GIFI Export Quickbooks Desktop

Hello Razor Accounting,

Great question! It is that time of the year again where businesses are starting to think about the tax filings and needing GIFI files. I'm here to help.

Producing and exporting GIFI files from QuickBooks Desktop Canada isn't an integrated feature at this time. This means exploring other ways to get the GIFI information you need. Something like this page from the Government of Canada website may be of use to you: General Index of Financial Information (GIFI)

Exporting your reports is as simple as clicking the Excel button on the report window and choosing how you want to export it. Learn more about exporting here: Import/Export Overview

For more information about reports, check out this article: Understand reports

I recommend leaving feedback about your interest in GIFI files for QuickBooks Desktop by going to Help then Send Feedback Online. This is a great way to share with us the features you're looking for in the program.

Enjoy your day. :)

Why isn't producing and exporting GIFI files from QuickBooks Desktop Canada an integrated feature at this time? QB has been around for many years. Should be a standard report. I believe some tax programs can access QB desktop and import the GIFI data directly. So the data is in QB desktop but not available for people that have bought the software?

Hello Yourkard,

I appreciate you chiming in as a follow-up on this question. I hear what you're saying about how useful this sort of thing would be and I'd like to give an update to my previous response from late last year.

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can add Tax-Line Mapping to accounts that you are setting up or have set up in the Chart of Accounts. These ultimately contribute to the GIFI codes that populate when you use other tax programs, such as Intuit ProFile for your tax preparation. Here's what that looks like.

All the same, the tax-line mapping still doesn't produce a column on the standard balance sheet or income statement reports, and columns cannot be added to those reports. If you'd like to see a report that does show the tax-line mapping, I recommend running the Balance Sheet Detail report, the Profit and Loss Detail report, or the Account Listing report.The Balance Sheet Detail and Profit and Loss Detail reports will show the tax-line mapping related to the specific transactions in the accounts. The Account Listing report will show you the tax-line mapping for the account in question.

The Account Listing report should automatically include the Tax Line column, but you can add it to the other two by going to Customize Report, then finding it in the Columns list on the Display tab. Once you check it off and select OK, it'll appear.

It may help to export one of these reports and use it with the CRA's guide for GIFI codes that I linked in my original response. Otherwise, I encourage you to continue to use your tax preparation software to access the GIFI codes.

Submitted feedback is still an excellent idea in this situation. Many current features in the program came from input from users such as you.

I hope this helps!

It's abundantly clear why you're tap dancing around this question!  Intuit feels that they are not getting enough money from Canadian businesses with the $50+/month we pay for Quickbooks Canada Online/Desktop.  They feel it necessary to have us pay hundreds of dollars more each year to either use another Intuit tax preparation software or pay even more with one of their QBOA.  As the initial poster indicated and I wholeheartedly agree, this feature should be required at this time.  Maybe it's time to request a change of law from our government.  Clearly, Intuit feels the need for greed.  Intuit hasn't even done the bare minimum by allowing us Canadian businesses to do the hard work of mapping the accounts ourselves.  Maybe we should look at our existing laws and see why the software governed by Canadian laws can't even be used for the purpose of filing our taxes!

Hi Wi6, 

Thank you for joining this thread. I hear what you're saying, and I agree that having the ability to generate and export a report containing the GIFI mapping from QuickBooks Desktops would be a great benefit to yourself and other users. I recommend submitting some Feedback to our product development team regarding this so that it can be brought to their attention. They're always looking for ways to improve the QuickBooks Desktop experience for customers, and they take the feedback received into consideration when planning updates to the program. You can submit feedback from within your QuickBooks Desktop file by navigating to the Help menu, then selecting Send Feedback Online. From there, follow the prompts to submit your feedback. 

Have a great day!