GST Balance account has appeared

[KATSEY24]

Hi,  I have been using Myob Essentials for a few months now but in the past few days, when I have entered a purchase, all of a sudden the GST account has changed.  It has started putting GST collected and paid into one new account and I can't work out how to change it back or how it even appeared in the first place.

[Steven_M]

Hi @KATSEY24 

The GST Balance account is an account included for clients on the MYOB Essentials platform. This will contain the net GST balance i.e. the combined amount of the GST Paid and GST Collected accounts. 

This is a permanent change to the product and a user is not able to revert back to have two previous GST linked accounts. 

[VN_123]

Hi Steven,

Following your reply to Katsey, I just wonder if I should allocate the BAS payment to tax office to the account GST Balance as well? Or if I should create a GST clearing account and allocate the payment into it?

Thank you.

[Steven_M]

Hi @VN_123 

Our Help Article: Recording ATO payments and credits outlines how to enter payments (or refunds) from the ATO.

Typically, you would record a transaction to the account(s) that you do use to reflect the GST liability to reduce that liability. However, I would recommend speaking with your accounting advisor on the accounts and amounts involved in that transaction.

[MMAU]

---

@VN_123 wrote:

Hi Steven,

Following your reply to Katsey, I just wonder if I should allocate the BAS payment to tax office to the account GST Balance as well? Or if I should create a GST clearing account and allocate the payment into it?

Thank you.

---

This is a great point. When we are to process either a BAS Refund or BAS Payment into MYOB Essentials, previously we would have a GST Collected and GST Paid account to use for the Spend Money or Receive Money transaction. 

Given this new change with Essentials, are we to now use the GST Balance account in either Spend Money or Receive Money when we are entering in either a BAS Refund or BAS Payment?

I understand there is an article here https://help.myob.com/wiki/display/ea/Recording+ATO+or+IRD+payments+and+credits which outlines how to enter in a BAS transaction into Essentials but perhaps this support article is out dated and does not take into account the new changes with Essentials which now has this new GST Balance account?

If someone from MYOB could please confirm or clarify, would greatly appreciate. 

[Steven_M]

Hi @MMAU 

The Help Article provided is still current and does best outline how to record those payments (or credits) from the ATO within the software. As with all these types of enquiries, if you do have an enquiry with what account should be selected for a transaction we do recommend speaking to an accounting advisor for the best account to be meet your requirements with your account list.

However, from an MYOB Essentials point of view, the user has the ability to select the GST Balance account in that Allocate to list within the software. If you don't have that account listed, do ensure that it is listed as active in the Chart of Accounts.

[MMAU]

Thank you.

When you refer to the support article and also the support article about paying super from within MYOB Essentials, the screenshots used are of the old version of MYOB Essentials which indicates that both articles haven't actually been updated to coincide with the new version of MYOB Essentials. 

Some of the instructions for paying super from within MYOB Essentials actually appear to be outdated as there are references and screenshots of the old MYOB Essentials which now no longer apply given the upgrade to the new MYOB Essentials. We managed to figure out everything ourselves but it may cause confusion amongst others. 

[Steven_M]

Hi @MMAU 

I believe the confusion comes from there are two sets of MYOB Essentials Help Articles. The original MYOB Essentials platform which is the one you have linked and the newer MYOB Essentials platform the one I have linked. Where possible to avoid some of the confusion the MYOB Essentials have a tag about Instructions don't match your software? Tag at the top of the article.

If you are using the newer MYOB Essentials platform, which based on your account record you are using, to ensure you are using the appropriate help articles for your version we do recommend utilising the in-product help ( question mark top right). Alternatively, here are your help articles for your MYOB Essentials. 

[MMAU]

Will do. Makes sense. Thank you, Steven.