How do I write a cheque for HST?

Hi there, terri-sinclair,

QuickBooks Online's sales tax filing feature was designed to keep things as simple as possible, including recording payments made to the government. I'll explain how it works so you can get that payment recorded and continue on with whatever other work you may need to do.

While the feature for paying sales tax doesn't give you the option to choose a specific payment method, it does allow you to choose the appropriate account from which the payment came. This way, the funds will properly affect the account you need. There is a memo section, which you could use if you'd like to make note that the payment was made by cheque. Follow these steps.

1. Select Taxes from the left menu.
2. Ensure you're on the Sales Tax tab (Note: if you have payroll services set up, Payroll Tax will also appear in this area).
3. Find the Filed Return that you want to record a payment for.
4. In the Action column, select the drop-down menu and choose Record Payment.
5. Verify the bank account is the same as the one your cheque payment uses.
6. Verify the other details of the transaction.
7. Enter the Payment date and Payment amount.
8. Leave yourself a note in the Memo field.
9. Click Save to record the payment.

It's that easy. Learn more about the entire process in this article: File sales tax

I'll be here should you have more questions. Have a great day!

It would be appreciated if we could choose the payment method type - i.e. cheque, credit card, e-transfer, online.

Right now I have to go create a cheque expense under the Receiver General to be able to properly account for the cheque but it leaves the amount owing within the tax module unchanged.  So we aren't looking at that for an account balance, we are using the chart of accounts.

I see what you're saying. I can see how having this feature would help make things easier on your end. I encourage you to send feedback to our engineers by clicking the gear icon and looking for Feedback. New product ideas and improvements are based on the feedback we get from users like you. Feel free to ask questions. I'm here to help. 

How do you get quickbooks to print the check though? Is there no option for that? Otherwise we have to write out the check manually..

Hello NM80,

I can explain the how things work with the sales tax module and printing cheques.

When it comes to using the sales tax module and recording your payments to the CRA, use the steps I outlined in my original response on this post to ensure that your tax payments are being recorded properly and your taxes continue to calculate accurately moving forward. Creating the expense cheque outside of the sales tax module can cause problems like mentioned above where the payment doesn't get recording in that area of the books.

With the sales tax module, it's important to note that QuickBooks Online is not creating a cheque for you, but rather recording the payment that you would have already made to the CRA outside of the program. Learn more about filing sales tax here: File sales tax

To print cheques that you have created within QuickBooks, follow the steps in this article: How to print cheques

Let me know if you have more questions about any of that. I'm here to help!

Hi,

I don't think this answers the question.  There are ways to print a cheque from QB desktop for each of Sales tax directly.  This should be the same.  if  you are recording a payment you should then continue to pick the method of the payment, online or Cheque. 

IF  you picked cheque then it should take you to the cheque print and review page and print the cheque.  it's one simple step that would make everyone's lives alot easier! this would be the simple way...

It would be helpful to be able to print a cheque from the tax module since in some cases the amount is too large to pay online and a cheque is necessary.

Any updates on being able to do so?

Hello RLPLLP,

I hear what you're saying and this is a great suggestion. I don't have estimate launch times for features that I can share with you. A way that you can make your voice heard if by sending your feedback to the product development team via the Gear icon and by clicking Feedback. We're always looking for customer input about the features we can add to the program to make accounting easier.

I agree that it would be a benefit if you could choose the payment method in order to pay sales tax in QuickBooks.

A work around is to record the payment under sales tax to a temporary clearing account.

Then select the Cheque option under Suppliers.  Select the payee (i.e. Receiver General), bank account that the cheque is to be drawn on, payment date, cheque number, amount and in the category section select the temporary clearing account and under description record the type of tax, quarter, month or year the payment is for and under the memo enter your business number.  Now you can print your cheque.

I'm following this post because I have the same issue.

If I understand correctly, when you record a payment in the sales tax module, does it debit yoyur GST/HST Suspense and credit the bank account selected?

If that is the case, when you cut a cheque to actually pay the HST, would this not duplicate the entry in the Sales Tax module?

I agree that there needs to be a way to print the cheque from the sales tax module as you do with any other cheque expense.