In The Know (Feb 27th ITK FAQ) LINK
Q: Is the sales tax what came with Exactor acquisition?
A: Yes, the new automated sales tax experience in QBO is powered by the Exactor data base.
Q: can you have more than one taxing agency?
A: Yes, you can add as many agencies as you need by accessing the Sales Tax Settings in your tax center.
Q: Should we turn off Automated Sales Tax if client is using SQUARE? This knowledge based article for Square Sync says to turn it “ON”, but Tech Support said to turn it “OFF”. Confusing!
A: You can have your automated sales tax feature turned on, even if you are using Square.
Q: I use Sales Tax for my Destin, FL vacation beach condo business. All tourist tax is based on location of condo, not the address of the customer. How will the new Sales Tax features affect vacation rental sales tax QBO clients?
A: At this time, QBO does not support the specific rental tax in FL, but we are looking to include this is in a future release. In the meantime, you can override the sales tax on your transaction by clicking the blue sales tax link.
Q: How are you handling the jurisdictional tax components of various states?
A: Sales Tax will be calculated based on your location, your ship to location on the transaction and the items being sold. These components are taken into account with the sales tax laws for the location(s) to determine the correct tax to be applied.
Q: If we don’t have a sales tax customer yet, is there a way to get hands on look at this new sales tax experience? A demo? A practice client?
A: Any new QBO accounts have the automated sales tax feature enabled. Also, please see the prior
webinars as a full demo was shown in the past!
Q: When will you expand Sales Tax Reports? You have recently introduced new automated sales tax
feature but you can’t run sales reports filtered by zip code, city, and state. Clients are desperately looking for these reports for the last couple of years.
A: Non-taxable sales report is coming soon, with more report improvements beings explored for future releases!
Q: Can you use the Sales Tax function to track taxes due on “purchases” too?
A: Currently sales tax is only tracked on sales transactions in QBO
Q: Which sales tax engine are you using to keep sales tax rates up to date in the new sales tax tool? Is it an Avalara or Vertex system?
A: We are using the Exactor data base, as Intuit has recently acquired the Exactor Company.
Q: I live in Utah and have two retail stores. They happen to have the same tax rate however they are due to the same state, different counties, and different cities. I am unable to add the same Tax authority “Utah” twice. Any movement here? Thankfully I am still on the older version but the new version does not accommodate this workflow (for Utah as the tax agency at least).
A: You’ll only need to add the agency once, the tax is being generated from the Company Address in QBO. This feedback will be provided to the sales tax team to hopefully enhance this experience
Q: Will this allow for “use tax” in states where the client is tax exempt but has to submit use tax for purchases?
A: At this time, QBO only supports Sales taxes, but Use Taxes are being explored for a future release
Q: Is this retroactively applied?
A: No, this will only affect transactions created AFTER the automated sales tax feature is turned on (unless you go back and edit an older transaction yourself)
Q: Can you manually add sales tax information for a client who uses a different system to account for sales?
A: No manual sales tax rates are available in the automated sales tax feature
Q: What if you’re selling from multiple company locations? How do you differentiate between them for sales taxes?
A: At this time, the company address would need to be updated to account for the change location. However this feedback will be provided to the sales tax team to hopefully enhance this experience
Q: We use Shopify and download the sales receipts into QBO. Shopify handles all the sales tax
calculations…do I need to use the new QBO sales tax center?
A: All customers will eventually be migrated to the automated sales tax. You’ll need to have your sales tax set up, but no additional work will be required on your transactions that are imported from Shopify
Q: Does the Sales Tax (due date) reminder show up in WORK as per the last presentation?
A: Sales tax reminders will be sent via email at this time
Q: Is the Sales Tax calculated on the Cash or Accrual basis?
A: Currently, only Accrual basis is supported with the automated sales tax feature. No companies who have been set to Cash basis will be enrolled in this feature until cash basis support is available.
Q: Will there be a way to clear off the old data? It never matched the chart of accounts before and was always off.
A: Automated sales tax calculation will not be retroactive. You can record tax payments and/or journal entries to balance this.
Q: Can you have multiple shipping addresses for the same customer in order to calculate sales tax?
A: You can change the shipping address on a transaction basis.
Q: Can you turn it off at a later time after opting in? Like a try before you buy system
A: Once this is turned on, there is no way to disable.
Q: What if the client has multiple locations with different tax rates?
A: If you’re shipping to different locations you can simply update the shipping address on the location. If this is multiple Ship From locations, at this time the only workaround is to change the company address in QBO. I will be providing this feedback to the sales tax team.
Q: Is there a way to track use tax?
A: Not at this time.
Q: I see customer is tax exempt under customer info. Is this a selection that needs to be made on each invoice or can a default be set on the customer?
A: The customer can be marked exempt under their set up page.
Q: Will QBO be able to tax different rates for different products? Example – lodging sales are 10% but product is only 8% for one of my clients. The extra 2% for lodging is imposed by the county my client is in.
A: This is tracked by the sales tax categories listed on the product/service. If you do not see the specific category you’re looking for, please provide feedback. The team is looking to expand this list as needed.
Q: I want to opt out of the new sales tax, how do I do that?
A: Please contact our support team, they can gather additional information to be sent to the sales tax research department for review/updates.
Q: Based on company address setup, can you flag if the sales tax filing should be based on cash or accrual basis method?
A: Currently, only Accrual basis is supported with the automated sales tax feature. No companies who have been set to Cash basis will be enrolled in this feature until cash basis support is available.
Q: Illinois offers a discount on the sales tax due if I pay it before a certain date. How do I record that discount when I pay my sales tax due to the state?
A: QBO will automatically apply these discounts when you submit your return. You can also add an
adjustment on the View Return page.
Q: Is the tax exempt customer specific? Could you do it by job rather than by customer?
A: You can mark the customer exempt, or mark items non-taxable, on a transactional basis
Q: I’m sorry if I missed this answer already, but is this being rolled out? I have a current client I just checked and it is still the standard Sales Tax Center
A: This is being rolled out only to existing customers who are currently using accrual basis and have one sales tax agency set up, in phases. Customers outside of these qualifications will be migrated soon.
Q: for sales tax calculation purpose, what about for companies located in one state but have the
warehouse is in another state. Will QBO have any new function for that?
A: Currently, you would have to change the company address to account for different “ship from”
address.
Q: Will we get notified if a jurisdiction has a rate change? Also is there a way to exempt nonprofits and other companies on a B2B transactions.
A: You can make your customers exempt by editing the tax info section of their profile. Rates will be updated automatically for you based on the information QBO receives from the tax agencies.
Q: How do we turn off sales tax if we do not charge sales tax?
A: Automated sales tax can be turned off if there are no transactiions with sales tax calculated on them in the account. Click Sales tax settings in the sales tax center to do so.
Q: Sales Taxes – since many use 3rd Party apps with the QBO invoices, we need the ability to have an over collected box due to having to pay the State those over collected amounts. We also need a Prepaid
A: Sales Tax box for those clients who don’t resale all their materials, but charge the customer the straight receipt. Thanks for the feedback, you can add an adjustment on the View Return page if needed.
Q: Regarding sales tax, is this linked up to an Avalara or something?
A: Exactor
Q: Will that support auto taxes with different layers but 1 agency?
A: Yes, local, city, county taxes will be applied based on the location(s) on the transaction
Q: How does this work with third party apps?
A: Transactions with sales tax imported from a third party app will not be changed, unless you make an edit to the transaction
Q: How do you get the prompt to set up tax agency?
A: Adding additional agencies can be done by clicking the Sales tax settings within the tax center
Q: Is this competing with Avalara as the go-to sales tax option?
A: You are still welcome to use the Avalara app for sales tax, this is just built into the QBO product for you.
Q: Will there be anything to handle use tax? When a vendor does not charge sales tax, can purchases be marked use taxable so we can self-assess?
A: At this time, use tax is not supported. This is being considered for a future release
Q: Is Washington State going to be one of the last states to have the new tax center?
A: The rollout is not done based on state, but by how many tax agencies are currently set up in the existing account.
Q: What about Franchise Tax?
A: Not supported at this time
Q: B & O Taxes, how do I track these taxes that I don’t bill to customers?
A: Currently only sales tax is supported
Q: is this available sales tax feature for QB desktop?
A: QB Online only at this time
Q: What about special sales taxes such as lumber tax?
A: Sales tax categories on the products/services list will help account for special taxes on products. If you do not see the category you are looking for, please provide feedback as the team is looking to expand the available list.
Q: What about drop shipments?
A: Use tax is not currently supported
Q: How do I find the option to now have sales tax automated in QBO?
A: This will be a phased rollout. You’ll see the option to move in your sales tax center once available for your specific account.
Q: I’m using Avalara for a client, will QBO be able to do the same?
A: Yes, QBO will calculate your taxes on your transactions. You are still welcome to use the Avalara app if you prefer, but our option will be built into your QBO account.
Q: When sales tax rates change, there doesn’t seem to be a great way to track the effective date of the new rates etc. Will this new system handle that better?
A: Yes, QBO will know the effective date of rate changes and will assign the proper rate(s) based on the transaction date.