Set up your sales taxes (GST, HST, PST, QST)
Add the taxes you charge, combine two taxes into one choice, pick a default, and choose the tax on each invoice or bill line.
Every new workspace starts with GST at 5%, marked as the default and recoverable. If you are in a province with HST, or you also charge a provincial tax, set that up here before you send your first invoice.
The quick way: from your province
- In the menu on the left, choose Settings, then the Books & Tax tab.
- In the Sales Tax card, open Set Up from a Province and choose your province. Each choice shows the taxes it adds, for example British Columbia: GST 5% + PST 7%.
- A message asks you to confirm. Choose OK.
- The taxes are added to the list. In a province with two taxes, a combined tax is added too, for example GST + PST at 12%, so a line can carry both. A message says how many were added, or that they were already set up.
- Check the Default column. If the default is not the tax you charge most, choose Make Default on the right row. In British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or Quebec that is often the combined tax.
Good to know: Set Up from a Province never changes or removes taxes you already have; a tax with the same name is skipped. Provincial taxes such as PST and RST are added as Not Recoverable; GST, HST and QST as Recoverable.
Adding a tax by hand
- In the Sales Tax card, choose Add Tax. The Add a Tax form opens.
- Fill in the boxes (see below).
- Choose Add Tax at the bottom of the form.
| Name | What to call it, up to 24 characters: GST, HST, PST, QST, or anything you like. Taxes whose name contains GST or HST are the ones reported on the CRA GST/HST return. |
|---|---|
| Rate (%) | The percentage, from 0 to 100. Decimals are fine, for example 9.975. For a combined tax it is filled in for you. |
| Combine Taxes | Shown when you have two or more taxes. To charge two taxes on one line, such as GST and PST, tick both: the new tax's rate is their total, and your reports keep each one separate. Leave them all unticked for an ordinary tax. |
| Recoverable: you can claim this back on your return | Ticked for a tax you can claim back as an input tax credit (GST, HST and QST normally). Untick for a tax that is a real cost to you (PST usually). A combined tax's parts keep their own setting. |
| Use as the default on new lines | Picked on every new invoice, quote, credit note, recurring and bill line, and its rate is used for new products. Only one tax can be the default. |
Choosing the tax on a line
Each line on an invoice, quote, credit note, recurring schedule or bill has a tax box above its Tax % box. It lists your taxes by name and rate, for example GST 5%, PST 7% and GST + PST 12%.
- Pick a tax and its rate fills in Tax %.
- Type a rate in Tax % and the tax with that rate is picked for you.
- Choose No tax or other rate, or type 0, for a line that is not taxable. A job with taxable and non-taxable parts goes on one invoice.
- A new invoice, quote, credit note or bill line starts with your default tax. A saved item (product) brings its own Tax %, and the matching tax is picked. On a bill, check each line against your supplier's bill and pick the tax they charged, so the Sales Tax report counts it under the right name.
- On the Banking screen, Create a Bill from This Entry and Record Income from This Deposit have their own Sales Tax box, which starts on No tax. Pick the tax that was included in the bank amount; Todah works the tax part out of it.
The invoice your client sees shows the rate on each line and one Tax total. Behind it, Todah keeps which tax each line carries, so the Sales Tax report can put GST on the GST/HST return and PST to one side.
Changing your mind
- Edit on a row opens the form; change it and save. Changing a rate never alters documents already saved: each line keeps the tax and rate it was issued with. A combined tax's rate follows its parts.
- Delete on a row removes the tax after you confirm. Only owners and admins can delete. A tax that is part of a combined tax is kept until the combined tax is deleted or changed; the message says which one. Documents already issued keep their tax.
See also
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