setting the default sales tax rate for all customers in Quickbooks Online

Thanks for providing complete details and a snapshot of the steps you've followed, Carol.

The reason why the Edit sales tax settings and Related Tasks section are not visible on your end is that the Automated sales tax feature is already enabled and used in your sales transactions. No worries, I'm here to share a workaround so you can apply a uniform tax rate for your customers in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Please know that once the Automated sales tax is turned on, we can no longer switch it off. Thus, setting up Default sales tax for your customers is no longer possible. Alternatively, we can assign the same tax rate to your customer's profile or generate a new one and apply it to them manually.

If you want to create a custom-rated sales tax, kindly follow these steps:

1. Go to the Taxes menu.
2. Click the dropdown arrow beside the Add agency option, then Add custom rate.
3. Enter the necessary sales tax details in the designated fields.
4. Once done, hit Save.
    

    

However, if you want to use the tax rate that is already saved in your QuickBooks company, you can directly apply it to your customers manually.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Customers & leads tab, then Customers.
2. Double-click your customer's name from the list.
3. Select the Edit option and scroll down to the Taxes section.
4. Choose the tax rate you want to apply to your customers from the Select tax rate field.
5. Once done, hit Save.
   
6. Follow steps 2-5 to manually apply the same tax rates to the rest of your customers.

Furthermore, it's still best to seek guidance from a tax or accounting professional to ensure you've applied accurate sales tax rates for each customer and services you offer.

I'm also attaching this resource you can review to get insights on how the platform takes care of your sales tax calculations: Learn how QuickBooks Online calculates sales tax.

Additionally, you might want to explore QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping to streamline your accounting processes and ensure the preciseness of your financial records. In this manner, you can seamlessly focus on your business' growth.

Should you have follow-up concerns with your tax rates in QBO, tick the Reply button. Our team is committed to assisting you promptly.

@Ivan_G Thanks for the quick response, although it's not the response I was hoping for.

As a long-time user of QB, I have always found reporting sales tax to be very challenging. Long ago, I figured out a process with which I am confident in the accuracy of my sales tax reports & payments. With the recent "improvements" to the sales tax platform, I have had to start all over to establish a new process. I believe I've got it figured out, but my confidence level is not where I want it to be. In my opinion, the Automated Sales Tax has been a large part of the problem. I won't go into those details here, but it is SO FRUSTRATING to learn that it cannot be turned off once it has been used. If I had known the affect it would have, I would have turned it off right at the start.

The city I'm in just increased their sales tax rate. This is where we do 95% of our sales; we have HUNDREDS of customer profiles. To manually change the tax rate for each of them is going to be a very time-consuming process. I am EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED!!! I know I'm not the only one. I've spoken to several accountants who use QB & they agree that your sales tax platform makes reporting sales tax challenging.