Client is zero-rated medical how do I disable sales tax, don't want to see it in the GL?

Hi there, 

Welcome back to the Community. I'd be happy to assist with showing you how to disable a sales tax code for a client. 

As you know, once you've activated the sales tax feature, you won't be able to turn it off. To make sure you're not collecting taxes on a customer, you'll need to follow the steps below:

1.     Go to the Sales tab and click Customers.
2.     Click the Edit tab.
3.     Open the Tax info folder and select the Default tax code.
4.     Hit Save.

Going forward, there won't be any taxes applied to the customer's invoice. 

If you have other questions, don't hesitate to comment below. I'll be on standby.:) 

Thank you JamesM,

No, I actually didn't know that once the sales tax feature was activated it couldn't be turned off.  That's not helpful to be honest.

Would still like to not see it in the reports even with a 0.00 balance.

Going forward, there won't be any taxes applied if you follow the steps above. Otherwise, for any historical transactions (before turning off the taxes using the steps I shared above) you'll have to reach out to an accountant with access to the QuickBooks Online Accountant version. The QBOA version will allow you to edit historical transactions in bulk vs one at a time. You can learn more here: Reclassify or move multiple transactions at once.

If you're not in contact with an accountant, you can reach out to one using this link here. Feel free to ask questions. 

Hi again JamesM,

I am the bookkeeper and have QBOA.  The client "accidently" activated the sales tax.  There are no historical transactions so there is no issue there however they would like to not see the GST/HST in the financial reports even with a zero balance

I see what you're saying. Since there's no way to turn off the sales tax, I recommend changing the entire company tax code to Out of Scope. This ensures that no transactions hit the sales tax reports. Here's how you can do this: 

1. Click on the Gear icon

2. Navigate to Advanced > Accounting tab

3. Change the Default tax rate to Out of Scope. 

Let me know if you have questions. I got your back. 

Yes, I had already done that.  It doesn't change that the GST/HST Payable is still on the financial reports.  I tried also to "make inactive" the payable & suspense accounts in the chart of accounts but that is not possible.  Receive an Error ! You cannot change or delete this account as it is used by the system to track tax amounts.

The GST/HST Payable will still show on the financial reports. The reason is that the taxes was initially turned on when the account was set up.

So there is no "backend" way to disable?

At this time, there isn't a way to adjust it in the back-end. I suggest sending this as feedback over to our engineers by clicking the Gear icon and looking for Feedback. New product ideas and improvements are largely based on the feedback we get from users like you. Let me know if you have other questions. I'm here to help steer you in the right direction.