Introduction
Once you’ve connected QuickBooks to Anrok and completed the QuickBooks setup process, we understand you may encounter situations you haven't experienced before — which can bring about a few questions. Don't worry, many of these situations are completely normal your first time using the integration-flow, so let's work through some of these commonly asked questions together.
QuickBooks frequently asked questions:
Why is my invoice's tax amount showing as $0.00 in QuickBooks?
1. See if you've saved the invoice yet.
For Anrok to calculate sales tax, the invoice must first be sent to Anrok. The invoice is sent to Anrok immediately after you click Save at the bottom of your QuickBooks invoice. For this reason — before you save the invoice — the calculated tax amount will show as $0.00. The tax calculation will be displayed after you save and reloaded the invoice.
Once the invoice has been sent to Anrok, it will appear on your Transactions page — along with the customer and product/service information, the calculated tax amount, and the jurisdiction's return period.
2. Check if the accounting date is before the jurisdiction's tax collection start date.
If you've confirmed that the invoice has been saved and is present on your Transactions page, there is a chance that the accounting date listed is before your tax collection date. To check a jurisdictions tax collection start date:
- In the Anrok app
, go to Jurisdictions. Take me there!
- Select the Remitting tab, then select the jurisdiction.
- Under Jurisdiction details, review the tax calculation state date.
3. Make sure you selected Save instead of Save and send.
While the Anrok tax calculation is usually instant, there are rare occasions where QuickBooks will send the invoice to your customer before the invoice is sent to Anrok. This can cause a tax collection discrepancy where the calculated tax amount does not match the amount collected by the customer. For that reason, when possible, we suggest selecting Save before you select Save and send.
Why am I receiving an "Unknown product ID" error on my Unprocessed Transactions page?
Configure the QuickBooks product or service into Anrok as a product ID.
This error occurs when Anrok receives a QuickBooks product or service that does not have a corresponding Anrok product ID. For Anrok to calculate tax on an item in your invoice, you will need to configure the product or service as a product ID in Anrok. Doing so ensures that the correct tax rate and taxability is applied to the product or service — based on the configured product type and tax category. To configure a QuickBooks product or service into Anrok as a product ID:
- In the Anrok app
, go to Data sources. Take me there!
- Under Integration sources, click the options menu button
next to QuickBooks, then select Configure new products.
- Under New products detected, select a corresponding Product type and Tax category for each product detected. See What tax configuration should I select?
- If you'd like to assign a Product type and Tax category to multiple products at once, click the checkbox
next to each product, then select Batch assign.
- When you are finished, scroll down and click Add products.
Why am I receiving an "Integration configuration" error on my Unprocessed Transactions page?
1. See if you've selected Anrok zero tax rate (0%) as the tax rate.
For Anrok to apply its calculated tax onto your invoice, you will need to select Anrok zero tax rate (0%) as the tax rate. Doing so ensures that no tax rate outside of Anrok will attempt to block Anrok's tax calculation. Often users will think "Based on location" is the best option to select — but this option is linked to QuickBooks' tax calculation system (which is not equipped to properly calculate SaaS sales tax).
Rest assured, Anrok will determine the correct jurisdiction location by using the customer and billing information included on the invoice. Lastly, don't let the 0% in "Anrok zero tax rate (0%)" worry you. Setting that tax rate as 0% in QuickBooks simply insures that QuickBooks won't try to calculate sales tax on your invoice before sending it to Anrok. To change an invoice's tax rate:
- In the QuickBooks app
, go to the invoice you would like to edit.
- Under Select tax rate, select Anrok zero tax rate (0%).
- When you are finished, click Save.
- Reload the invoice to view Anrok’s updated tax amount.
2. Check if you have an external tax rate or tax agency still active on your account.
External tax agencies and tax rates left active on your QuickBooks account can block Anrok from applying its tax calculation to your invoices. They can also cause multiple new liability accounts to be created on your QuickBooks Balance Sheet, which can be confusing when trying to determine all of the tax collected for your returns. For these reasons, it's important that you've made all of these tax agencies and tax rates inactive. To make an external tax rate or tax agency inactive:
- In the QuickBooks app
, go to Sales Tax Settings. Take me there!
- Locate the existing tax agency or custom rate, then click Edit under the ACTION column.
- Select Make inactive, then click Make inactive to confirm.
3. Make sure all the products/services on the invoice have the checkbox
under TAX checked.
For Anrok to read an invoice, all products and services included on the invoice must be marked as taxable. To mark all products and services as taxable:
- In the QuickBooks app
, go to the invoice you would like to edit.
- Under TAX, click the checkbox
next to each product and service.
- When you are finished, click Save.
- Reload the invoice to view Anrok’s updated tax amount.
If you are worried about a non-taxable product getting taxed, you can always adjust the product/service's product ID product type and category on the Product IDs page. If the customer is tax-exempt, you can add the customer's tax exemption certificate on the Certificates page. If you are concerned the customer will be taxed in a jurisdiction you are not collecting sales tax, Anrok will determine every invoice's taxability based on the customer's address and billing location.
Why did I receive a "Something's not quite right" error when I saved my invoice in QuickBooks?
Why did an "Out of Scope Agency Payable" liability account appear in my QuickBooks balance sheet?
During the Anrok & QuickBooks integration process, QuickBooks will automatically create an "Out of Scope Agency Payable" liability account. All sales tax calculated and collected via Anrok will flow directly into this account. We often recommend renaming this account to something more memorable, such as "Sales Tax Payable. Check out how to rename the “Out of Scope Agency Payable” liability account in QuickBooks.
If any accounts other than this one appear on your QuickBooks balance sheet, you probably have a tax agency or tax rate still active on your QuickBooks account. To prevent any collected sales tax from flowing into these accounts, you will need to make these tax agencies and tax rates inactive. Check out how to make all existing tax rates and tax agencies inactive in QuickBooks.
Why does my tax rate keep defaulting back to "Based on location" after I save my invoice?
When selecting "Anrok zero tax rate 0%" for the first time, after you save the invoice, the tax rate will automatically flip back to "Based on Location" if tax is due. When this happens, the invoice will still have Anrok's calculation applied as the tax amount. With this in mind, "Anrok zero tax rate 0%" should now be defaulted on any new invoices you create moving forward. Please note that on these new invoices, the tax will show as $0.00 before you click Save.
How does Anrok process QuickBooks credit memos and refund receipts?
Anrok's Quickbooks integration assesses taxability for your transactions by taking into account Credit Memos & Refund Receipts. The following is intended as a guide to help you understand the tax implications for each of these.
Credit Memos & Refund Receipts
Both Credit Memos and Refund Receipts are treated as separate transactions from original invoices in Quickbooks, and they will be reflected in Anrok in the same way. Line items on each of these will indicate the original items that are being credited or refunded, so it's important to include the relevant products so that Anrok knows how the tax amount collected originally should be adjusted.
Anrok essentially treats both these scenarios as negative invoices, and will respond accordingly by adding negative tax amounts as a distinct line item. For this reason, Credit notes/memos are a required way of recording credits/refunds.
We hope this guide was able to help you with your Anrok & QuickBooks integration questions. As always, feel free to reach out to support@anrok.com if you have questions or if you'd like to troubleshoot with our team.