Cash Flow Boost and not registered for GST

Hi RichardWL,

While the guide to recording the Cash Boost does includes instruction on using it to record your BAS payment, you can disregard this step if you are not using it for this purpose. In this situation, you can follow the steps to create an account and record the payment to it:

1. Select the Accounting tab and then Chart of Accounts from the left hand menu. 
2. Select New.
3. Select the Account Type Other Income and the Detail Type of Other miscellaneous income.
4. Enter the Name as ATO Cash Boost Stimulus. 
5. Select Save and Close.
6. Select the Banking tab and click on the transaction to expand it. 
7. From the Category dropdown choose this new account and set the tax code to Out of Scope, then Add. 

This method will record the payment as out of scope of GST, however the Cash Boost payment is a government grant treated as income and therefore this account type will show up on your Profit and Loss. If you are unsure, we recommend you reach out to your accountant or bookkeeper to ensure a) this account is set up for your business correctly and b) for questions on how this may impact your P&L and your business, as we are unable to provide advice specific to your books.

-Kass

Thanks Kass, hitting the last step, I do not see where I could add a tax code when assigning the transaction under Banking.

Thank you for your help.

Hi RichardWL,

As you mentioned you're not required to be registered for GST, it sounds like you've not set up the GST centre in QuickBooks Online either (if you click on the GST tab and see a prompt to get started then that's definitely the case). If you haven't set this up, you won't see an option to assign a tax code - so you can disregard that part of the step and go straight to Adding once you've selected the new account. 

-Kass

Thanks Kass, this is really useful.

The article published on receiving a cash flow boost refund requires going through the GST menu.

In lodging the IAS, PAYG payable is netted from cash flow boost payment, resulting in a refund (5000 - PAYG payable. How do I record this, where there is still a PAYG payable amount in my account and the cash flow boost received is the net refund amount.

Hi RichardWL,

If you have both a payment owing on the PAYG Payable account and a refund received from the ATO, you can still use instructions similar to the original article; however, instead of using the GST centre you will record it manually using two journals. In this case, you will not need to allocate the refund as we discussed above. If you have already done so, please go to your Banking tab, select Reviewed and Undo the allocation. 

Instead, you can use the following scenario which records a) the 'payment' of the PAYG using a clearing account and b) the Cash Boost 'total' as well as the actual refund received. In this example scenario, the total owing for PAYG is $10000, the Cash Boost was $15000 and so the total refund was $5000 - substitute this with your own figures:

1. Select + New and select Journal entry.
2. On Line 1, select your Clearing account (if you do not have one, you can create one using the Account/Detail type Cash and cash equivalent). Enter in the $10000 in the Credit column and add a description as needed.
3. On Line 2, select your PAYG Payable account. Enter in the $10000 in the Debit column and add a description as needed. Then select Save and Close.

This records the 'payment' of the PAYG. Now we record the refund:

1. Select + New and select Journal entry.
2. On Line 1, select your Clearing account and enter $10000 in the Debit column, add a description as needed.
3. On Line 2, select your bank account and enter $5000 in the Debit column, add a description as needed.
4. On Line 3, select your ATO Cash Boost Stimulus account you created from our first discussion. Enter $15000 in the Credit Column and add a description as needed, then select Save and close.

Now you have reduced the balance of the PAYG account and recorded both the Cash Boost amount and what was actually received from the ATO. Now, you just need to match the refund receiving in your Banking screen to the second journal you created:

1. Select the Banking tab and click on the transaction to expand it.
2. QuickBooks may have already found the match to the journal for you, in which case select Match. If not, select Find Match, tick the journal then Save.

I would mention however that given that you do not use QuickBook's GST centre to record your lodgements or payments/refunds, I would still recommend you speak with your accountant before completing these steps. They will be able to provide information specific to your books and may have a preferred way of recording these amounts. You are most welcome to give our Support Team a call as well on 1800 046 038 so they can get eyes on your setup and provide more detailed information, however keep in mind they are also not accountants and can only guide you on the product ie creating the journals.

I hope this helps!

-Kass