QuickBooks 2005: The Missing Manual

Paying Sales Tax

Sales tax can be a complicated business, particularly in states where the number of tax authorities has metastasized. You might have to pay sales taxes to several agencies, each with its own rules about when and how much. QuickBooks sales tax features can't remove this drudgery, but they can help you pay the right tax authorities the right amounts at the right time—something to be thankful for.

After governmental paperwork, the chief aggravation with sales tax is that setup spans several areas of QuickBooks. If you're new to collecting sales tax for your products, make sure you've completed the following tasks so you're collecting and tracking sales taxes properly. Only then can you pay the sales taxes you owe to government agencies:

• Sales tax preferences. If you are liable for sales tax, be sure to turn on the sales tax feature in QuickBooks. Choose Edit→Preferences, and, in the Edit Preferences dialog box icon bar, click Sales Tax. On the Company Preferences tab, in the Do You Charge Sales Tax? Section, choose Yes.

  UP TO SPEED: Sales Tax and the Out-of-State Customer

  When you sell to out-of-state customers, some states let you place the onus of remitting sales tax on the customer. In theory, the customer informs the state of their purchase and sends in the sales tax that's due. In practice, that may not happen.

  What's important is that your company isn't responsible for filling out sales tax forms or mailing remittance payments. You can track these sales by setting ...