Does anyone know why the default sales tax rate does not always populate in invoices correctly? Sometimes it loads no tax rate or a non-default rate.

Welcome to Community, jay97. 

I'm here to share some information about how the Automated Sales Tax feature works.

By default, QuickBooks automatically calculates the total tax rate based on the address where you sell/ship, the type of product you offer, and the customer's tax-exempt status.  

To fix this concern, make sure to check the following: 

• Your customer's tax status- Go to the Sales menu and select Customers. Click the name of the customer and select Edit. Then, go to the Tax info and make sure that the This customer is tax-exempt box isn't checked.
• Business location or where you sell/ship the product.
• How you add sales tax categories to your products and services.

In addition, you can run the Sales Tax Liability report to view your sales tax info anytime.

I've added these articles to help you manage sales tax:

• Learn how QuickBooks Online calculates sales tax
• Use custom rates to manually calculate taxes on invoices or receipts
• Manage a tax rate change

I'll be right here to assist you again if you have any other concerns or require further clarification about sales tax. Feel free to tag me in the comment section.

Hi there, 

Thanks! I see now that individual guests can not only be exempted from tax, but also their default tax can be set to override the system default. I have no idea why in the world some of our customers would be set up to override the default since it's not even an option we were aware of. So, the next question is: how do I find and change the ones that are set to override the default tax? Can I force the system to reset all customers to the default? Or at least get a report on guest tax settings so I know which ones need to be adjusted? We have over 1300 customers in our database, many of whom are regulars, so searching individually would be time consuming and error prone.

Thanks again, 

Mithril

Thanks for getting back to us, @jay97. I've got some information you need so you’ll be able to find and change your customers default sales tax rate in QuickBooks Online.

To set a default sales tax rate for all customers, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Taxes from the left menu.
2. Select Sales Tax.
3. From the Related Tasks field, select Edit sales tax settings.
4. Click the Default sales tax drop-down arrow then choose the tax you would like to appear as the default sales tax.
5. You can also choose to Mark all new products and services taxable and Mark all customers taxable.
6. Select Save.
   
   

From there, your new default rate will now show up on all sales forms.

However, if you want to charge a customer a different sales tax rate, use the Tax drop-down arrow on the sales form to change the tax rate.

You can also check this handy article for your guide.

For additional information, you can check out these articles:

• Apply sales tax rates to transactions and sales forms.
• Sales tax in QuickBooks Online.
  
  

Get back to me here if you have further questions about the information above. I'd be more than happy to answer it for you. Have a nice day.

Hi there, 

Thanks for your help. I do already have this set to the correct default tax rate. However, the invoices still autopopulate randomly, apparently based on the customer's individual settings. It seems the individual settings override the default. So, how can I change the individual settings without going through every single guest? 

Thanks, 

Mithril

Appreciate the update, @jay97. 

As of the moment, there isn't an integrated way to override sales tax settings for all customer in batch. It's best to manually review each customer's profile and change the sales tax settings accordingly.

While the option is currently unavailable, you can send this request directly to our developers via feedback. I'll show you how.

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Under PROFILE, select Feedback.
3. Enter a few describing how the automation of the rate change can help your business tracking and reporting needs.
4. Select Next.
5. Click Skip and send message.

I'm adding this reference so you're able to track the status of your request as well as the latest updates from our developer team: Customer Feedback for QuickBooks Online.

It'll always be my pleasure to help if you've got other questions besides sales tax rates and settings. Use the Reply button and leave your comment below so that I can assist you further.