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HST-Process

Section titled “HST-Process”

⚠️ Temp reference only. Written for QuickBooks Desktop 2017. Will be superseded once the QBO-based HST workflow is built (see Core/Accounting/Tasks/Accounting-Dept-Start.md). Do not extend — replace.

  • copied from Ecco Pro; 2026JL23

HST

Section titled “HST”

Logs

Section titled “Logs”

Prep

Section titled “Prep”
  • print
    • bank statements
    • credit card statements
  • check credit card and bank statements to ensure have printed invoices/receipts for every expense
    • record receipts for Amazon Kindle royalty pmts
      • see d:\Accounting\eIncome
      • login to Kindle Direct Publishing, on Firefox?
        • info in SystemData.xlsx
        • Try new KDP Reports Beta, Payments, Download report
        • or print a PDF from screen summary, via Print Edit WE browser add-on,
      • use memorized Transactions
        • e-Books, Amazon KENP Royalties
        • e-Books, Amazon Kindle
        • => consolidated e-Book sales from Amazon; not broken down by book title

Process and reconcile one month at a time

Section titled “Process and reconcile one month at a time”

  • use memorized transactions (Ctrl-T); they exist for (almost) everything

  • almost everything is paid via credit card, which is automatically paid via pre-authorized payment from bank account

  • charges on credit card first, working through each line on statement in order

  • Credit Card charges

    • Process Credit Card charges

      • use the Transaction Date, not the Posting Date

      • When billing date is different than the payment date (eg. Rogers), to stay true to accrual accounting method

        • Use memorized Transaction (Ctrl-T), select Rogers, etc.
          • for Rogers, bill dates are 16th of month and Bill Due date is 30/31st of month
          • or Enter Bills, then Pay Bills, for each
            • set dates for when actually are billed (owe a Payable) and when actually pay the bill (money moved from bank account)
        • Click Pay Bill after each bill entry, so can set date for payment (posting date from MC)
          • easiest way: Save, Pay Bill at top; select bill,
            • set date and Method to Master Card
          • or Pay Bills, from Home screen

      • When billing date matches the payment date, to stay true to accrual accounting method

        • Banking, Credit Card Charges

          • best: use memorized Transactions (Ctrl-T) where possible

          • set Vendor, date, Ref No, Memo

          • set Expense account

          • set/check HST charged

          • copy Memo from cheque section to Expenses section

          • automatic payment of credit card balance is a Credit

            • Enter Credit Card Charges, memorized tranaction: “Mastercard, payment”

      • For Meals and Entertainment

        • use Memorized Transaction (Ctrl-T), named “Restaurant-PaidCash” or “Restaurant-PaidbyCreditCard”
          • use actual date, not date you process it
          • for Amount, enter total paid
          • Memo: note who met with, purpose of meal
          • line 1: enter Subtotal before taxes and tip, with HST taxation
          • line 2: enter tip amount, with no taxation
          • line 3: enter HST amount = total HST paid - HST calculated in bottom of screen
            • tab off of this line, if see a difference, ADD this amount to the HST in line 3
            • NOTE; may have to manually adjust this amount by a penny either way to make QB happy and close the transaction
            • this will be half of the actual HST paid, which is automatically calculated below by QB
          • stamp bill as processed

      • Cashback, from credit card

        • Credit card charges
          • click Refund/Credit, to change from Purchase/Charge
        • Purchased from: Bank of Montreal, Master Card
        • set account to 5701 - Bank Service Charges
        • memo: cash back for YYYY

    • Reconcile Credit Card

      • go to Banking, Reconcile
        • ensure reconciling acct 2106 Business M/C
        • enter Ending Balance figure from statement
        • enter Finance charges (if any)
        • for each item on credit card bill
          • click check mark on left side for charges, right side for payments/credits
          • put check mark on line item of credit card bill
          • put mark (initials) on receipt to indicate that it has been posted
        • Difference in bottom right should be zero when done
        • click Reconcile Now
        • Make a Payment popup will appear, requesting Pay Now or Bill Later
          • click Write a cheque for payment now
            • change Cheque # to “WD” (for automatic withdraw)
            • change Date to Automatic Date withdrawn (16th of month, following statement date)
            • change cheque Memo to reflect current month (eg. Automatic pmt for 2020JA25 statement)
            • copy this memo into other memo field
        • print Reconciliation Report, Detail version
        • staple a copy of the Reconciliation report to the back of the statement

  • Bank Account statement

    • Credit Card (Moneris) transactions

      • use Memorized Transactions (Ctrl-T)
      • Moneris Bank Service Charges Account: 5704
        • Ctrl-T, Moneris Solutions (30.22/mn)
          • check amount and other details
        • Ctrl-T, Moneris Solutions-M/C fee (or -Visa fee) (~$3/5)
          • if appear on bank statement
        • Checking Moneris statements
          • Tally the Pre-Authorized Payment No Fee, POS (there could be a few)
          • In QB, go to Banking, Write Cheque
            • Cheque should be made out to Bank of Montreal, Merchant Account
            • Cheque No. should be WD for automatic withdraw
            • Cheque Date should read the same date the $ withdrawn from Bank Account
            • Memo should read: Moneris Fees for (month/yr)
              • copy Memo text from cheque to Memo field in Expenses form
            • set account to Moneris Bank Service Charges Account: 5704
            • Tax field is blank - NOT correct?
              • Tax field should reflect GST charged …?
            • OR
          • check off that our transaction stubs (written by us) are reflected on the Moneris Statement
          • check off that the Summaries correspond with the actual receipt totals for each date
          • make sure that all payables have been recorded before reconciliation
            • including Moneris transaction fees

    • Preauthorized (Automatic) Payments like Moneris, MC payment

      • use Memorized Transactions (Ctrl-T)
        • for Credit Card payment
          • Ctrl-T, Mastercard, Payment
      • if Not a Memorized Transaction, create one
        • Banking, Write Cheques
        • Make sure Bank Account is on #1080 Chequing (NOT 1050 Cash and Bank)
        • uncheck “To be printed”
        • change cheque number to WD (to indicate WithDrawal from Bank Account)
        • change date to reflect date of automatic withdrawal from Bank Account
        • under Expenses, assign the correct account and copy memo message from cheque to Memo message under Expenses
        • create Memorized Transaction, click Memorize at top

    • eTransfers

      • Receive Payment
        • Pmt. Method: Transfer
        • Reference #: eTransfer

    • Transfers (incl. Talbot Draw)

      • go to Banking, Transfer Funds
        • if a personal draw, set account to “2601 - Talbot’s Draw - Current Year”
      • file a printed copy of the transfer

    • CRA payments/refunds

      • for refunds (HST, income tax)
        • Customers, Receive Payments
        • from “Receiver General - Receivable”
        • set reference to explain why getting refund (eg. “HST refund”)
        • set Pmt. Method (Direct Deposit)
        • deposit to “1050 - Cash and Bank”
      • for payments, Pay Bills
        • Receiver General
        • set Expense account to “25500 - GST/HST Payable”

    • Card fees/refunds

      • For annual card fees
        • Ctrl-T, MasterCard, Cashback
        • set “Purchase/Charge” at top
        • tax is E for exempt
        • set Memo to Annual card fee, copy to bottom
      • For annual (cash back) refunds
        • Ctrl-T, MasterCard, Cashback
        • tax is E for exempt
        • set Memo to Annual card cash back, copy to bottom

  • Reconcile the Bank Statement

    • Banking, Reconcile
    • set Account to “Cash and Bank: 1080 Chequing-1011251”
    • Confirm Opening Balance
    • set Ending Balance, from Banking Statement
    • confirm date
    • enter Bank Service Charges from the Bank Statement, usually $6
    • Continue
    • check “Hide transactions after the statement’s end date”
    • Following the Debit and Credit columns, match and check off the corresponding entries with Bank Statement and Deposits & Credits / Cheques and Payments
      • Note that clicking on a detail line toggle the check mark on/off; only click the line after checking it
    • If you need to add an item to the credit column …
      • Leave button, (fix it, and come back) …
      • go to Banking, Make Deposits
      • generReceived From
        • miscellaneous unless it pertains to a particular customer
      • Account
        • miscellaneous unless it pertains to a particular account
      • Memo
        • explain why you are making this adjustment
      • Payment Meth.
        • indicate how this was inputted
      • Amount
    • You should see a null balance
      • if not, figure out why and fix before proceeding
    • Reconcile Now
    • Print both of the summaries, attach to back of bank statement

  • Process other transactions (transfers, draws, reimbursables, etc.)

    • process other accounting notes (see Admin notepad, Accounting)
      • reimbursable mileage, etc.

  • generate HST report

    • Sales Tax, Tax Agency Report
      • Tax Agency: Receiver General
      • set Date range
      • File Tax Return
        • Paper Return
          • save PDF of QB HST report, to b:\Accounting\Taxes\HST, YYYYMMDD-YYYYMMDD.pdf

  • file HST with CRA online

    • login to CRA site
    • file HST, enter info
    • save PDF, to b:\Accounting\Taxes\HST, HST YYYYMM-YYYYMM.pdf
      • print copy for file, stapled behind QB HST report

  • make payment to CRA, or process refund later when received to bank account

    • for payment:
      • set Accounts Payable account to: 2100 - Accounts Payable - Suppliers
      • go to Vendors, Pay Bills; select the GST/HST bill there, make “Direct Deposit” payment from business chequing account, set date when withdrawal occurs
      • CRA payment online
        • Pay later by making one or more payment(s) using pre-authorized debit from a Canadian chequing account starting in 5 or more business days.
        • pay directly from bus chequing account
    • for refund: Receive Payments, Receiver General
      • appears that general journal entries are made to process HST refunds from CRA, to adjust accounts: 2340 - GST Input Tax Credits, 2320 - GST Payable, and others
        • b:\Accounting\QuickBooks\HST\HST Refund Journal Entry Sample.pdf

HST Rates - corrected 2013NO25

Section titled “HST Rates - corrected 2013NO25”

NOTES

Section titled “NOTES”
  • No HST on bank or credit card fees (refunds)
  • NOTE: Pamphlets do NOT get GST only as with books; they are digital products subject to HST
  • Books, Booklets, and Audiobooks are GST only (5%)
  • Shipping is to be taxed at the rate of the province it’s being delivered to

Foreign (US) digital-subscription vendors — folded in from HST-Processing.md, 2026-07-29

Section titled “Foreign (US) digital-subscription vendors — folded in from HST-Processing.md, 2026-07-29”

Merged per SSOT rule (was a near-duplicate second file). Case: Claude.ai (Anthropic, PBC) vs. Cursor (Anysphere, Inc.), both San Francisco-based SaaS billed to the Ontario company.

  • Anthropic charged 13% HST on receipts through at least May-2026, but printed no GST/HST registration number on any receipt Dec-2025 through May-2026 — verified directly against the rendered PDFs, not inferred. The Jun-29-2026 receipt is the first to print one (797870227RT9999) — i.e. registration only becomes documented starting FY27, not FY26. For the FY26 filing (Jun 2025–May 2026), zero Claude.ai receipts have a supporting registration number (6 receipts × $3.64 ≈ $22 total ITC at stake).
  • Cursor/Anysphere charges in USD with no tax line at all, but its receipts print a Canadian Business Number (889637773) — the opposite of what “which vendor is registered” would predict from the tax treatment alone.
  • QBO AI’s practical guidance (accepted by Talbot 2026-07-29): record Anthropic’s charged HST as a normal ITC (account 5407 Computer AI Tools, tax code HST ON); record Cursor with no ITC (Out of Scope tax code, full USD-converted amount as a pure expense). The reasoning QBO AI gave for Anthropic’s ITC (citing a printed registration number) was checked against the actual receipts and does not hold for FY26 — the practical treatment stands on Talbot’s decision, not on that stated justification. Action item: ask Anthropic directly for their GST/HST registration number to make the FY26 ITC properly supportable, same as the standing ask to Cursor.
  • Is a non-resident SaaS vendor “supposed” to charge Canadian HST? Vendor compliance question, not a bookkeeping one — cross-border digital-subscription vendors must register once they exceed $30,000 CAD in taxable Canadian sales; a receipt showing no registration number is consistent with (but doesn’t prove) non-registration.