How to pay Minnesota sales tax and record it in QuickBooks Desktop

  1. Set up sales tax in QuickBooks Desktop
  2. Make sales and collect sales tax
  3. Run report Reports > Vendors & Payables > Sales Tax Liability
    1. This will give you the numbers for your sales tax liability
  4. Log into MN e-Services
    1. File the appropriate quarter
    2. Enter the information from your sales tax liability report
    3. Pay sales and use tax
    4. Print transaction for your tax records
  5. In QuickBooks navigate to Vendors > Sales Tax > Pay Sales Tax
    1. If you have paid your previous sales tax appropriately you should only have the last quarter’s tax numbers listed
    2. Confirm the check date is the date you paid the taxes
    3. Confirm you have the last quarter date selected
    4. Adjust the tax amount as needed Note: Minnesota rounds the amount to whole dollars. This will mean that you will have to adjust the tax paid up or down.
      1. Click Adjust
      2. Confirm that the Adjustment Date is the date you paid the taxes
      3. Select your Sales Tax Vendor
      4. Select your Adjustment Account
        Note: If you round down you will recieve a credit. That credit needs to go somewhere in QuickBooks so you will have to set up an Income account to track it. The same is true if you have to round up. Except for this you will need an Expense account. Reference
      5. Select the type of adjustment. Increase Sales Tax By for rounding up (or if you have to pay a late fee) or Reduce Sales Tax By for rounding down.
      6. Enter the Amount of the increase or reduction
      7. In the memo I find it helpful to enter the reason for the adjustment (e.g. Sales Tax Adjustment – Round up)
      8. Click OK
    5. Select each of the line items you would like to pay including any adjustments
    6. Click OK
  6. That is it you have paid for your taxes and tracked them in QuickBooks

Just a note… I am not an authority figure on QuickBooks. This is just what has worked for me.

Troubleshooting

I had a mess when I paid the taxes in QuickBooks with a check instead of the Pay Taxes feature. I had to make some adjustments. See the Sales Tax Payable is incorrect after using the Write Cheques window to pay sales tax heading on the How to resolve common sales tax issues QuickBooks page.