Q:  Why is my sales tax report blank?

A:  In order to get your sales tax report in Spectra/myStratus, you have to "post" invoices and then run the report based on the posting date.

General Instructions

1. Spectra clients, first, do a backup!  See also:  Spectra Database Utility


2. Next, check your setup. 
•  Go to Maintenance > Preferences > Company (Studio) Preferences and open the Invoicing tab. 
•  Set your sales tax to calculate properly by selecting the Sales Tax Method. Choose the "Tax is Added to the Invoice (United States)" option unless you're sure that a different method applies to you.
•  Make sure your tax rate is set as the default and that it is the correct rate. 
•  Next, open the Accounting tab to select your Accounting Method preference. See also: Setting up the Accounting Link
3.  Then go to Tools > Accounting > Post Invoices. The sales tax report will be run by the posting date.  You'll be able to post all the invoice records you have already paid tax for in a separate posting which you can backdate. You can then post for the current tax period and de-select anything created later than the tax period.

Make sure to do a backup before you post! Also keep in mind that you can choose any posting date you want and that the sales tax report prompts you for the posting date range, not the invoice date, payment date, or pay in full date range.

Additional Information

+ Training Video - End of Day Wizard
+ Online Help - Accounting

Q:  The Sales Tax Rate has changed for my area. Where can I update it for future invoices?

A:  You can update your default sales tax rate in the Sales Tax Rate maintenance. Updating the rate here will not change the applied sales tax on existing invoices, but it will update for all future invoices.

General Instructions

1. Go to Maintenance > Invoice > Sales Tax Rate.
2. On the line for the sales tax rate that's changed, click in the Rate% column and update to the correct percentage.
3. Press the Enter key to save the new rate.