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Sales Tax Rate may change when invoice is created 

Sales tax is recalculated when an invoice is created, so the tax rate at the time of invoicing might not match the original sales quote or order.

Sales tax in Acctivate is not locked based on the original Sales Order unless it's imported from a web store and no changes are made to the quantity and/or prices.

For manually entered orders, sales tax is recalculated at the time of invoice creation. This ensures the most current tax rate is used, which can cause discrepancies if tax rates change between order entry and invoicing.

Here’s what happens and how to handle this scenario:

  1. Sales tax is recalculated when creating an invoice – When you open the “Create Invoice” window in Acctivate, sales tax is calculated using the current rate from QuickBooks or based on the Invoice Date with Avalara (if integrated).

  2. Changes to sales tax rate affect invoicing – If a tax rate is changed after the order was entered but before the invoice is created, the invoice will reflect the new tax rate.

  3. This behavior is expected – Because QuickBooks does not support historical effective dates for tax rates, it always uses the current rate, even for backdated invoices.

  4. To maintain the original rate manually (workaround) - This may only work if you are using an invoice date prior to the rate change (accrual basis) or the payment date was prior to the sales tax rate change (cash basis).

Workaround for QuickBooks Desktop users

  1. Switch QuickBooks Desktop to Single-User Mode.
  2. Void the invoice in Acctivate.
  3. Run a QuickBooks sync in Acctivate.
  4. Temporarily change the sales tax rate back to the original rate in QuickBooks.
  5. Sync QuickBooks again with Acctivate.
  6. Open the Sales Order, click Refresh (you may need to Edit then Save) to pick up the new sales tax rate.
  7. Re-create the invoice in Acctivate (now using the old rate).
  8. Sync with QuickBooks.
  9. Change the tax rate back to the new/current rate in QuickBooks.
  10. Run a final sync and return QuickBooks to Multi-User Mode.

Workaround for QuickBooks Online users (with Custom Rates)

  1. Void the invoice in Acctivate.
  2. Temporarily change the sales tax rate back to the original rate in QuickBooks.
  3. Sync with QuickBooks in Acctivate.
  4. Open the Sales Order, click Refresh (you may need to Edit then Save) to pick up the new sales tax rate.
  5. Re-create the invoice in Acctivate (now using the old rate).
  6. Change the tax rate back to the new/current rate in QuickBooks.
  7. Run a final Sync with QuickBooks.

⚠️ Important: This workaround is time-consuming and should only be used if matching historical tax rates is critical for business or customer service reasons.

Alternative: Apply a discount – If adjusting the rate is not feasible, you can apply a manual discount to offset the increased tax and preserve the customer’s original total and payment.