paying sales tax

Please ensure the discount you entered is less than the total tax due, as this could trigger that error message. You can pull up a Sales Tax Liability report to check the exact balance owed to the agency before processing a payment.

Once you've verified the balance and confirmed the appropriate adjustment, re-enter the sales tax payment, including the discount, into the program.

If you need further assistance, please leave a comment below.

It is a positive amt.  I click the type of tax i'm paying then click where my discount is and when I change the amt I'm subtracting to be a -$$.  When i hit tab to make it subtract from tax amt it pops that message up.  Same thing I've been doing for years

The pop-up appears when a negative amount is entered in the Amt Paid column, even if the total payment is still positive.

When the discount is entered as -$$, QuickBooks reads it as a negative payment. The Amt Paid field needs to stay positive, as a negative value will cause an error. You can still apply your adjustment, but the Amt Paid line needs to be positive for the form to process correctly

If you have follow-up questions, please don't hesitate to click the Reply button.

I've attached a screenshot of what I was trying to do and the error popup.  I've been doing it this way every mth for the last 20 yrs.  The deduction has to have a - so it will subtract from the larger amt.

As seen in your screenshot, there is a negative amount in the AMT. PAID column of the Pay Sales Tax window, which is why the error pops up. To resolve this, if the discount is 33.48, simply process a sales tax adjustment to ensure your tax calculations remain accurate.

While in the Pay Sales Tax tab, click Adjust, then select the Reduce Sales Tax By option. Enter the discount amount, complete the remaining required fields, and hit OK to apply the adjustment. Once everything is set, you'll see the AMT. DUE update to reflect the correct discounted amount.

You can then input the exact amount you paid to your tax agency in the AMT. PAID field without adding a negative amount for the discount.

If you have further questions or need additional assistance, feel free to reach out.

When you enter the adjustment in the proper window and hit enter and it goes back to the pymt screen, you have to change the tax line you're paying to the proper amt AND click the line where the adjustment is.  If you don't put a - in front of the amt you're subtracting from it will add them together.  You have to click 2 lines.  1 for the original amt and 1 for the deduction.