How do I enter HST paid to CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency)? The expense is all HST paid.

Hi mkbeattie26,

HST tracking and reporting is one of the most powerful features available in QuickBooks Online, and I'm happy to see you're looking to use its full potential! Expense transactions are designed to affect a separate expense account, but we can easily record a transaction with just sales tax. This allows the tax centre to properly record this on the relevant filing. I can show you how this is done.

It's just a few simple steps to record this transaction:

1. Select the + New button at the top, then Cheque or Expense.
2. Select a Supplier, the correct Bank account, and the proper Date.
3. Make sure amounts are set to Exclusive of tax. This gives us full control of the subtotal field.
4. On the first line, select which expense account would best fit the purchase and enter an amount of 0.01
5. The sales tax code will be what sales tax the expense is (ex. GST, HST, QST, PST).
6. On the second line, select the same expense account as the first line and an amount of -0.01
7. Sales Tax will be Out of Scope. You'll know have no effect on your expense account, and tax amounts you can edit.
8. At the bottom of the Expense/Cheque, include the amount the expense was for in the tax section near the subtotal.

You'll notice the two account lines will even out and whatever number you included at the bottom in the section for the tax on the cheque/expense will now go towards their ITC's. The amounts entered for the expense account can be anything, as long as they cancel each other out. If you'd like more help, your accountant is an incredible partner for all things sales tax. You can easily invite your accountant as a user to approach this as a team. To search for a pro in your area, simply head to the My Accountant tab in QuickBooks Online then click on Find a pro to help. 

I'm here for you, so let me know if you have any other questions.