View and understand your sales tax report

The sales tax report is only available on the web version of Wave.

The sales tax report records the sales taxes you have collected, which provides insight into what your business owes to the government.

View the sales tax report

Understand the sales tax report

Export a statement

View the sales tax report

  1. On the left-side menu, click Reports, then Sales Tax Report.
  2. Select your date range or input a custom date range.
  3. Select the Report Type from Accrual (Paid and Unpaid) or Cash Basis (Paid).
      • Accrual (Paid and Unpaid) includes income and expenses. Non-cash expenses like depreciation and amortization are included.
      • Cash Basis (Paid) includes income that has been invoiced but not yet received and expenses that have been billed but not yet paid.
  4. Click Update Report to review your statement.

If you’re unsure about which basis to use or if it’s your first time filing, consult with your bookkeeper or accountant.

Understand the sales tax report

Sales & Purchases

The top section of the report summarizes the total amount of each sales tax set up in your account from collected tax on sales and paid tax on purchases:

  • Tax: Name and percentage of each sales tax
  • Sales Subject to Tax: Total sales to which the tax was applied
  • Tax Amount on Sales: Total amount of tax collected on those sales
  • Purchases Subject to Tax: Total purchases to which the tax was applied
  • Tax Amount on Purchases: Total amount of tax paid (only shown if the tax is set up as a recoverable tax)
  • Net Tax Owing: Net amount of tax due to or from your tax authority for the reporting period

The tax amounts on sales and purchases may not match the debits and credits in the account transactions report as it shows the net amount. Sales tax in Wave is calculated per item and rounded to the nearest two decimal places.

Payments & Balances Owing

The bottom section summarizes payments and refunds related to each sales tax for the selected period:

  • Starting Balance: Amount due to or from the tax authority at the beginning of the reporting period
  • Net Tax Owing: Comes from the last column of the Sales & Purchases section; it shows the net amount due to or from the tax authority
  • Less Payments to Government: Shows any payments made and any refunds received for each sales tax
  • Ending Balance: Totals all columns, resulting in a net amount due or receivable for each sales tax. This final balance matches the ending balance of the tax account on your balance sheet.

For more insights into Wave's reporting features, check out the Video: Wave’s Reports Tour.

Export a statement

To export your profit & loss statement, at the top right corner, click Export, then select CSV or PDF format. The statement will download to your browser.