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MariaSoledadG
QuickBooks Team

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

Hi there, thartman808.

 

May I know what specific issue do you have with your sales tax? This is to make sure that we'll be able to address your concern. Anyway, if you have any other questions other than sales tax, please let us know so we'll be able to assist you as soon as possible.

hgacctng
Level 2

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

The question that has been asked multiple times has still not been addressed by the QuickBooks team/moderator.  Let me try to simplify it...

 

As has been addressed in multiple QuickBook team responses is how to set up a county surtax.  Thank you for the directions.

 

However, the more complex issue has not been addressed.  In Florida, the surtax is only on the FIRST $5,000.00 - there is no surtax for any amount ABOVE $5,000.00.  For example, if the Florida county has a 1% surtax, and the invoice is for $6,000.00, the total surtax on the invoices would only be $50.00 ($5,000.00 cap x 1% surtax).  If the invoice is for $8,000.00, the total surtax would still only be $50.00.  Same goes if the invoice is for $100,000.00, the surtax would still be only $50.00 ($5,000.00 cap x 1% surtax).

 

If the QuickBooks team cannot address this, has anyone in the community that has dealt with the county surtax in Florida figured out a workaround yet?

 

Thanks!

SJ201
Level 2

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

This is a real problem and the QuickBooks Team is no help!

 

I set up new fictitious tax items for a specific sale with calculated percentage for the tax.

The tax percentage is calculated based on the total amount and the tax we have to collect for the sale.

It is not correct and it is time consuming, but it is the best solution I have come up with.

Fortunately, we have only a few customers in Florida, so we can do this.

 

ReymondO
QuickBooks Team

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

Thanks for adding a clarification, @hgacctng.

 

Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop don't have the option to add multiple taxes per line item on invoices. 

 

As a workaround, you can follow the suggestions that were shared by SJ201. Although, I'd highly suggest getting in touch with your accountant before doing these steps. This way, we can ensure that your records are accurate. 

 

I can see how this option would be helpful for you and your business. Therefore, let me take note of this as a suggestion to improve your QuickBooks experience.
 

Moreover, you can send feedback to developers so they can review your request. This will help them develop our product and might include this on our future updates. 

 

For QuickBooks Desktop, follow these steps:
 

  1. Click the Help menu and select Send Feedback Online.
  2. Choose Product Suggestion, then enter the details of your concern.
  3. Select Send Feedback and click Close Window.

 

For QuickBooks Online, click here to submit your suggestions: How do I submit feedback?

 

You can also track feature requests through the QuickBooks Online Feature Requests website.

 

In case you need related resources while working with QuickBooks, please feel free to skim through the topics from our help articles.
 

Fill me in if you have further questions, @hgacctng. I'll be around if you need any help.

kayakjohn
Level 1

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

Has this issue ben respolved yet fro QuickBooks desktop?

RoseJillB
QuickBooks Team

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

Thank you for joining the thread, kayak.

 

Currently, the option to add multiple taxes per line item on invoices is unavailable. I understand how this feature can be beneficial for your business. However, since our product engineers handle product changes internally, we are unable to disclose any updates at this time regarding their efforts. 

 

In this, I recommend you send your request directly to our product engineers. They will be informed of the qualities required by business owners in this way.

 

Here’s how:

 

  1. Click the Help menu located at the top.
  2. Choose to Send Feedback Online then click Product Suggestion.
  3. Type in your feedback or feature request.
  4. Click the Send Feedback button.

 

Feel free to comment if you have more concerns about the customer payments interface. I’m here to assist you further. Stay safe!

hgacctng
Level 2

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

This is crazy that this has never been addressed by QuickBooks.  This has to be an issue with all of the QuickBooks users in Florida that occasionally have invoices over $5,000 - I assume that is not a very small number of your QuickBooks users.  Yet, you are unable to resolve this for your Florida accounts - is that because you are unable or unwilling to help us?  Or, that you realize how big of an issues it is..?

 

Yes, I see your response about contacting your product engineers for a product suggestion, which I will do.  But I'm not putting a lot of faith in this option as this has been an issue with Florida QuickBooks users for YEARS and hasn't been resolved yet.  Even this thread was started in 2019, over four years ago...  SMH...

 

Thank you.

salestaxguru
Level 1

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

QBO applies the surtax at the invoice level, the cap is there.  Just map your items to a tax category to tell automated sales tax that is a product (Tangible personal property) and you will see the surtax apply when the invoice amount exceeds $5000.   Open the tax draw and go to the bottom, under products and services > expand the carrot thing that looks like this > and you will see the break down of taxes being applied, along with the cap.  Note that cap doesn't apply to services, that's why you need to tell QBO you are selling a product. 

SJ201
Level 2

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

We have pointed out several times that the problem is with QBDT and QB Enterprise NOT QBOnline.

Even the QB team members have no solution for us at this point.

LB162
Level 1

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

I am using QBDT, I have short term rentals and not only do I have the same problems with the county taxes, but I also cannot get an invoice to print out properly! For example, lets say the rental is $6000.00 which is 7% (includes Broward County surtax) which should only be up to $5,000. I also have to add an additional 6% tax item for Broward County Tourist Development Tax. I need these printed separately on the invoice. I did the whole subtotal thing (and made sure the bottom tax line item was 0.0%), after the subtotal I added the BCTDT, which calculated correctly.  Further down on the invoice I added a security deposit, which is non taxable and have it in my items as non taxable. When printed, it shows the taxable line items, the subtotal, the BCTDT amount, then the security deposit a few lines down and then the FL sales tax after. It makes it appear like I am charging sales tax on the security deposit! It also won't calculate the cap of the $5,000 on the county surtax of 1%. I have been through all the instructions, information I could find and cannot figure out how to change it! 

AmberU
Level 1

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

Can you be more specific about this? Where do i actually set up a product that is a tangible personal property item in QBO?  I am a certified proadvisor and even I cant find this. Go to products/Services, choose Non-Inventory? Then what? 

Centurionholdings360
Level 2

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

I SOLVED THIS

 

I'm using QB Desktop but was just able to solve this and confirmed it is working by viewing the transaction journal.

 

Go to Lists

Look for tax and search.

Click Item (New) or CTRL+N

Select this item as a Sales Tax Item

Name Surtax Cap

An example of my description "Florida discretionary sales tax surcharge cap for invoices over $5,000"

For rate leave 0%

And set the same state tax agency you pay you (in my case FL DOR)

 

Do not add this new item to your sales tax group rather use it as an item.

Also make sure you have the state 6% sales tax rate already created.

 

Create a new invoice

Set sales tax to 6%

Enter your items totaling over $5000

Add your new Surtax Cap item and tab over to the amount column and enter $50

At this point you'll get a warning but just press okay you can ignore that warning.

After saving your invoice you can view the Transaction Journal and confirm that the invoice posted correctly.

 

For my example I used a $7000 invoice to coincide with the FLDOR surtax example here: https://floridarevenue.com/Forms_library/current/gt800019.pdf

HMCarley
Level 2

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

This "solution" appears to work if you happen to have a simple invoice and time to manually calculate and post the discretionary sales tax.

 

My company does business around the state and through most Florida counties.  My staff does not have the time and should not be made to manually calculate the sales tax on each invoice.  That is why we pay for software like this.

 

This "solution" is not a viable work around for me and I presume almost anyone else who reads it.

 

And based on previous comments, Florida is not the only state that has similar discretionary takes laws.  The fact that after 5 years of this thread and continued posts, questions, Reponses, etc. to the same issue that no one with Intuit can provide a solution is just infuriating.  Small businesses around this county rely on Intuit QuickBooks to make sure these items are taken care of smoothly and without issue.  Clearly Intuit cares very little for it's users and how somethings "as small as this" impacts their businesses in a BIG way.

 

So, once again, I ask does Intuit QuickBooks have a viable solution for ALL QuickBooks users (desktop and online)????

JoesemM
Moderator

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

Hello there, HMCarley.

 

I can see how this option would be helpful for you and your business. Therefore, let me take note of this as a suggestion to improve your QuickBooks experience. In the meantime, the workaround provided in the thread can help you with discretionary sales tax by county in Florida.

 

Also, I'd recommend sending feedback directly to our product developer team. Your feedback is valuable in shaping the direction of QuickBooks and adding features that best meet the needs of our users.

 

To send feedback using QuickBooks Desktop, follow the steps below:

 

  1. Click the Help menu and select Send Feedback Online.
  2. Choose Product Suggestion, then enter the details of your concern.
  3. Select Send Feedback and click Close Window.

 

For QuickBooks Online, click here to submit your suggestions: How do I submit feedback? You may open this article to track feature requests through the QuickBooks Online Feature Requests website.

 

I'll also share these resources that will guide you in managing your sales taxes in QuickBooks Desktop and Online:

 

 

I'm always here to back you up if you have further concerns about adding taxes in QuickBooks. Feel free to hit the Reply button.

Centurionholdings360
Level 2

Are you able to set up discretionary sales tax by county in Florida? This tax is only on the first $5000 of the item and is in addition to the 6% state sales tax

Quickbooks isn't going to fix this, they haven't for years. I posted the workaround that works and you can customize it for any state discretionary tax issue. 

 

The reason you're using Quickbooks and not a system like NetSuite or a bigger more robust ERP is most likely cost and ease of use, ie QB is thousands of dollars cheaper.  You have to understand that this lighter version of software has it's limitations.

 

Look at what I posted, it works and you can whitebox it and try it for yourself on a few invoices.

 

It's pretty simple to see how invoices over a certain $ threshold should be treated differently.

 

I SOLVED THIS

 

I'm using QB Desktop but was just able to solve this and confirmed it is working by viewing the transaction journal.

 

Go to Lists

Look for tax and search.

Click Item (New) or CTRL+N

Select this item as a Sales Tax Item

Name Surtax Cap

An example of my description "Florida discretionary sales tax surcharge cap for invoices over $5,000"

For rate leave 0%

And set the same state tax agency you pay you (in my case FL DOR)

 

Do not add this new item to your sales tax group rather use it as an item.

Also make sure you have the state 6% sales tax rate already created.

 

Create a new invoice

Set sales tax to 6%

Enter your items totaling over $5000

Add your new Surtax Cap item and tab over to the amount column and enter $50

At this point you'll get a warning but just press okay you can ignore that warning.

After saving your invoice you can view the Transaction Journal and confirm that the invoice posted correctly.

 

For my example I used a $7000 invoice to coincide with the FLDOR surtax example here: https://floridarevenue.com/Forms_library/current/gt800019.pdf

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