I noticed PST amounts paid on expenses are not getting picked up in the PST tax filing function?

Hi there, 

I appreciate you reaching out to the Community. I'll be glad to share more info about PST in QBO. 

Provincial Sales Tax (PST) for British Columbia, Saskatchewan and/or Manitoba is recorded differently than GST or HST in QuickBooks Online when collecting sales tax on expenses and purchases.

Previously, if you made a purchase that had PST applied, QuickBooks Online would create a journal entry that broke the PST out into a separate account, similar to the way GST and HST are treated in other provinces. However, while the PST you collect on sales must be remitted to the province, the PST you pay on expenses does not get deducted from those amounts when you file your PST. Due to this, PST is now included in the expense total or capital item you've purchased.

This way of accounting for PST ensures that your company's accounting is accurate and will save you time at period-end.

Let me know if this helps. I'll be on standby in case you have other questions. 

Hello,

I'm having the same issue with QB Online SE version. If I enter an expense as GST/HST applicable the program is NOT adding the PST amount to expense (just the amount before GST/PST). The only way I can somewhat fix this problem is to enter the expense as GST only. This isn't correct of course and the GST calculated is now incorrect.

Appreciate your help!

Just wanted to add that I know that PST on supplies should not be included in the PST report as per your reply to the original query (it's not a flow through tax like GST); however, I know that the PST should be added to expenses/cap assets.

When I view the profit/loss report and drill down on supplies (only one entry so far) the expense amount is the pre-GST/PST amount!

Hey bshelton,

QuickBooks Self-Employed is designed with a focus on the sales tax settings most common for self-employed Canadians. This ensures consistency, and makes it easy to produce accurate tax returns. For help making sure everything is set up correctly for your business operations, please reach out to QuickBooks Self-Employed's dedicated support team.

Don't be afraid to get in touch! It's important to ensure your sales tax records are accurate.

Hi Andre,

When I click on the link you sent this is what I get (scroll down to bottom of this post). When I click on assistant in the browser it says it doesn't work and to try again later (have tried several times).

And when I try the assistant in my iOS device clicking the + symbol this doesn't work either. FYI your website info is out of date (the assistant is in the top right hand corner of the App). Within the iOS device assistant I was finally able to chat with a live human.

This individual was very friendly but unable to help me so she escalated the issue to the product support team. I've since heard back from them and apparently QB SE doesn't have the ability to track PST paid on purchases but they would consider it as a future modification.

Please should be made aware of this glitch so that when they do their taxes they know that their expenses subject to PST are understated by 7% (in BC) or whatever the other rates are in non-HST provinces.

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-ca/about-quickbooks/contact-quickbooks-self-employed-...

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On iOS:

1. Tap the + button on the dashboard. Then select Ask QB Assistant.
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Thanks for updating us, bshelton. I'm happy you were able to get in touch with the Self-Employed team! I'll be sure to pass on your feedback about this to my team for review on future updates. 

This is incorrect. PST paid on purchases is to be deducted from the total remittance, as long as they are expenses used for resale, such as materials. This is laid out very clearly by the ministry of finance, as well as on PST filings. 

Please fix your system. It's pretty ridiculous you can't even get a report to show PST paid.

There should be a PST refundable option and a PST non-refundable option. 

Agree, this is so frustrating. Do you have a workaround that you use? I am new to using QBO and trying to figure out the best way to do this... Thanks!

Hi ChelBooks. Thanks for joining the conversation. As explained above by my colleagues, the PST  you pay on expenses does not get deducted from those amounts when you file your PST. I know this isn't what you were hoping for, and I'd encourage you to touch base with our tech support team if you'd like to discuss other options. Each account is unique, and I want to make sure you're given the best advice based on how you've set things up on your end. 

When you click on the contact link, you're going to make a product selection. If you're using QuickBooks Self-Employed, please click the Self-Employed product portal to get connected to the proper support team.

Take care.

We don't charge or submit PST, only GST.

Like you, I want the GST amount correctly pulled from an expense that includes both GST & PST. The remaining balance (the cost plus the PST) is my real cost for the item.

I don't want the PST assigned to a completely separate expense account, I want it included in whichever category the expense is assigned to.

My work-around...

Make a new tax code that you can use when an expense has both GST & PST charged.

If you make the tax amount  4.6729%  it will calculate the correct amount of GST that you paid and add that to your ITC's and the balance is the cost of the item including the PST

For example, if your total was $112.00 for an item that was $100 + 5% GST & 7%PST it will make the GST paid as $5 and the actual expense as $107

$5 goes to your ITC account, the other $107 goes to whichever expense account you assigned it to.

Hope that helps!

I don't think quickbooks understands that PST paid on resale items is refundable.

Did you get a solution to this?

I don't charge PST (not required on our services), therefore cannot claim it back. It becomes part of my expense for whatever we purchased.

I don't have the PST separated out to a PST expense account. I found a work-around to have it included in the actual expense cost.

When entering the expense that includes GST AND PST, select the option TOTAL INCLUSIVE OF TAXES

See my original explanation of my work-around...

The GST goes to a separate GST account and the PST remains part of the expense total

@Helen_V 

Thanks for the reply, but I do want to track the PST paid on certain resale items since it is refundable in those cases.

Is there any solution for this yet? I am just wondering if Intuit can fix this and PST paid to on supplies be calculated just same way as GST. My workflow at present is to manually calculate PST paid on COGS (supplies and Materials) and have the adjustment done under my PST collected on sales.

Hi,

We have the same problem. We could deduct the PST paid on materials but the QB does not add these amounts to paid on purchases. Did you fix this issue? How can we file a return correctly if the QB will not add the paid PST? If there is no quick solution for this we will be forced to switch to an other accounting program. 

Hello Elite Drywall,

I want to assure you that I hear your concerns and appreciate the need for a software that's accounting for your sales taxes with accuracy and the way you need them to be. It's important to me you have the correct information for working with sales tax, including PST, in QuickBooks Online.

QuickBooks Online is designed to adhere to the federal and provincial regulations for sales tax collection and payment on income and expenses. With that in mind, there are certain circumstances PST isn't reflected in the calculations for filing, as has been mentioned by my colleague earlier in this thread. This may be what you're running into here with PST on expenses, and to see if that's the case with the sales tax you're working with, I recommend connecting with the CRA or an accountant.

You can connect with an accountant right in QuickBooks Online using the My Accountant tab. There, you can invite an accountant you're already working with as a user or you can use the Find a pro to help button to see our directory of QuickBooks-certified professionals in your area.

If after speaking with the CRA or an accountant you're certain that PST should be calculating, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team so we can look at this situation with your more closely, troubleshoot, and determine the best course of action to reach a resolution. Here's how to reach us.

Schedule a Callback or start a Chat: click (?)Help in the upper right in QuickBooks Online > type and enter "Contact support" into the QB Assistant > click Contact Us > explain your situation > click Let's Talk > choose Get a callback or Start a Chat.

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Support hours are from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET.

I hope this helps you with getting back on track. Take care.

Please double check for BC and maybe other provinces , I called the BC ministry of finance  and they said if you paid PST for business or to resale then you can apply through FIN 355 to get back what you paid, details here https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/taxes/sales-taxes/forms/fin-355-refund-general.pdf .  

so we need to get somehow a track of  the PST paid by us,  even like informative report . 

thank you 

Hi there jamilss-gmail-co,

QuickBooks Online has a multitude of reports to help you with showing various totals. I can show you one to get your tax totals on transactions.

One report that can do that is the Transaction Detail by Tax Code Report. You can find it by going to the Reports tab It will show you the amount per transaction line of tax calculated, grouped by tax code. You can then filter it to show only transactions like bills and expenses by clicking on the Filter option in the upper right corner. The only drawback to this would be for those group tax codes that include PST and GST, the combined amount will be shown. You can take the total tax for transactions and calculate which portion is GST and which is PST.

I hope this helps you with being able to find the total amount of taxes paid on expenses. If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out here. 

I found this thread while looking for an answer for a different question but thought I would offer up how I deal with this issue of calculating the PST I pay on items I resell -- since only the end user is required to pay PST...

We have created a PST account 2620 for this purpose -- so when I enter in a Bill for something which I paid PST on (that I shouldn't have because the item is for resale) instead of putting it in with GST/PST on the line item, I use GST only and then add a line to show only the PST allocated to the account 2620 (zero tax rated).  In this way the PST doesn't get expensed, it gets tallied and I can then pull that number to use when I file my PST. 

That said, my accountant has suggested I not use the built in "reporting" for tax calculations which I do find a little frustrating as I would like to use the software features as they are intended to make things simpler,  None-the-less, this method works for me.

HI itGurl,

Thank you for chiming in on this thread with your solution. The great thing about QuickBooks Online is that you can customize it to work for you. I can see how having a few other options would beneficial. If this is something you'd like to see considered for future updates. I invite you to provide feedback.

To share your great ideas follow these easy steps:

1. Go to the Gear Icon.
2. Select Feedback.
3. Fill in your suggestions, and click Ok.

Reach back out if there's anything that I can help you with. Have a great night!

Hello,

These replies from the "QB Team" members are completely out of line. How many decades have GST/HST/PST been in place, 3 or 4?

And 'the Team' keeps replying that PST paid is not deductible, and then when a user finally sends them the link to the PST (BC) rules, then it is a long stream about work-arounds. Really??

It is extremely simple. If the 'purchase' of goods/services are purchased against a COS (COGS) account then that PST paid is refundable (i.e. it is Deducted from PST owed on Sales). Again, how many decades has this been in place.

There is no work-around required...what is required is that QB Online reflect the sales tax environment for the Canadian market for the past decades. Unbelievable!

Add to this as a QBO Plus user to get multi-currency & inventory this spring has kicked off with a 50% increase in my monthly subscription from $40/mo to $60/mo, yet decades later the "Team" doesn't understand the difference between PST paid on Expenses versus PST paid on COS (which is a credit to PST owed on Sales).

This has to be fixed asap, or we should all begin to invoice QBO for our lost PST credits on COS purchases.

This gap is completely frightening.

i have just taken over the bookkeeping for this company.. and the PST is not being allocated to the expense account on purchases

Hello mpopps,

Welcome to the QuickBooks Community. You'll find it a great place to get answers to your questions. I can point you in the right direction.

You can check that the sales tax code may have been set up incorrectly as a custom tax, or the wrong sales tax code has been used on the forms. Here are some articles that explain how the sales tax works in QuickBooks Online:

• Learn how QuickBooks Online calculates sales tax
• Tracking PST in BC, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan
• How to set up a new sales tax code

You can reach back out if you have any further questions. Take care.

Hello,

The links provided, specifically for BC outline: "...the PST you pay on expenses does not get deducted from those amounts when you file your PST. Due to this, PST is now included in the expense total or capital item you've purchased."

As I and others have outlined in this stream this application of the PST rules for BC is Not Correct. The PST IS deductible against COS (COGS) items that are purchased for resale, i.e. sellable/resale inventory.

The above quote from QB references a "capital item". Apparently this includes sellable inventory. Regardless the QB approach is to apply the PST to the average cost of all items (including Resale Inventory) and not deduct this paid PST from the amount owing.

It does not matter how it is described this is NOT Correct. And it should be (have been) Fixed a long time ago.

1) PST owed is incorrect as PST for COS (COGS) inventory items purchased for resale have Not been deducted from the PST owing - Not Correct, and

2) To add the PST to the average cost of an inventory item for resale is over inflating the average cost of inventory, and is also - Not Correct.

Again, how many decades have these PST rules for BC existed?\

Get it fixed, the PST application of COS (COGS) resale inventory for BC is Not Correct.