment creates this record for you. 

If you were using the GST Centre, you would first have recorded the amount lodged and the amount paid  - this creates the two journals for you. Then, as there is now a payment made already showing in QuickBooks, the amount in the feed matches to the payment made. 

Similarly, wages paid that come through the bank feed do not match to the payrun journals. The payrun journal increases the amount owing on your Payroll Clearing account to reflect what is owed to the employees, then you add the payment from the feed to reflect you have paid them. There is no record as yet of the actual payment so the journal can't match to the transaction. 

Regarding your second question on the GST Liabilities account balance:

The GST Liabilities payable account is where all GST Collected and GST Paid amounts are posted when transactions include GST. If the journal to record the BAS 'lodgement' has been created correctly, there are a couple of other reasons why you still see a balance. One, there are transactions recorded outside of this BAS period that were not included in this journal/payment, or conversely you are recording payments to the ATO when the transactions that make up that payment have not been recorded in QuickBooks - therefore the journal actually creates a balance. 

The process we have walked through details how to record the BAS amount owed and the payment to offset it, however as mentioned we would also recommend you speak with your accountant when doing this manually as ultimately you and your accountant know your books and the exact situation. You can also reach out to our support team directly on 1800 046 038 - while they can't provide accounting advice, they can get eyes on what you have entered into QuickBooks and provide some clarification for you if required.

-Kass