Set up your TaxCloud account for QuickBooks Desktop

This article covers adding a QuickBooks Desktop connection to your TaxCloud account and getting the Connection ID and API key the plugin needs. You do this once for your business.

:::info Use one connection per business. Create a separate QuickBooks Desktop connection in TaxCloud for each EIN and its QuickBooks company file. Don't point two company files at the same connection, and don't reuse one company file's credentials for another — crossing them mixes transactions from different businesses and pollutes your tax data and filings. :::

Before you begin

Complete these first so the integration works correctly:

1. Sign in to TaxCloud (or create an account and confirm your email).
2. Complete your TaxCloud business profile.
3. Set up your locations and the states where you collect. TaxCloud only calculates tax for states where tax collection is enabled; which states is your registration decision.
4. Look up the Taxability Information Codes (TICs) for what you sell. If one code covers everything you sell, you can set it as the connection default below; otherwise you'll assign codes per item later (see Assign product tax codes (TICs).

Step 1: Add QuickBooks Desktop to your TaxCloud account

1. Go to the Integrations page.

2. Click Add Connection, then click QuickBooks Desktop.

   

3. Enter the connection details:

   • Name — a label you'll recognize (for example, your company name). This is only for identifying the connection in TaxCloud.
   • Taxability Information Code (TIC) — the default code for this connection. If one TIC covers everything you sell, enter it; if not, enter 0 (taxed as general merchandise) and assign per-item codes later.

4. Click Finish Setup.

You will land on the integration’s detail page where you will be prompted to install the plugin and copy your credentials.

Step 2: Install the plugin

Install the TaxCloud QuickBooks plugin on each PC that creates invoices. See Install the TaxCloud QuickBooks Plugin for full instructions.

Step 3: Copy your Connection ID and API key

1. On the integration's detail page, under Connect your plugin, find Connection ID and API Key side by side.
2. Click the eye icon next to API Key to reveal it, then use the copy icon to copy each value.
3. Keep the Connection ID and API key together somewhere safe. You can come back to this screen to re-copy them later, but TaxCloud won't show the secret anywhere else.

:::warning Treat your API key like a password. Anyone with it can submit transactions to your TaxCloud account. Don't email it in plain text or paste it into shared documents. :::

Next

Keep your Connection ID and API Key together — anyone who installs the plugin (on each PC that creates invoices) enters both to connect that machine to your TaxCloud account.