How Do I Change Invoice Default Due Date?

alteredstate82

I select: "Invoice defaults" but after entering the new: "Due date:" and clicking: "Okay" I receive the following error: "Please select an existing account to proceed." So I click the drop down box next to: "Tax account" but it is empty. First, how do I correct this? Second, I've been using Quicken to send invoices for the past several months without this so called: "Tax account" and it has worked okay. However, this appears to be a vital setting so why would Quicken allow me to go this far without setting up this account?

mshiggins

From C. D. Bales:
"So if I understand you correctly I must keep the *Sales Tax* account that Quicken auto-created in order to change the *Default Due Date*?"

No, that's not what I said.

I said you must have A sales tax account - "any sales tax account" will do. If you deleted the original sales tax account, you can easily create another. 

As I also noted, if you have no use the for sales tax account, you can hide it - it can serve its purpose while remaining virtually invisible. 

Quicken may be able to be modified to avoid this requirement; but given how trivial it is to avoid the problem, it might be worth asking yourself just how you'd like Quicken to be spending the limited time they have available for dealing with problems: solving significant problems for which there is either no workaround, or a very difficult time-consuming workaround - or "fixing" trivial problems which impact a tiny percentage of Quicken users and for which there is, at worst, a simple, one-time, workaround?

Greg_the_Geek

In Forms Designer, is the Sales tax box checked?

alteredstate82

> @Greg_the_Geek said:
> In Forms Designer, is the Sales tax box checked?

No, it is not checked.

Greg_the_Geek

Apparently, you need to have a Tax Account to change the default due date. I would enable Sales tax on your Invoice form, create a new Invoice, and then create at Tax Account. You can then set the default Due Date and remove Sales tax from the form.

mshiggins

From C. D. Bales:
" ... this appears to be a vital setting so why would Quicken allow me to go this far without setting up this account?"

I think your statement is a mis-characterization.

The first time you create an Accounts Receivable account in Quicken, Quicken automatically creates the *Sales Tax* account and places that account name in the Set Invoice Defaults > Tax account dropdown ... where it can be selected.

The fact that the *Sales Tax* account may not appear selected at that point is not "vital" as long as you do not decide to use sales tax on invoices (and having no sales tax account to select only becomes "vital" for those who want to change the Due Date default).

Even if you delete the *Sales Tax* account (which you cannot do when the Forms Designer "Sales Tax" item is selected), there would be no immediate problem. Quicken does not know that you may intend to modify the default Due Date at some later time ... any some users will probably not.

It might seem that when you elect to modify the default Due Date, Quicken could check the Forms Designer to see whether you use sales tax in your invoices, before complaining that a valid sales tax account is not present. But since you can have multiple invoice forms - some of which use sales tax, and some of which do not, the verification process itself could become cumbersome and unreliable (which invoice form Sales Tax setting should Quicken rely on, for example?).

I suspect that the best approach is not to delete the *Sales Tax* account. Even if you don't use it, there doesn't seem to be any compelling reason to delete it. If you don't want to see it, open its Edit Account Details dialog to the Display Options tab and hide the account. As long as a *Sales Tax* account (any sales tax account) is present in the Quicken file, there should be something to select in the Invoice Defaults > Tax account dropdown.

Quicken Sarah

Hello @alteredstate82

Thank you for taking the time to report this behavior to the Community, although I apologize for any frustration or inconvenience experienced.

May I ask, what version and release of Quicken are you using?

I attempted to replicate this behavior in my copy of Quicken 2019 R19.44, but unfortunately could not.  I was able to successfully edit the invoice, change the due date, add line items, email and save the invoice without receiving an error to select a Tax Account.

If you haven't yet, please go to the File menu > File Operations > Validate & Repair option and perform a validate and repair of your data file.

Once the validation has completed, please close and re-open Quicken and attempt to edit the invoice once more.

Do you still receive an error to select a tax account?

Please let us know, thank you.

Sarah

alteredstate82

> @Quicken Sarah said:
> Hello @alteredstate82
>
> Thank you for taking the time to report this behavior to the Community, although I apologize for any frustration or inconvenience experienced.
>
> May I ask, what version and release of Quicken are you using?
>
> I attempted to replicate this behavior in my copy of Quicken 2019 R19.44, but unfortunately could not.  I was able to successfully edit the invoice, change the due date, add line items, email and save the invoice without receiving an error to select a Tax Account.
>
> If you haven't yet, please go to the File menu > File Operations > Validate & Repair option and perform a validate and repair of your data file.
>
> Once the validation has completed, please close and re-open Quicken and attempt to edit the invoice once more.
>
> Do you still receive an error to select a tax account?
>
> Please let us know, thank you.
>
> Sarah

Hello Sarah,

I am also using Quicken 2019 R19.44 (Build 27.1.19.44) and I see you tried some different things but did you try to change the Default Due Date? I see you changed the Due Date with no problem (which I can do as well) but the Default Due Date is different. The Default Due Date sets the Due Date on each new Invoice that is created (see screen shot) and is a setting. If I try and change that then I receive the error.

Greg_the_Geek

I've been working with @Quicken Sarah on how to reproduce this problem. She is now able to reproduce it.

alteredstate82

> @mshiggins said:
> From C. D. Bales:
> " ... this appears to be a vital setting so why would Quicken allow me to go this far without setting up this account?"
>
> I think your statement is a mis-characterization.
>
> The first time you create an Accounts Receivable account in Quicken, Quicken automatically creates the *Sales Tax* account and places that account name in the Set Invoice Defaults > Tax account dropdown ... where it can be selected.
>
> The fact that the *Sales Tax* account may not appear selected at that point is not "vital" as long as you do not decide to use sales tax on invoices (and having no sales tax account to select only becomes "vital" for those who want to change the Due Date default).
>
> Even if you delete the *Sales Tax* account (which you cannot do when the Forms Designer "Sales Tax" item is selected), there would be no immediate problem. Quicken does not know that you may intend to modify the default Due Date at some later time ... any some users will probably not.
>
> It might seem that when you elect to modify the default Due Date, Quicken could check the Forms Designer to see whether you use sales tax in your invoices, before complaining that a valid sales tax account is not present. But since you can have multiple invoice forms - some of which use sales tax, and some of which do not, the verification process itself could become cumbersome and unreliable (which invoice form Sales Tax setting should Quicken rely on, for example?).
>
> I suspect that the best approach is not to delete the *Sales Tax* account. Even if you don't use it, there doesn't seem to be any compelling reason to delete it. If you don't want to see it, open its Edit Account Details dialog to the Display Options tab and hide the account. As long as a *Sales Tax* account (any sales tax account) is present in the Quicken file, there should be something to select in the Invoice Defaults > Tax account dropdown.

So if I understand you correctly I must keep the *Sales Tax* account that Quicken auto-created in order to change the *Default Due Date*?

alteredstate82

> @Greg_the_Geek said:
> I've been working with @Quicken Sarah on how to reproduce this problem. She is now able to reproduce it.

That's great to hear! So it appears a "Sales Tax" account is required in order to change the "Default Due Date"? That seems like a design problem. One should not need a "Sales Tax" account to change the "Default Due Date" on an Invoice.

Greg_the_Geek

As of now, that's true. I made the same point to @Quicken Sarah that there should not be a connection between the default due date and a sales tax account.

mshiggins

From C. D. Bales:
"So if I understand you correctly I must keep the *Sales Tax* account that Quicken auto-created in order to change the *Default Due Date*?"

No, that's not what I said.

I said you must have A sales tax account - "any sales tax account" will do. If you deleted the original sales tax account, you can easily create another. 

As I also noted, if you have no use the for sales tax account, you can hide it - it can serve its purpose while remaining virtually invisible. 

Quicken may be able to be modified to avoid this requirement; but given how trivial it is to avoid the problem, it might be worth asking yourself just how you'd like Quicken to be spending the limited time they have available for dealing with problems: solving significant problems for which there is either no workaround, or a very difficult time-consuming workaround - or "fixing" trivial problems which impact a tiny percentage of Quicken users and for which there is, at worst, a simple, one-time, workaround?