Will Sage BusinessWorks sales tax codes and history convert to QuickBooks?
Tax codes usually map to QuickBooks sales tax items and liability balances carry over; how much history carries depends on your file.
Yes, sales tax is part of a normal BusinessWorks conversion, and it is an area we map by hand rather than leave to chance. Each Sage BusinessWorks tax code is matched to a QuickBooks sales tax item or rate, and the sales tax payable balance is brought across too. How much historical tax detail comes over depends on your file and on the scope you choose, so we look at each file before promising an outcome.
How do the tax codes map across?
QuickBooks does not use tax codes the way BusinessWorks does. In QuickBooks Desktop, taxable sales point to sales tax items, and stacked jurisdictions usually need a sales tax group. Our engineers map each BusinessWorks code to the right item, carry its rate over, and set the taxable flag on customers and items so invoices calculate the way they did before. QuickBooks Online expresses sales tax differently, so the destination you pick decides the shape of the mapping.
Does the sales tax history convert?
That depends on the scope you choose. When historical invoices and bills are converted, the tax charged on each one normally converts with them, and your liability reports stay researchable in QuickBooks. When you convert lists and open balances only, the detail stays behind in BusinessWorks, and the current sales tax payable moves across as an opening balance. Neither route is wrong. The right one depends on how far back you amend returns or answer questions from your accountant.
What should you settle beforehand?
Three decisions drive the tax outcome. The cutoff date sets how much history moves and where the opening liability is struck. The code map decides whether overlapping or unused codes are merged or dropped, since clutter in the item list costs you later. And the destination, Desktop or Online, changes how the tax items are built. If history matters to you, say so early, because it changes the plan.
The tax side is included in our Sage BusinessWorks to QuickBooks conversion service, and we confirm the mapping for your exact codes before work begins.
The useful next step is a free evaluation. Send us the BusinessWorks backup and the cutoff date you have in mind. Our engineers will report what the tax codes, rates, payable balance, and history will look like on the other side. There is no charge for that look and no obligation attached to it.