Identifying your most common tax rate

If you use one tax or tax group more often than any other, you can automatically apply that tax when you enter a sale.

If you set up a tax item when you created your company file, QuickBooks uses it as your most common tax. To use a different tax item or group as your most common tax, follow the procedure below.

To identify your most common tax rate:

  1. Choose QuickBooks > Preferences and click Sales Tax.
  2. Select the “Customers are charged sales tax” checkbox.
  3. Choose whether you pay sales tax monthly, quarterly, or annually. This choice sets up the period of time covered by your sale tax reports.
  4. Choose when you owe tax to this tax agency:
    As of invoice date You are liable for tax from the moment you write an invoice or make a sale (accrual basis).
    Upon receipt of payment You are liable for tax only when you receive cash from a customer (cash basis).

    Your choice determines the amount you owe in the Pay Sales Tax window, and determines the amounts displayed in the sales tax liability report.

  5. From the “Most common sales tax” list, choose the tax item or group you use most often.