QuickBooks HelpQuickBooksHelpIntuit

Updating your tax location in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit• Updated 2 weeks ago

If you received an email from QuickBooks asking you to confirm your tax location, you're in the right place. This article explains what this means and what to do next.

Why you received this email

QuickBooks is required by international tax regulations to apply the right taxes based on where your business is located. To do this accurately, we periodically review the information on your account.

You may have received this email for one of two reasons:

  • Your tax location appears to have changed based on your account details.
  • We weren't able to confirm your location from the information currently on file.

Both notifications include a link to review and update your details to keep your subscription and billing on track.

What is a tax location?

Your tax location is the country QuickBooks uses to calculate and apply taxes to your subscription, and it can differ from your billing address. 

Note: This is separate from the taxes you record in QuickBooks for your own customers. It's about the country used to tax your QuickBooks subscription.

How QuickBooks determines your tax location

To meet international tax requirements, QuickBooks uses at least two pieces of information from your account — not just your billing address. If two or more of these point to the same country, that becomes your tax location.

The information we look at includes:

  • Your billing address (company address)
  • Your payment method country
  • Your IP address (the country you most recently used to access QuickBooks)
  • Your phone number country (the country code on your company phone number)

If your account details point to different countries, or we can't find two matching pieces of information, we'll send you a notification to let you know.

How to update your details

There are two ways to review and update your information.

The email includes a direct link to a page where you can review your current tax location and update your details. Select that link, then make sure the following are accurate:

  1. Check your billing address: Go to Settings, then Account and settings, then the Company tab.
  2. Check your payment method country: Go to Settings, then Subscriptions and billing.
  3. Check your company phone number: make sure the country code matches where your business operates.

Make sure these details all reflect your actual business location.

You can also update your information at any time without the email link:

  1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
  2. Go to Settings, then Account and settings.
  3. Select the Company tab.
  4. Update your company address and phone number, then select Save.
  5. Navigate back to the Settings, select Subscriptions and billing to review your payment method country and Tax location.

If you have a VAT Registration Number

If your business is registered for VAT or GST and you have a valid VAT Registration Number, you can add it to your company profile. This tells QuickBooks you're a registered business, and your billing country will be used for tax purposes directly.

To add your VAT Registration Number, go to Settings, then Account and settings, then Company, and enter your number in the tax registration field.

Frequently asked questions

Your subscription is only at risk after an extended period where we're unable to confirm your location. We'll always send you notifications first. The best thing to do is update your details as soon as possible so there's no interruption to your subscription.

Tax regulations require us to use more than one piece of information to confirm your location. If your payment method, phone number, or recent IP address points to a different country from your billing address, this may be affecting our determination. Make sure all your account details (not just your billing address) reflect where your business actually operates.

When two or more pieces of account information point to a different country from the one you signed up in, our system updates your tax location to reflect this. This is a requirement under international tax law. Update your billing address, payment method, and phone number to reflect your current business location if you believe there's an error.

Free trials don't require tax verification. When you upgrade to a paid plan, QuickBooks confirms your tax location to apply the right taxes to your subscription.

When you resubscribe, QuickBooks re-checks your tax location using your current account details. If we can't confirm your location from two matching pieces of information, you'll be asked to update your details before continuing. Make sure your billing address, payment method country, and phone number all match your business location.

If your tax location changed during a billing cycle, separate documents are created for each tax period. You'll still receive a single net bill for the total amount. You can find all related invoices and credit notes by expanding the relevant entry in your Billing and payment history.

The best way to update your tax location is to make sure your account details (billing address, payment method country, and company phone number) accurately reflect your business location. Once updated, QuickBooks will re-evaluate your location using this information.