How can I record a sales tax instalment for a previous period? QBO won't let me to that. (HST isn't due until 30 days after the end of the period).

Hi allanri,

Making sure you're recording your transactions the right way is a good way exercise for keeping your books clean. I'd be happy to steer you in the right direction so you can get the assistance you need with this.

QuickBooks makes it simple to manage your taxes. With our powerful tax module, you can seamlessly navigate through it and get your work done faster. Historical Payroll Tax Payments do not post any debits or credits to the Chart of Accounts. If you need to record payments in your bank and tax liability/expense accounts, you can do so by creating expenses or cheques. To do this, click on the plus symbol in the top right of your QuickBooks Online account and select Expense or Cheque under Suppliers.

To create one of these payments:

1. Select Taxes from the left menu.
2. Select Payroll Tax at the top.
3. Select Enter prior tax history.
4. Select Add Payment.
5. Enter the details of your payments, including the period start, end, and payment date. Be sure to include the breakdown of each tax type that you paid.
6. Select OK.

Give these steps a try and let me know how you make out. I'll be one message away. 

Hi - thanks for your reply.  I'm only now getting caught up on things, so sorry for the delay. 

I'm trying to make an HST instalment, not a payroll tax instalment; we file our return annually, and I make instalments throughout the year. 

I'm not quite following you instructions.  First you say to create an expense, by going to the Expense choice under Suppliers. Then you say to click on Taxes in the left menu; however, there is no left menu when I've got the expense form up.  

I've tried recording HST payments by recording an expense, however, QuickBooks won't let me use the HST Payable liability account to record this.  I've seen mention of something called a "Suspense" account, but I don't have any idea what that is.  Is this described somewhere? 

I can't find any information on how this "powerful tax module" works.  The only info in online help talks about filing a tax return.  But I'm not ready to file a return.  I just want to record an instalment.  I'll be filing my return shortly, once my accountant finishes the year-end review of our books.  Is there anywhere in the help that describes this process??

Hello allanri,

I know it can sometimes take a while to get caught up on tasks, and I want to assure you that the QuickBooks Team is still here to help you with your sales tax tasks in the program. I've read through your original post as well as the response from my colleague, and I see there's been a bit of an error with guiding you. I've brought it up to my team for review, and in the meantime, I'll help you with recording the instalments.

When you set up sales tax in QuickBooks Online, the program creates the relevant accounts for you, such as the sales tax suspense accounts. In the program, the account is described as follows: "GST/HST Suspense is used by QuickBooks Online Plus to temporarily track your tax liability before a payment or refund from the CRA." I had my GST/HST Suspense account pulled up, which is why it mentions those codes specifically. I saw this description by going to Accounting in the left menu, finding the suspense account, selecting the down arrow in the Action column, and choosing Edit.

The program works with sales tax accounting via the sales tax centre through the Taxes tab, which is why you're not able to select it on an expense transaction. It can be selected on journal entry transactions, but I recommend consulting an accountant if you'd like to consider that route. That way, you can be certain the entry is correct and working the way you need it to.

If you'd like to use the Instalment feature in the sales tax module, here's how you can enter previous dates when the calendar only goes back so far.

1. Select Taxes from the left menu.
2. On the Sales Tax page, select New above the list of sales tax remittance list.
3. Click Instalment.
4. Select the Filing date field.
5. Manually enter the date you'd like following the date format.
6. Enter the Instalment amount.
7. Ensure the other details are correct.
8. Click Record instalment.

Once you've done that, you'll be able to see the instalment transaction under the Payments tab on the Sales Tax page. The instalment should automatically apply to the filing period it falls under, and you'll see it reflected your return. There'll be a line that notes instalments made.

I also have a detail to share with you about filing sales tax. If you're ready to file and a period that you're trying to file for isn't immediately showing up, simply click File return on the one that does appear, then adjust the Start and End dates as needed. Keep in mind that QuickBooks Online handles sales tax filings in chronological order, so you won't be able to backdate a filing if you've already filed something more recent.

I hope that helps. I appreciate your callout about there not being any articles that explain instalments and how to use them in the sales tax centre. Our goal is to have the resources you need to manage your books, so I'll be passing that feedback along.

If you were looking to work with an accountant for either a journal entry or even in general, QuickBooks Online can help. Use the My Accountant tab to see how you can invite your accountant to be a user on your account to review your books or click the Find a pro to help button to research out database of QuickBooks-certified accountants near you.

Don't hesitate if you have further questions. I'm here to help.

Thanks a million for this!  I don't know why I didn't try manually editing the date.  

One more thing ... can you clarify for me the difference between the "Filing date" and the "Payment Date" for making a tax instalment? 

Also, while we're talking about all this ... I can see that the instalments I recorded show up on "Line 110 Instalments" on the HST return form.  However, I made instalments before the ones shown, before I started using QuickBooks.  How do I add these to my return in QBO?

Again, thanks for the help here. 

I had 8 months of instalments for 2020 that I'd entered via QuickBooks desktop that were recorded simply as expenses paid by cheque or online banking. So it was pretty easy to delete them and then re-enter the instalments as you described above.

Can I suggest you consider adding help topics for the following tasks:

1. Recording payments for sales tax instalments
2. Setting up sales tax when you start using QuickBooks midway through a tax period

Also, adding some clarification about what a filing date is would be helpful. Revenue Canada tends to go by "Period Ending"dates, which is what it sounds you described as the filing date. 

In terms of features it would be nice to have:

1. The calendar widget for setting the Filing date should let you select a date prior to the current period. If entering the date manually is supported, why wouldn't the calendar widget let you do that.  Especially as many users (with GST/HST, anyway) don't need to file HST returns until the month AFTER the period.  
2. The ability to add payment details to the tax instalment.  Going through the Taxes section of QuickBooks doesn't give you any way to record the payment method or cheque number used to pay the instalment.