How to "Manage Sales Tax" due on purchases from vendors

NC Hydroseeding · ‎February 20, 2025

This is a 2 Part question/scenario.

1: How do you capture expenses/liability in the HOME Screen of QuickBooks for sales tax that you (the business owner) owe for the purchase price for TAX-free materials when you sell/install them?

2: How do you include the overall costs (material + sales tax due) to material costs before adding your markup?

a: intent is to assist in accurate estimate and highlight best vendor pricing.

NerbynMaeI · ‎February 20, 2025

Capturing the expense or liability is not available in the Home page of QuickBooks Desktop, NC Hydroseeding. I would be happy to further discuss your query.

The Manage Sales Tax icon or widget in the Home page collects and shows customer-related taxes. This means that the amount and ability to pay sales tax through the Home page of QuickBooks Desktop can only be used to pay taxes that are collected from your customers.

To include the material + sales tax due will automatically add the mark up. Furthermore, there are also a separate set of steps on how you can add the overall costs for the materials and sales taxes you paid before adding your markup. Let me show you how:

Track sales tax on purchases as an expense (not to be paid later)

Create an Expense account.
From the Company menu, click Chart of Accounts.
In the Chart of Accounts, right click anywhere and click New.
Select Choose Account Type, click Expense, select Continue.
Enter the Account Name and other details then click Save & Close.
When creating an expense transaction in which you will be tracking sales tax, enter the expense as usual but go to the Expenses tab instead and select the expense account created in step 1.
On this line, enter the amount of sales tax in the Amount column (this will need to be calculated manually).
Ensure that any detail in this transaction adds up to the correct total after clicking Recalculate.

Track sales tax on purchase as a liability (to be paid later)

Create an Other Current Liability account.
a. From the Company menu, click Chart of Accounts.
b. In the Chart of Accounts window, right click anywhere and click New.
c. In the Choose Account Type window, click the Other Account Types drop-down then select Other Current Liability.
d. Click Continue.
e. Enter the Account Name and other details then click Save & Close.
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 liability account created in step 1.
On this line, enter the amount of sales tax in the Amount column (this will need to be calculated manually).
Ensure that any detail in this transaction adds up to the correct total after clicking Recalculate.
When it is time to pay this sales tax, you can see the liability that has been accrued by looking at the Chart of Accounts.
This amount can be paid with a regular check.

Lastly, I'll be adding below these valuable articles that have further details in managing sales tax in QuickBooks Desktop.

Please visit the forum if you need any assistance, whether you have follow-up questions about managing sales tax. We're here to help you enhance your experience with QuickBooks.

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How to "Manage Sales Tax" due on purchases from vendors

How to "Manage Sales Tax" due on purchases from vendors

Track sales tax on purchases as an expense (not to be paid later)

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