QuickBooks Online Integration: How to Resolve a Missing Account, Product Code, or Sales Tax Item Error

Use this article to troubleshoot and resolve issues with your QuickBooks Online account configuration and get tax calculations working.

Sales tax configuration error messages

You may receive one of the following error messages when calculating tax if there is a configuration problem with your sales tax settings in QuickBooks Online:

Could not find TaxCloud Sales Tax chart of account or product code. Please see setup instructions and try again.

QBO 'Sales Tax' item connected to 'Sales Tax Payable' account does not exist. please refer to guides.

Why does this error occur?

The TaxCloud integration for QuickBooks Online requires two items in QuickBooks Online; a sales tax product, and a sales tax payable account. If these items are not present in your QuickBooks Online account, the integration will not function.

For most customers, the TaxCloud integration for QuickBooks Online automatically creates these items during setup. However, automatic setup may fail if your QuickBooks Online account already has items that use the same names.

Resolving the issue

To fix the problem, check the Sales Tax Payable account and Sales Tax product to make sure they exist and are set up correctly.

Check the Sales Tax Payable account

1. In the top-right corner of your QuickBooks Online account, click the gear icon (⚙).

2. Under Your Company, click Chart of accounts.

3. Search for "sales tax payable".

   

4. Use the following table to determine your next steps:

Scenario	Next Steps
Sales Tax Payable account already exists	Confirm the account is set up correctly.
Sales Tax Payable account doesn't exist	Create a Sales Tax Payable account

Confirm the Sales Tax Payable account is set up correctly

1. Edit the Sales Tax Payable account — In the Action column, click the down error and then click Edit.
2. Confirm that the your Sales Tax Payable account is set up to match the image and table below:

Account configuration values:

Field	Value
Account name	Sales Tax Payable
Account type	Other Current Liabilities
Detail type	Sales Tax Payable

Use the following table to determine your next steps:

Scenario	Next Steps
Sales Tax Payable account matches image and table	You're good! Move on to Check the Sales Tax product.
Sales Tax Payable account does not match image and table	Rename this account to avoid collisions, then create a new Sales Tax Payable account that matches the values shown above.

Create a new Sales Tax Payable account

1. From the Chart of accounts page, click New.
2. Set up the account to match the values shown above.
3. Save your changes.

Check the Sales Tax product

1. In your QuickBooks Online account, go to Sales > Products & services.

2. Search for "Sales Tax".

   

3. Use the following table to determine your next steps

Scenario	Next Steps
Sales Tax product already exists	Confirm the product is set up correctly
Sales Tax product doesn't exist	Create a Sales Tax product

Confirm the Sales Tax product is set up correctly

1. Edit the Sales Tax product — In the Action column, click Edit.
2. Confirm that the your Sales Tax product is set up to match the image and table below:

Product configuration values:

Field	Value
Type	Service
Name	Sales Tax
SKU	TXC-SALES-TAX
I sell this product/service to my customers	Checked
Sales price/rate	0.00
Income account	Sales Tax Payable
Sales tax	Taxable - standard rate
I purchase this product/service from a vendor	Unchecked

Use the following table to determine your next steps:

Scenario	Next Steps
Sales Tax product matches image and table	You're good! You can try to calculate sales tax again.
Sales Tax product does not match image and table	Rename this account to avoid collisions, then create a new Sales Tax product that matches the values shown above.

Create a new Sales Tax product

1. From the Products and Services page, click New.
2. Set up the account to match the values shown above.
3. Save your changes.

Try calculating sales tax again

Now that you've corrected the Sales Tax Payable account and Sales Tax product, you're ready to try calculating tax again. If you still encounter the error, please reach out to our Support Team for assistance.