How do I unfile a sales tax return

Hi accounting-oilci,

Welcome to Community!  QuickBooks Online has the features you need, to complete your daily bookkeeping tasks with confidence.  Unfiling a tax return can be accomplished in a timely fashion.  I'd be glad to help!

The option to unfile sales tax is available in QuickBooks Online Accountant.  Before proceeding it's highly recommended that you print any exceptions, so you have them for your records.  When you unfile sales tax, the exceptions will become regular transactions for the periods they were recorded in.  Follow these steps to review the exceptions;

1. From the left menu, select Taxes, then Sales tax
2. Click on the tax agency 

3. Open the Filings tab

4. In the Action dropdown, select View exception details. This will give you the line-by-line, transaction-by-transaction detail for your exceptions.

When you're ready, here's how to unfile sales tax:

1. Open Taxes, then Sales Tax

2. Select the Returns tab

3 Locate the sales tax filing that you'd like to unfile

4. In the Action column, open the drop down menu and choose Undo 

• A window will appear asking Are you sure you want to go back? Review the information displayed and select Undo filing.
• A notification will appear next to your open filing, highlighting the date that the return was reopened.

Note; To unfile a historic filing, you'll need to unfile in reverse date order to reach the desired filing.

Please don't hesitate to reach out again, of other questions come to mind.  We are here for you!

I'm using desktop, this answer won't work for me, how do I unfile a sales tax return

Hi SandiLou,

Thanks for joining us here.  When you need to undo a sales tax filing in QuickBooks Desktop, you'll need to delete any payments associated with the filing, as well as the journal entry that was created during the filing process.  

To remove the payment transaction, press CTRL + A on your keyboard to jump to your chart of accounts.  Double click on the bank account where the payment was made and locate the payment.  Right click on the transaction and choose Delete.  You can also do this from the Vendor Centre by choosing the name of the sales tax agency, then delete the transaction from the list.  Next, you'll need to open the associated Sales Tax Payable account.  Locate and select the Journal Entry that was created.  Go to the Edit menu and select Delete General Journal, or just right click on it and hit Delete General Journal.  A message will appear, providing a warning.  Be sure to review it, then click Continue to undo the filing.  You're all set and ready to refile your sales tax!

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach back out.  We would be happy to assist!

How do I edit the dates in an already filed tax return. I clicked on the wrong dates and most likely filed incorrectly as a result of this. 

Hi there Shamps,

Thanks for reaching out about your tax filings. Quickbooks Online is a great tool able to help keep track of tax on sales and expenses so you know the amount owed on each filing. I can provide some information about marking taxes as filed in QuickBooks Online.

In QuickBooks Online, there isn't the option to edit the dates on a filed return, so it would need to be deleted by your accountant and then recreated. Only accountants using QuickBooks Online Accountant users can unfile a sales tax return, so I would recommend reaching out to your accountant for this task. You can invite your accountant to your QuickBooks Online account by clicking on the My Accountant tab. There's also an option to find an accountant near you in that section by clicking on the Find a Pro to help button.

One thing to note when opening back up a filing to recreate it would be that if there are any exceptions on the tax filing, they will be lost. I recommend using the steps in the first reply in the thread to view the exceptions relating to the existing filing so you know if there are any to consider when filing once more.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out here.