How to import Sales Tax on transactions into QuickBooks Online

Overview

Using the Zed Axis import utility you can import transactions into QuickBooks Online with Sales Tax on them. This article specifically relates to US editions of QuickBooks Online for guidelines for importing Value Added Tax VAT (UK) or Goods and Services Tax GST (Canada, Australia) please refer to this article.  Before starting to import sales tax on transactions check the following in the company preferences:
  • The company file you are importing into has Sales Tax switched on,
  • Check to see if the company is using the Automated Sales Tax feature (the sales tax code is determine automatically by QuickBooks based on the destination address and shipping address provided on the sales transaction)
Depending on what settings are using then you can see which fields you need to map

Two ways to import Sales Tax

 
 

Method 1 - Using Sales Tax but not Automated Sales Tax (override)

Note November 2022: Due to recent changes introduced by Intuit for the Automated Sales Tax feature the Tax Total is not calculated automatically anymore - TxnTaxTotalTax field has been added to the Zed Axis 2023 release (V17) release so when using this method you can import a Tax total amount.
Provide relevant Line Sales Item Tax Code (ie NON or TAX), Txn Tax Code Name (ie Tucsonand Txn Tax Total Tax (the tax total for the transaction) 
  • At the line level - LineSalesItemTaxCodeRef - this is either TAX or NON and determines if the line item is taxable or not
  • At the footer level - TxnTaxCodeName - Name of the State, County or City Tax and rate to be applied to the transaction. (eg Sales Tax, Tucson, etc...)
  • At the footer level - TxnTaxTotalTax the total tax amount for the transaction.
Once these tax codes have been set and recognized then when imported QuickBooks Online will calculate the necessary Tax amounts and add those to the transaction.

Method 2 - Using Sales Tax and Automated Sales Tax

Provide the relevant Line Sales Item Tax Code (ie NON or TAX) and a Shipping Address and QuickBooks will automatically determines the Tax Code to be used and calculates the Tax Amount.
  • At the line level - LineSalesItemTaxCodeRef - this is either TAX or NON and determines if the line item is taxable or not
  • At the header level - Set the Shipping Address for the sales transactions (QuickBooks Online will determine from the Shipping Address and the Destination address the relevant Tax Code Name to use)
Using this method it is not possible to override the QuicKBooks Automated Sales Tax by mapping the TxnTaxCode as QuickBooks will ignore it and apply its automated sales tax code feature

Notes:
The source address is the company’s legal address as available in the company settings. The destination address is the shipping address provided on the sales transaction.