Quickbooks2003-GST & Payroll Liability accounts need adjusting

[cazza]

Quickbooks 2003- What's the best way to to keep an accurate record in the tax payable & payroll tax liability accounts? I have a colossal amount owing to me in the tax payable account and a huge amount owing to ATO for PAYG due to the fact that the ATO pays back the GST claimed less PAYG owed.

[gibbo]

This is in the quite hard basket. QuickBooks fills out the cheque you use for paying the GST - but what it does is entirely wrong. The first question is - what are you actually paying? These may include GST, Staff PAYG withholding, your own Income Tax periodic payments, HEX repayments, etc. If these have been accrued as liabilities, you need to make multiple line entries for each type of payment you are making, linked to that Liability account. If you have not used the Liability account, it will normally be to an expense account - except for your own Income Tax installments, which can be several ways. If you are a Sole Trader or Partnership, this will be posted to an Equity account as a drawing. If you are a Company, this is normally wages, but can be drawn in other ways. So the cheque must contain all of the different things you are paying and linked to the appropriate accounts.
The fun starts when you have a mixture of refunds and payments. If the refund exceeds the payments and you are getting a refund, enter these onto a Deposit rather than a cheque.
I hope that makes sense. It requires that you go back to your cheques and alter them to the corrrect accounts.

[cazza]

Thank you Gibbo