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Manage VAT payments in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit•25• Updated 2 months ago

Learn how to record, adjust and delete VAT payments in the tax centre.

The tax centre has everything you need to handle tax in QuickBooks. You can run reports for your VAT liabilities, record or edit VAT payments, and see your payment for different time periods.

Here's how to manage tax payments and other tasks in the tax centre.

Note:If you don't see the features mentioned below, you may be using the tax feature. Learn more about setting up and using tax.

Review VAT reports

Get a VAT liability report

  1. Go to Reports (Take me there).
  2. Search and select VAT Liability Report in the search field.

The report shows each VAT agency, the taxable amount of sales, and payments.

See all of your VAT payments

  1. Go to Taxes and select VAT (Take me there).
  2. To view the list of payments, go to the Payments tab and select View.

This opens a transaction report that lists all your VAT payments. You can adjust the date range or select Customise to further refine the report.

Manage VAT payments

Record a VAT payment

  1. Go to Taxes and select the Returns tab.
  2. From the list of returns, find the one you wish to record a payment for.
  3. From the Action column, select Record payment. Note: Based on the status of your return, this option may be available under the dropdown in the Action column.
  4. Fill in the required fields (bank account you're making the payment from, payment date and amount).
  5. When you're ready, select Save.
  6. To view the payment:
    • Find it in the list on the Returns tab and select View return.
    • Or, go to the Payments tab, find it in the list, then select View.

Adjust a VAT payment

You can make an adjustment while filing your taxes.  In the Returns tab, select Prepare return. On the Prepare VAT return page select Adjust. Use this when you need to decrease or increase the amount of VAT payment for things like credits, discounts, fines, interest, penalties, and corrections for rounding errors.

Enter the adjustment amount and reason for the adjustment. You can enter a positive or negative amount.

Note:VAT can get complicated. If you have questions, reach out to your accountant or tax agency.

Delete a VAT payment

  1. Go to Taxes and select the Payments tab.
  2. Select Delete from the Action column. Then select Yes to confirm.

Note: After you delete a payment, the page doesn't refresh automatically.
Leave and come back to the Taxes menu. The payment shouldn't appear anymore.

If you see the messages "We're sorry, we can't delete filed tax right now. Please try again later." or "We're sorry, we can't deactivate the tax you selected. Please try again later. Contact support if waiting and trying again doesn't resolve the issue" while deleting a transaction, don't worry.

If the transaction is matched to a bank transaction

  1. Go to Transactions, then select Bank transactions (Take me there).
  2. Select the bank account you used to pay for the tax payment.
  3. Select the Categorised tab.
  4. Find the transaction you want to delete. It should be matched to another transaction.
  5. Select Undo to unmatch the transactions.
  6. Go back to the Taxes menu and delete the transaction.

If you were using the earlier tax system and not the tax centre

If you see "This tax was recorded in the old tax system. Write a cheque to record a payment for this tax. Payments recorded via Write Cheque will not appear in the recent tax payments table below" don't worry. You'll need to edit each transaction that's part of the original tax payable amount.

  1. Find and open each transaction.
  2. Remove the current tax line item
  3. Use the tax items at the bottom of the invoice.
  4. When you're done, select Save.

Once transactions are re-associated, create a journal entry to move the liability from the new current tax liability account to the original tax liability account.

Note:
  • If you've been using QuickBooks Online and paying tax using the earlier method, you may need to record tax payments using the earlier method and the tax centre for a time.
  • If you have outstanding transactions using the earlier tax method, record tax payments the same way you did in the past.  Record new tax payments in the tax centre that charges the new rates you set up.

Learn more about how cash and accrual accounting affect VAT.

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