How do I reconcile a bank transaction to the ATO for GST which was submitted via BAS before we commenced with Quickbooks

Hello hbscoresby@optus,

You can add the bank transaction as an expense under the taxes paid category to be able to reconcile your bank account in QuickBooks Online. Under For review of Banking page, you can select Expense as the transaction type, and under the category select the taxes paid or choose an account on how you wanted to track the BAS payment.

For the usual process on how to prepare and lodge the BAS in QuickBooks Online, after you've prepared and lodged a BAS period you record a BAS payment, and then match the BAS payment to the bank transaction. You can also check this article to learn more: How to lodge a BAS or IAS in QuickBooks Online.

Furthermore, we'd also recommend contacting your accountant to get more information on how to account the bank transaction to the ATO to not mess up your books.

You can always post your questions here anytime. We'll be sure to get back and help you.

Hi thank you for responding,however I'm having difficulty in following your instructions.iI you have time could you please advise step by step what journal entries I need.So the problem again is I submitted a BAS manually to the ATO before I joined Quickbooks online,it was $690, a few weeks later the Bank feed came in and I have been unable to reconcile it via journal entries,If i allocate to the ATO Clearing account it just creates a negative balance,it would let me reconcile direct into the GST liability account,i get an error messgage!.I have seen many recommended solutions on help pages but none of them seem to work.I either end up with a -$690 in the ATO Clearing account or the GST Liability account depending which way I structure the Journal entries.The next BAS I submitted just recently was submitted via Quickbooks online and I was able to reconcile the bank feed without any issues.I spent nearly an hour on the phone with the Quickbooks help desk and despite trying numerous ways to fix it nothing worked.I believe the person is escalating the matter but in the the meantime I happy to get any help as this is very frustrating.

Thanks for your update, hbscoresby@optus.

I understand the need to be able to reconcile your BAS in QuickBooks Online. Here's how you can record the GST paid while you're not using the GST center in QuickBooks Online.

1. Click on the + New button.
2. Click on Journal Entry.
3. Fill out details like date and etc.
4. On the first line item, under Debit column use GST Liabilities Payable account and enter the amount.
5. Next line is under Credit and choose the Bank account the payment went out and enter the amount.
6. GST code is Out of Scope.
7. Click Save and Close.

Then, you should be able to match the Journal entry to the payment in the bank feeds. You can check this link for a more detailed step on how to record the Journal entry when not using the GST center To record a GST Payment when you don't use the Lodge BAS function in the GST Centre.

Feel free to reply to this thread if you have more questions. We'll be sure to get back and assist you. Have a nice day!

Hi thanks for your reply.I tried that but all it did was increase the GST Liabilities Payable Account on the balance Sheet,so its still not correct,that account was only showing what we currently owe for the current quarter.

Hi hbscoresby@optus, 

Based on the screenshot you've provided, it shows that you're trying to record a GST payment for your BAS ending 30 September 2021. If there are no transactions entered or imported before 30 September 2021, you may need to create a journal entry to record the total GST collected on sales and purchases via journal entry before recording a GST payment. Here's how:

1. Select  +New and then Journal Entry under Other.
2. In Line 1, enter the GST Liabilities Payable account.
3. Enter the GST collected on Sales on the Debits side.
4. In Line 2, enter the GST Liabilities Payable account.
5. Enter the GST on Purchases on the Credits side.
6. In Line 3 (if needed), enter your PAYG Instalment Liabilities (Pay as you go income tax) on the Debits side.
7. In Line 4 (if needed), enter your PAYG Withholdings Payable (Pay as you go tax withheld) on the Debits side.
8. In Line 5, enter the ATO Clearing account (or clearing account you use) and enter the payment amount on the Credits side.
9. Select Save and new to create a second journal entry to record the payment from the bank account.
10.  In Line 1, enter the ATO Clearing account (or clearing account you use) and enter the payment amount on the Debits side.
11. In Line 2, enter the Bank account the payment came from and the full payment amount on the Credits side.
12. Select Save and Close.

Let me know if that works well on your end. Thanks. 

Yes you are correct its for the Sept QTR,it was submitted manually mid Oct before we joined quickbooks,online the bank entry came through later on 29th Oct.I did what you suggested,(I think I had done that before from the help pages),but it still doesn't clear it.When I reconcile the bank entry is suggesting a "match" to the Journal entry.

I have attached a screen shot of the balance sheet after the journal entries have been saved,its the same after I reconcile the bank feed.Thanks

Hello there, hbscoresby@optus. We're glad to have you back.

When QuickBooks downloads bank data, it tries to find a match with any QuickBooks transactions already entered. If you agree with the match information shown in the row, click the Match button. This will match with the existing QuickBooks transaction. 

Still, you can review the transactions that should be matched the entries by opening the bank transaction (double click). Then, click Find match to make sure to allocate the correct transaction. 

To make sure your data and accounting reports will remain accurate, I'd recommend consulting your accountant when doing this process. 

You can use these articles for additional tips when categorising or matching entries in QBO:

• Categorise and match online bank transactions.
• Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

Also, ensure to set the correct reporting date and customise it appropriately according to your needs. 

Please let us know if you still need assistance. QuickBooks Team is always here to help you. Stay safe and be well.

Thank you for your input,I was aware of "matching" however this has still not resolved the issue of clearing the $690 in the GST Liabilities Account.

Let me share with you some information about recording GST payment using or not using the lodge BAS function, hbscoresby@optus.

GST amount for sales and purchases are automatically allocated to GST Liabilities Payable account. Once you've lodged your BAS in QuickBooks Online, amounts showing on the GST Liabilities Payable will be moved to ATO Clearing Account. And ATO Clearing Account balance will zero out once you record your BAS payment. 

However, if you're not using the Lodge BAS function in QuickBooks Online and follow the steps to record a GST/BAS payment as outlined on this article, the GST Liabilities Payable Account will have a negative balance on it and ATO Clearing account will show as zero. 

Also, you can check on this article about: Allocating BAS Payments. 

Thank you,yes that is what is happening know,so you are basically saying that their is no solution to the GST liability account being decreased and that each time we print a balance sheet it will show in there and give us a false figure despite us paying the GST.If you go to GST centre there is no where to record the payment as we didn't submit that Bas via quckbooks online.It was done manually before we signed up to Quickbooks,but the actual payment came in via the bank feed after we signed up.

Thanks for your reply, hbscoresby@optus.

Just to confirm, do you have any transactions imported or recorded for that BAS period you're trying to record in QuickBooks Online? Please know that the steps provided here will zero out the the GST Liabilities Payable and ATO Clearing account if you have transactions recorded in QuickBooks Online and have not use the lodge BAS function. 

If there are no transactions recorded for that period, you can record the tax payment as an expense transaction and allocate it to a Taxes Paid account.

Feel free to drop a comment below if you have any other questions. 

NO I explained all that previously,the only thing I have is a bank feed for the payment amount.The BAS was NOT submitted via quickbooks online.I have done those journal entries on numerous occassions and it doesnt clear.Also  as I said previously there is nothing to add to in the GST menu.It seems we are going around in circles!.

So if I do record the tax payment as an expense transaction and allocate it to a Taxes Paid account will it show on the balance sheet or P&L? I was hoping to avoid that as all our other figures are ex GST and I will need to explain to our auditors/members that it was a glitch in quickbooks online.

Hello hbscoresby@optus,

I understand you just wanted to reconcile the BAS paid before using QuickBooks Online. Since there are no transactions recorded in QuickBooks Online for the period you wanted to reconcile the BAS payment, you can add the bank feed as an Expense transaction and allocate it to taxes paid (expense account). The expense will show in your P & L report as it is using an expense category. 

As you can see the effect of using the journal entry giving you a negative balance of the BAS period you're paying is due to there are no transactions for the payment to balance to.

We'd also recommend reaching out to your accountant to get more information about how to record these journal or transaction to not mess up your books moving forward.

You can always reply to this thread if you have more questions. We'll make sure to get back to you as soon as we can.

Hi,

Once I have added in the journal entry, what do i do with the transaction in the Banking Feed?