cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
awilp
Level 2

How can I collect sales tax on an order from a previous month?

I am new to this company and new to QB. Before I started, we sold $45k to a customer but did not have them set up correctly in our system for sales tax, so sales tax was not charged or collected. The invoice was from August, so I cannot go in and modify the invoice now because the period is closed.

How do I charge the customer the $2,531.28 they owe in tax? Can I create a new invoice for tax only to collect now in October? 

Solved
Best answer October 10, 2024

Best Answers
BigRedConsulting
Community Champion

How can I collect sales tax on an order from a previous month?

To do this, create a new invoice that will essentially tax the customer for nothing (accounting-wise).

 

1. Create an item to use for this purpose as a sort of wash item. Probably an other charge item. Use either a sales account or misc account. (The net impact to the account will be 0.00.)

2. Use the item on a new invoice. Enter it twice, once as a positive, and once as a negative, where only the positive instance is taxable.

 

When complete, it should look like this:

Capture.JPG

 

 

View solution in original post

4 Comments 4
ZackE
Moderator

How can I collect sales tax on an order from a previous month?

Thanks for reaching out to the Community, awilp.

 

If you've forgot to charge sales tax on an invoice payment, and need to collect it, you'll initially want to confirm your sales tax settings are set up properly.

 

Here's how:
 

  1. In the top menu bar, go to Edit, then Preferences.
  2. Access your Sales tax screen, then its Company preferences tab.
  3. For the Do you charge sales tax? option, choose Yes.
  4. Click Add sales tax item.
  5. Pick Sales Tax Item from your available drop-down list and enter its details.
  6. Select OK, then OK.

 

After you've made sure everything's set up correctly, you can delete the original invoice payment. After it's been deleted, you can re-open your invoice and review the Tax column on your table. Selecting Tax on a line item will indicate that it's taxable, and the invoice amount will be re-calculated.

 

Once you've set everything up appropriately, you'll pay your invoice twice. Once from the customer's end, and another payment from yourself. I'd additionally recommend adding a memo about this change to your invoice.

 

I've also included a detailed resource about working with sales taxes which may come in handy moving forward: Review sales tax reports

 

If there's any additional questions, I'm just a post away. Have an awesome Thursday!

awilp
Level 2

How can I collect sales tax on an order from a previous month?

Hi Zack,

 

If I delete the payment and recalculate the invoice, won't it affect the financials of the prior period, since this original invoice was in August 2024?

BigRedConsulting
Community Champion

How can I collect sales tax on an order from a previous month?

To do this, create a new invoice that will essentially tax the customer for nothing (accounting-wise).

 

1. Create an item to use for this purpose as a sort of wash item. Probably an other charge item. Use either a sales account or misc account. (The net impact to the account will be 0.00.)

2. Use the item on a new invoice. Enter it twice, once as a positive, and once as a negative, where only the positive instance is taxable.

 

When complete, it should look like this:

Capture.JPG

 

 

JessT
Moderator

How can I collect sales tax on an order from a previous month?

Hi BigRedConsulting!

 

Thank you for your insightful response regarding collecting sales tax on previous orders. Your suggestion to create a wash item for the new invoice was incredibly practical and clearly demonstrated your expertise.

 

Your willingness to share your knowledge in the Intuit Community is greatly appreciated. It makes a real difference for those navigating QuickBooks!

Sign in for expert help
Ask questions, post replies & join our community of QuickBooks users.

Need to get in touch?

Contact us