Tax payable account starting balance cannot be edited?
Using the current v21.9.16 I’ve set up a new business to test and hopefully migrate to Manager from another product. I’ve imported the localization Australia: Business Activity Statement - Full, which automatically created the Tax payable liability account and tax codes like GST 10% etc.
I’ve created some Sales Invoices, some Purchase Invoices and the Tax payable account is correctly updated.
However, the Tax payable account balance is of course incorrect because the starting balance could not be set.
Is this a bug in the imported localization? which does not reflect the changes implemented in v19.11.85?
According to the Guide example for Sample Consulting and Release note for v19.11.85 I should be able to edit this balance.
Is there a fix in the form of an update script? or should I manually create a new ordinary Tax Payable account and re-link each tax code?
this needs more clarification.
are you saying the starting balances do not reflect in your transactions? if yes then post relevant screenshots to understand.
or are you saying you do not see an option to set starting balances? please follow the steps under heading Starting balances for ordinary accounts in the guide https://www.manager.io/guides/15718
If you create a new business using v21.9.16 and import the localization Australia: Business Activity Statement - Full, then you cannot edit the starting balance of the automatically created Tax payable account. Here is the screen shot:
Prior to Manager version 19.11.85, a built-in account named Tax payable was activated automatically when tax codes were used. All tax codes posted to this account by default. Much greater flexibility is achieved by defining your own tax liability account(s).
For businesses already established when version 19.11.85 was released, the built-in Tax payable account was converted automatically to a standard account, defined as in the example above. No action is required by the user for the conversion.
Since this is a new business created after v19.11.85, we should thus create our own Tax payable account? That’s fine. It’s just confusing when v21.9.16 still creates this old built-in Tax payable account, which should then be manually converted to an ordinary account.
there is some issue with the default creation of Tax payable account as found in another topic which you can read below. @lubos will be able to clarify.
Thanks @sharpdrivetek I’ve read and agree with your post. There appears to be a discrepancy between the Guide, which suggests to manually set up the Tax payable account, and the default behaviour, where the Tax payable account is still created as a built-in account.
@ATMCAssociates I’m currently evaluating the Desktop Edition. We might switch to the Server Edition in the future.
@mick2k, your screen shot reveals nothing pertaining to a starting balance in Tax payable. Exactly what do you mean when you say you cannot edit the starting balance?
There has been quite a bit of discussion about this Tax payable account following @lubos explanation here.
For a newcomer to Manager, what would be the recommended or preferred approach:
Option 1: Create an ordinary Tax payable account (where the starting balance can be adjusted), and then reconfigure the two GST 10% and GST 10% (CAPEX) tax codes to use this manually created Tax payable account instead of the built-in Tax payable account (automatically created by the imported Australia: Business Activity Statement - Full localization.)
Option 2: Adjust the starting balance of the automatically created built-in Tax payable account with a Journal Entry. (To balance this Journal Entry would require creating an Opening Balance Equity account (as is the practice of other accounting software) or using the Retained earnings account).
I noticed that with Option 1, the automatically created built-in Tax payable account cannot be removed. You therefore end up with two Tax payable accounts. Maybe as, suggested by @Ealfardan, Option 2 would be the better approach until this issue is more definitively resolved? Option 2 might also follow a more traditional accounting software approach.
When I finally tested Option 2 it also did not work correctly, because, as you confirmed, what we see as this built-in Tax payable account is really just a default temporary account with very restricted use. The Journal entry (to adjust the starting balance) ended in Suspense, as did Payments and Receipts to/from the ATO.
