GST/HST return filing

Click the button on bottom right to file return. Then you can change the dates at the top to match your reporting period.

Hey Caroline,

The sales tax centre is an insightful hub, which streamlines the way you file your taxes. QuickBooks Online tracks each transaction in the background to provide you with consistent and accurate returns, saving you time and money. By default, this is forward-looking to give you an overview of the next return to file. If you've already marked a return as filed, this will always be the period immediately following that one. If you've never marked a return as filed, the system will try to show you the most relevant/current one. You can easily edit the start and end dates after clicking on Prepare return to file for the required period. 

Let me know how this goes!

AndreB

I saw another post on how to enter an installment so it appears on Line 110.  I am switching from Sage 50 to QuickBooks Online and I replied to your message asking how to get an existing balance into the GST/HST Suspense account.  Another person (JamesM) answered my question by saying that the only way to get the amount into that account was to follow your instructions or to ask our accountant for another way to do it.  The only problem is that QuickBooks Online won't let me change the filing date to a date prior to the beginning of the new fiscal year.  I want the installment to be available to pay the amount owing for the previous fiscal year.  The previous year's GST was already netfiled by the accountant during this fiscal year so it is not reflected in the opening balances of the accounts from Sage 50.  Is there any way to change the filing date in QuickBooks on an installment that was previously made when I was using Sage 50?  I have not marked any returns as filed yet.

Hello gracemah,

I can see how important this is to you and I want to make sure you're able to get this sorted out so you can balance your books accordingly. I know accuracy in sales tax calculations saves you from running into trouble later during or after filing.

Generally speaking, QuickBooks Online and the way its filing system works operate in a linear fashion. Typically when you're unable to change a date to something earlier, that means you've already filing for that period or after that period. I see you mentioned that you haven't filed anything yet, and the reason you're unable to change the date is because when it comes to instalments, the program works a bit differently.

QuickBooks Online allows sales tax instalments to be entered based on the first period set up in the sales tax settings in the program. For instance, if I set up sales tax in my account today and mark my first period as July, I won't be able to enter instalments for any months prior to that. Since the setup doesn't ask for a year, the program will always default to the current year.

This limitation is where an accountant comes in handy. They may be able to work out another way to enter this data so it reflects on your sales tax calculations, especially if the accountant is also QuickBooks-savvy. I see André shared about the My Accountant tab on the other post you mention. As he highlights, it's a great option for inviting an accountant as a user to be able to look at and work with your books. The Find a pro to help button is also a great asset for when you don't have someone you're working with already.

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments about the instalment and sales tax feature by following the steps here: How do I submit feedback? This helps our developers know what users are looking for as QuickBooks continues to grow to meet the needs of business bookkeeping.

I hope that helps explain things. I'll be here should you have more questions.

This is the answer I was looking for! Thank you very much!

Hi there Jakub-RM,

You're welcome! I'm glad to hear that this thread was helpful to you. :) You're welcome to stop by the QuickBooks Community any time to find answers like this or ask questions of your own.

Have a great week.

We filed GST/HST report for May 2023 in Canada as per QB. QB over calculated GST / HST on some Invoices and we ended up making over payment to CRA. QB has now created an GST Exception report and adjusted this amount in June 2023. Does anyone know why has QB messed up on GST and then prepared the GST Exception report. 

The amount of GST collected in Line 103 for June 2023 has been reduced by QB to adjust the overpayment made in May 2023. We can file this report for June 2023 and adjust the overpayment made in May 2023 but how do we notify CRA for the reason and the details of the error in May 2023 and the adjustment in June 2023. We will appreciate if anyone can help us with this filing and adjustments. Thanks in Advance. 

Hi there ap-applicantz-,

It's important that all your transactions are correctly entered before marking your taxes as filed to make sure they're correctly included in the tax filing. QuickBooks Online is a great tool able to help you keep track of tax on purchases and sales so you know the amount owed to the government. I can provide some information about exceptions.

An exception can occur for one of three reasons: 

1. One or more transactions affecting a previous tax period have been added after the fact that this period was marked as filed
2. One or more transactions from a previously filed period have been deleted after the period was marked as filed
3. One or more transactions from a previously filed period have been modified after the period was filed

What this does is create an adjustment on the current period to account for the changes that were made for the previous period after it was filed. To know what you should be doing with this exception, as well as how you should be refiling your taxes with the government, I recommend speaking to your accountant. They'll be able to help guide you in making sure this affects your books correctly, as well as the process you'd need to follow with the government if you need to refile your taxes. You can invite your accountant to your QuickBooks account by going to the My Accountant tab. You can also find one close to you by clicking on the Find a pro to help option to help you in this section.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask them here.