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GST - Minor miscalculation errors

Col Jackson

I create invoices during a month that may have quite a few line items depending on interaction with the clients. On a regular basis after the invoices have been printed I notice there will be some minor, but annoying, GST calculation errors showing on the invoices. These are only minor eg GST should be $105.10 but Accounts calculates it at $105.03 or $105.19. Not every invoice is affected it may be 4 out of a batch of 50. Interested if anyone else has experienced this problem or has any ideas what I should be checking?

Comments

John G

Hi Col,

Rounding effects may result in some line items not showing GST at exactly 10% and for the Total Tax of the invoice not to be exactly 10% of the Total Net of the invoice.

A full explanation and steps you can take to make adjustments you feel may be necessary are outlined at: http://kb.reckon.com.au//issue_view.asp?ID=3628.

Regards,
John

Sharon_7681555

John, I have looked at the link above, which corrects the tax but also changes the net amount. Is there a way to only change the GST?
Regards
Sharon

Graham Boast

Hi Sharon There is no need to correct anything to comply with GST, as the regulations allow calculation of the GST liability on either a line by line basis (how reckon works), or by dividing the total of the taxable items by 11 Using the example above, this means that your invoice can have $105.03 even if an 1/11th of the total is $105.10. Moreover, the person paying the bill can enter their bill as a single amount and claim $105.10 as an 1/11 of the taxable amount. Even more miracously, the full resources of the ATO won't swing into action and release the hounds looking for their 7 cents. Here is a media release from the ATO commissioner from the time, Michael Carmody. http://knowledgebase.iinsight.biz/index.php?View=afile&CategoryID=90&EntryID=1 This quote in particular, seems apt: "These acceptable approaches may result in differences in liability amounts but the benefits of flexibility far outweigh any marginal differences," Mr Carmody said. Graham Boast 0409317366 Reckon Accredited Consultant graham@reckonhelp.com.au

Sharon_7681555

Thanks Graham, I understand your reply, however I think I need to explain my circumstance.

My issue is compliance-related - but not with the govt (actually I'm in NZ). My weekly invoice needs to comply with the records of the contractor to whom my husband sub-contracts. We have differing accounting systems, whereby Reckon calculates GST line by line, and the contractor's system calculates GST on the Net Total at end of week. They will only pay out on their calculations (!), so I'd like to know whether I can make a GST-only adjustment to align with their figures.

Thanks
Sharon

Graham Boast

Ok, give me some real figures; what is the Net, gst and gross amount your invoice is for, and what is the net GST and gross that the company is paying? Is the company paying the right amount, and you just want to balance the GST, or is the company asking you to produce an invoice to their specifications? Graham

ARC BookKeeping

Sharon

option1:
in the set up of the template... try removing the GST column so that it is doing GST at the bottom of the invoice...

option 2:
'Edit' dropdown list. / 'Preferences' / 'Company Preferences' / 'Tax'

Do you want to edit Tax amounts click 'yes'

of course this has to be closely monitored and only used against supplier bills that have different GST amounts to what Reckon/Quickbooks calculates.

(I am From NZ and have been known to use this feature occasionly.)

Feel free to contact me if you would like some more help with this..

Cheers
Angie Carlyle
ABCarlyle@xtra.co.nz

Sharon_7681555

Angie - Option 1 didn't make a difference (actually I had changed it to display the GST in case I could manually alter the figures, but couldn't). Options 2 shows Edit Tax amount preference already on 'Yes'. Thanks anyway.

Graham - My invoice: Net=1459.53, GST(15%)=219.00, Gross=1678.53. Company: Net=1459.53, GST=218.93, Gross=1678.46. Both of us are right due to different methods of calculation. The company has not asked me to produce an invoice to their specs, but will be paying according to their calculations, which leaves me to balance my end. I could just do an adjustment, but that decreases the Net, so I wondered if there's an easy way around it. Not to worry if it's too difficult.

ARC BookKeeping

Sorry my misunderstanding, you can not adjust the GST amount on invoices created in Reckon.

So my next thought was credit notes but I dont think that will work very well either.

So the next step would be 'Make a Journal Entry' (under 'Company' drop down list)

In the 'account' column choose 'accounts receivable' and 'credit' column enter the difference between your GST amount and your customer/contractor. In the name column choose the contractor. All on the top line. (I would also write in the memo field why the journal was created)
next line : in 'account' column choose your GST account (in most cases there is only one but double check) and in the 'debit' column (this should enter automatically for you) enter the same amount as above. click 'save and close'.
I would date this the same as when payment is received.

When you go 'receive payments' from this customer there will be now a credit waiting to be applied to invoices. Personally I would credit the invoice it was pertaining to.

Reckon FAQs

Hi Everyone,

Another method is to manually adjust the tax amount of one of your items.

Go to Edit > Preferences > Tax > Company Preferences
Select Yes to: Do you want to edit Tax amounts?

Now on your bill, enter all your items Net + GST
Note the difference in the total of the bill between Reckon Accounts and your Supplier
Adjust the tax amount on one or more items to eliminate the difference.

Hope this is an acceptable method for you.

regards,
John

Sharon_7681555

John - This was advised by Angie a few posts ago, but doesn't work as the Tax Preferences are already on "Yes", and one can't manually change the GST on invoices.

Angie - the journal entry works! Thanks heaps!