Clearing GST Paid

Hi, I am new to Reckon and I am using Reckon Account Premier. I am trying to work out how to clear the GST payable account

I have paid the ATO the GST owed. In Reckon when there is a BAS payment to the ATO it is entered in Supplier >> Tax Activity >> Pay Tax. The payment will put a credit in the GST Tax payable account. How do I get the expense (debit) side of the transaction in so the payment matches it off?

I only have one GST payable account which is a current liability account.

The GST on sales and GST reclaimed on purchases appear on the Tax Liability report but I can’t journal them to the GST payable account as they are not General Ledger accounts., they just show what GST is payable. How do I transfer that amount to the GST payable account so they offset the payment?

Comments

Kris_Williams

Many people will disagree with me but I don’t use the Pay Tax Liability feature, for 20 years I have entered a bill to tax payable account, dated 30th of the quarter, this way I can reconcile the balance in the tax payable account with the o/s invoices and bills. Has worked very well for me and I always know that what is left is correct, unless you re on accrual basis, this makes it easier as the balance should be nil after this bill

i also use the tax summary report instead of the tax liability report

Acctd4

@PatrickO The liability is already sitting in the GST account.

When you enter a "Write Cheque" (which is the recommended method if it is for GST &/or Company Income Tax Instalments (PAYGI) component(s) only - If it includes PAYGW from employee Wages, it should be via a "Liability Cheque"), this credits the applicable liability, therefore reducing it accordingly:

(This is just a quick example I created in the Sample File - Obviously ignore the Adj transaction. Also bear in mind, the balance will rarely be $ 0.00 as it's a running/cumulative balance - This was just to show the payment "reducing" the liability)

I'm personally not a fan of using a Bill as the payable amount (eg "bill") already exists in the liability account & entering an additional transaction for it can cause problems on accrual &/or if not reconciled correctly.

Note: The "Pay Tax" feature is just a shortcut alternative way to create the "Write Chq" as it prefills it for you.

Acctd4

(@Rav Note oversized image issue still 🙄 I also had trouble adding more text after it - It all overlaps & came up with a message that the " ... character length is too short" ?!?!?!? 😣)

Kris_Williams

The only reason I like the bill is so the tax payable account shows the correct balance at the end of the quarter which can be reconciled with o/s invoices less o/s bills (ones with GST) and then divided by 11

Acctd4

(@Rav Note oversized image issue still 🙄)

Acctd4

@Kris_Williams Bit confusing .... also it messes up the liability on the Balance Sheet as it incorrectly records the Bill as being the actual payment of the liability 😬 :

Kris_Williams

The debt is reflected in accounts payable and is shown in the correct quarter/year. This has always worked very well for me since the start of GST, but everyone has their own processes

Acctd4

Yeah, I can see the appeal there .... as long as the tax agent knows to check the A/P & add the ATO Bill amount to the GST liability balance.

Kris_Williams

I always list the details of the Accounts payable on the summary report, and in the case of any tax bills I itemise them so they can see exactly what is owing to ATO

Bruce

I'm with Shaz

I use Write Cheque (starting from the Pay Liabilities icon) as I invariably have to pay PAYG W at the same time as I forward GST to the ATO).

One other comment, as part of each BAS run, I reconcile the Tax Payable (GST) account and then do a journal (Dr/Cr Tax Payable Cr/Dr Misc Expenses) to recognise that the GST accrues in cents but payments to the ATO are always whole dollar amounts. (Having properly reconciled the Tax Payable account the first time, the journaled amount is always <$1)

Kris_Williams

Yes I too have to add PAYG to the bill and at this stage that account is also balanced to zero.

As I have always said there are many correct ways to do things in Quickbooks, accountants I have dealt with have always been happy with my systems, as I’m sure they are with other different ones. I am extremely pedantic and have my systems in place to prove everything is correct

Acctd4

@Kris_Williams Do you adjust out the Payroll Items? The PAYG account may be reconciled to zero but the Payroll Items would have just continued increasing. The payroll liability reports rely solely on these accruing & subsequently being cleared (eg paid via a Payroll Liability Cheque)

If there's no payroll involved, then he bill entry works but if you don't adjust out the Payroll Liability Items then any payroll liability reports will be incorrect.

Kris_Williams

Everything is balanced. I don’t use the pay liability feature, I simply enter a bill to tax payable and PAYG tax on the same bill. PAYG tax then equals zero and tax payable is either zero for accrual basis or 1/11th of o/s invoices less o/s bills for cash basis. I am always very pedantic with the balance sheet items and can guarantee their accuracy.

Acctd4

My point is just relating to the Payroll Items, not the accounts - If you’re using payroll & not using the “Pay Payroll Liabilities” function to clear them out, you should adjust them out so that your Payroll Liability reports work.

If you go into that section (Employees > Payroll Taxes & Liabilities > Create Custom Liability Payments) & select/put in any date range, you'll see what I'm referring to 😀

Kris_Williams

Ok I will do that when I get home, thanks

Kris_Williams

yes Shaz I can see that report but they are the same figures in the payroll reports that I use and enter my bill for. And yes there is a figure sitting in the pay Liabilities window but it’s not reflected anywhere in the ledger as being outstanding.

Acctd4

No, it doesn't affect the financials but your Payroll Liability Balances report will show all are still outstanding because this report is driven by the Payroll Items & reflects liability accumulation v payment (specifically via the "Create Custom Liabilities" feature)

Kris_Williams

Fortunately I don’t use that report and no one else uses the file. Thanks for pointing it out though. I won’t suggest to other people not to use it though