You can use the Update Return with QuickBooks Data command on the ProSeries Import menu to update a client’s federal individual return or federal business return with financial data from recent versions of QuickBooks (Desktop). ProSeries can import your QuickBooks data using a feature called “Update Return with QuickBooks Data”.
- Your QuickBooks ‘tax form’ must match your ‘tax form’ set-up in ProSeries for the client.
- Any changes you make in ProSeries in terms of mapping QuickBooks Accounts to Tax forms and lines will post back to QuickBooks automatically as long as those tax line options exist in QuickBooks and you don’t tell (optional) ProSeries NOT to update QuickBooks.
- You can change the amounts of ‘account data’ in ProSeries that will post to the tax return, but this value data will not post back to QuickBooks
- You can also transfer data from more than one QuickBooks file into a ProSeries client and elect to either create a supplemental form (like multiple schedule C forms) or combine or overwrite data.
- QuickBooks and ProSeries must be on the same computer to perform the update.
1) Pre-assign the tax-lines in QuickBooks, before importing your data. If not already assigned, Edit each Account in your Chart of Accounts to assign the Tax Mapping for the account. QuickBooks will display the accounts appropriate to your ‘tax form’ in the drop-down box.
2) To begin the transfer process:
- Start ProSeries and Open the tax return of the Client you want to update from QuickBooks.
- Select the Import Menu and choose “Update Return with QuickBooks Data”
- The Update Return with QuickBooks Data dialog box will open.
- ProSeries examines your computer’s directories for all QuickBooks (*QBW) files and displays them in the dialog box. If you don’t see the QuickBooks file you need, click the Browse button at the bottom left corner of this screen to open a Windows browse dialog box.
- Each QuickBooks file will display additional information once selected (by checking the left hand column); this information includes the Basis for Return as pre-configured based on the tax return type you previously started in ProSeries. This basis will be used when importing the actual QuickBooks data.
- Select the appropriate QB Company file you want for the return. ( In ProSeries you can select more than one QB file for import, that’s a neat option.)
- By default ProSeries enters 01/01 as Beginning Date and 12/31 as Ending Date, unless it finds different dates in your QuickBooks file.
- You need to confirm and/or edit the Tax Period Dates as appropriate, a warning will be displayed if the tax period in QuickBooks differs from the tax period you already selected on the tax return previously started.
- When you are satisfied with the file or files being selected for import, the tax periods, and the basis of accounting select Continue.
3) ProSeries will now open the actual Update Tax Return with QuickBooks Data dialog box:
- The QuickBooks company data with tax lines assigned appears on the left, and the specific tax forms/lines appear on the right.
- Any QuickBooks data NOT assigned to tax lines does not appear in this ‘Assigned Account’ diaglog box, that data appears under the tab ‘Unassigned Accounts’ in a similar looking dialog box (we will see that in a few moments).
- If you wish to accept the tax line assignments shown in this dialog box, click Update and then proceed to completing the QuickBooks update procedure.
- If you want to make changes to this data before you update the tax return, click Change and proceed making changes before updating your tax return with your QuickBooks data.
- You can add or change tax form line assignments in the All Accounts tab, the Assigned tab, or Unassigned tab dialog boxes.
- You can edit tax line assignments to ‘mapped accounts’ in the Assigned account window (tab).
- If you wish to begin the process of manually mapping Unassigned Accounts, from the Unassigned window (tab).
- In either case, select the account you wish to modify, or assign a tax-line to and then Click Assign tax line.
4) When you begin the process of assigning or reassigning tax lines, ProSeries opens a window allowing you to select the specific tax form and tax line for the account, once you have made your selection and verified the assignment against the detailed description for the ‘tax form and line’ which ProSeries provides, click the Assign button.
If you have optioned ‘under general settings’ not to automatically update QuickBooks accounts with ProSeries tax assignments, ProSeries will display a dialog box giving you the option to post the tax-line assignment back to QuickBooks, you can option to either post or not post the tax line.
- Select the tax form
- Select the tax line
- Verify your tax form/line assignment
- Click Assign
- When the update QuickBooks dialog box appears, click OK to update the tax line assignment in the QuickBooks Account.
When all of your QuickBooks data has been imported, correctly assigned to the appropriate tax forms/lines, updated to multiple copies of tax forms with pre-existing data, or replaced pre-existing information to your satisfaction, you can complete the import process and make final data assignments to the tax return by clicking OK to the displayed message:
“The tax return has been updated successfully using QuickBooks Data”
5) You may then prepare the ProSeries tax return normally.
To learn more about Intuit ProSeries, visit their website.