Separate sales tax from an a payment/deposit

Hi there, dapperdanman.

Thank you for visiting the QuickBooks Community. I'll ensure to provide details on how you can split the sales tax and move it to the Tax liability account in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac.

Once you’ve set up your sales tax, you’re ready to create taxable sales. Then, QuickBooks automatically charges and calculates sales tax when you create sales forms. With this, separating a sales tax to move it to the Sales tax Payable liability account will accomplish by creating a deposit. Then, to non-sales transactions like bills, checks, and purchase orders. This is to avoid any conflict with the program in managing Sales Taxes as a function.

To create a deposit:

1. Go to the Banking menu at the top.
2.  Choose Make Deposits.
3. In the Make Deposits window, choose the bank account where you're depositing the money.
4. In the detail area, enter the name of the person you received the money from and the amount of the investment.
5. In the “From account” list, choose the appropriate sales tax liability account.
6. Click Save and Close.

Then, before creating non-sales transactions like bills, checks, and purchase orders, you'll have to create an Expense account. This is to track sales tax on purchases as an expense (not to be paid later) Please follow the steps below.

1. Go to the Lists menu at the top. 
2. Choose Chart of Accounts.
3. Select Create +.
4. From the Type dropdown list, select Expense as the account type.
5. Click Continue.
6. Complete the account details. Then, click OK.
7. When creating a transaction (like a bill) in which you will be tracking sales tax, enter the bill as usual but go to the Expenses tab instead and select the expense that you've created.
8. On this line, enter the amount of sales tax in the Amount column (this will need to be calculated manually).
9. Ensure that any detail in this transaction adds up to the correct total after clicking Recalculate.

Once done, create an Other Current Liability account to track sales tax on purchases as a liability (to be paid later). Follow these steps:

1. Go to the Lists menu at the top. 
2. Choose Chart of Accounts.
3. Select Create +.
4. From the Type dropdown list, select Other Current Liability as the account type.
5. Click Continue.
6. Enter the Account Name and other details then click Save & Close.
7. When creating a transaction (like a bill) in which you will be tracking sales tax, enter the bill as usual Then, go to the Expenses tab instead and select the liability account created in step 1.
8. On this line, enter the amount of sales tax in the Amount column (this will need to be calculated manually).
9. Ensure that any detail in this transaction adds up to the correct total after clicking Recalculate.

Then, when it is time to pay this sales tax, you can view the liability that has been accrued by looking at the Chart of Accounts. This amount can be paid with a regular check.

Lastly, you may refer to this article to view details on how a taxable sale transaction works in QBDT for Mac: Collect sales tax in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac.

Reach out to me if you have further questions about managing sales tax in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac. I'll be happy to answer them. Wishing you the best.