How do I apply sales tax to a sales form in QuickBooks Online?

In QuickBooks Online, sales tax is applied on the sales form itself. You mark each taxable line, then confirm the rate in the tax dropdown at the bottom of the form.

The same steps cover an invoice, sales receipt, estimate, or credit memo. They assume your rates are already set up in the Sales Tax Center, though you can add a missing rate without leaving the form.

Apply tax on a sales form

1. Open the sales form you want to work on.
2. In the Product/Service column, select the item you are selling.
3. In the Tax column, select the checkbox on each line that should be taxed.
4. In the tax dropdown at the bottom of the form, confirm the correct rate is selected. Depending on your view, the dropdown may sit beside the Tax column instead.
5. Select Save and close, Save and send, or Print.

The checkbox controls which lines tax; the dropdown controls the rate they tax at. Check both before saving, because a checked line with the wrong rate will calculate at the wrong percentage.

Add a rate on the fly

If the rate you need is not in the dropdown, choose Add new from that same dropdown to create it. The new rate then appears in the dropdown on your other sales forms and in the Sales Tax Center with the rest of your rates.

Rate setup lives in the Sales Tax Center, not on the form. Creating one mid-form is a shortcut to the same place, so there is nothing to clean up afterward.

Is an unbilled charge taxable?

Charges can sit in a customer’s unbilled activity for a while before they reach an invoice. You can confirm whether a charge is taxable before you bill it.

1. Go to the Sales menu and select Customers.
2. Select the customer’s name to open their profile.
3. Open the Unbilled activity or Transactions tab and find the Tax column.
4. A checkmark in that column means the charge is currently marked taxable.
5. To change it, open the charge, select or clear the Taxable checkbox, and save.

If a line will not tax

When a line refuses to tax, or taxes at the wrong amount, one of a few causes is usually behind it. Check these in order:

• The product or service on the line. Its own taxable setting decides whether the Tax box starts out checked.
• The customer record. A customer marked as non-taxable changes how their lines behave on a form.
• The rate dropdown. A checked line taxes at whatever rate is selected there, including a custom rate chosen by mistake.
• The date on the form. Some rates carry a start date, and a form dated before it will not use that rate.

If your tax screens look different

The Sales Tax Center differs from country to country, because Intuit uses a different tax setup for each region. If what you see does not match the steps above, your edition is likely showing your country’s version.

The ideas still hold either way: mark the line, confirm the rate, save the form. Rates and agencies are managed in the Sales Tax Center, and applying them happens on the form itself.