John, To the best of my knowledge you pay sales tax on what you have billed, not on what has been paid. If the customer pays after you have filed your tax, for that month or quarter, and hands you tax exempt form you would take that tax off the next period that is due. This is what we do in Wisconsin. You should call your tax department and make sure, but I would bet the figure you get from quick books is the one you pay whether the invoice is outstanding or not. It is part of your total sales for that period therefore it is tax due. Lora Cameron Sport Products Mfd., Ltd. 4756 Murphy Road Oregon, WI 53575 608=835-5791 www.sportproducts.org ----- Original Message ----- From: John Yaglenski To: amayausers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 8:35 PM Subject: [amayausers] Business Accounting Heh... For those of you still reading after seeing the title, I need some insight from this fine group :) Which accounting method are you using for your embroidery business (cash or accrual) & which program do you use to track your accounts. I ask this as I was preparing our quarterly sales tax statement for Maryland, and realized that try as I might, I couldn't get Quicken Deluxe Home and Business to tell me how much sales tax I was actually paid this past quarter. I could get it to spit out the amount of tax that was INVOICED, but not the amount that had actually come in. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the state only wants the money you actually have in hand, no? Maybe a fellow Marylander can help with that. Anyway, I emailed quicken and they said the reason I was having that issue was because home and business only does things on an accrual basis. Now, I know quickbooks does both. What do you do? John Accrual-basis accounting : An accounting system in which income is recorded when it is earned, rather than when it is paid to you, and expenses are recorded when you commit to an obligation, rather than when you pay it. Cash-basis accounting: An accounting system in which income is recorded when it is received, rather than when it is invoiced; and expenses are reported when you pay them, rather than when you commit to an obligation.