The quick answer
If your account doesn't use SuiteTax, go to Transactions > Bank > Pay Sales Tax. Pick the Subsidiary and bank Account, set the payment Date and Posting Period, then set End Date on the Tax Codes tab to your filing cutoff. Each row is a tax code, the Vendor column is the tax agency it's owed to, and Amt. Due is what's still open through that date. Mark the rows you're remitting, check that Amount Paid matches, and save. NetSuite creates one Sales Tax Payment per tax agency, so three California codes become one California payment.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and operating-company names are fictional. Use your own records and values when following the steps.
Before you start
Pay Sales Tax belongs to the legacy tax engine. If SuiteTax is enabled, you pay tax through Create Tax Liability Payment instead, and this page doesn't apply. You also need nexuses and tax codes set up with the right tax agency, posted sales (invoices, cash sales, credit memos) that charged tax on those codes, an open posting period, and a role that can enter sales tax payments for the subsidiary and bank account. The Subsidiary field only appears in OneWorld accounts.
In this example the United States subsidiary owes five tax codes through 08/31/2026: three owed to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and two owed to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. The payment goes out of 1010 Operating Checking on 09/15/2026.
Don't pay these with a vendor bill or a manual check to the agency. That moves cash but doesn't clear the liability by tax code, so the payable and your tax reports stay overstated.
01. Open Pay Sales Tax
Go to Transactions > Bank > Pay Sales Tax. The form is titled Sales Tax Payment. Set Subsidiary to United States, then pick Account 1010 Operating Checking. The Account list only shows that subsidiary's bank accounts.
This example leaves Nexus blank, so California and New York show up side by side. Pick a nexus to pay one jurisdiction at a time. Depending on your tax features and form, Nexus may be required, in which case you run Pay Sales Tax once per nexus. Set Date to 09/15/2026 and Posting Period to Sep 2026. Those two belong to the payment. They don't decide which liabilities are listed. End Date and Nexus do that.
Check To Be Printed if you pay the agencies by printed check, and put the filing period in Memo (here, August 2026 sales tax) so the payments are easy to find later.
02. Set the End Date and review the rows
On the Tax Liabilities subtab, stay on the Tax Codes tab and set End Date to 08/31/2026. That's the filing cutoff. Only tax from transactions dated on or before it counts toward Amt. Due. It isn't the payment date and it doesn't set the posting period.
Leave Include All Payments Made After End Date checked unless you have a reason not to. With it checked, tax payments dated after the cutoff still count when NetSuite works out what's due as of that date, so you don't pay the same tax twice.
Now read the rows. Item is the tax code and Vendor is the agency your tax setup assigns to it. You don't choose the agency on this page. Here there are five rows: CA State Tax 1,848.00, Los Angeles County District Tax 693.00, and Sacramento County District Tax 231.00 owed to the California agency, plus New York City Local Tax 1,080.00 and NY State Tax 960.00 owed to the New York agency. The header Amount is still 0.00 because nothing is marked yet.
Before you pay, compare these amounts with the return you're filing. The Sales Tax Liability By Tax Agency report under Reports > Sales Tax US, run for the same subsidiary, nexus, and cutoff, gives agency totals. Sales Tax Liability By Tax Item gives the code-level numbers. If your tax reporting uses cash basis, the reports can differ from this page, so find the reason before you pay. The walkthrough doesn't open those reports.
03. Mark the rows you're paying
Click Mark All to mark every row, or check rows one at a time if you're only paying some agencies today. Each marked row fills Amount Paid with its Amt. Due. The header Amount and the Tax Codes tab label both read 4,812.00.
This example pays with no adjustment. If you're taking an allowed timely-filing discount or making a correction, enter it in that row's Adjustment column. A negative number reduces the payment and a positive one increases it. Then pick an Adjustment Account in the header so the difference has somewhere to post. Don't use Adjustment to make an unexplained difference go away.
Then open the Other Tax Payable tab. It lists tax payable amounts, such as journal entries, that are assigned to a tax agency but aren't tied to a tax code. If anything there belongs to this filing, mark it too. Here it's empty.
04. Save and check the payments
Click Save. The Processed Transactions confirmation lists one Sales Tax Payment for each tax agency: 2,772.00 to the California agency and 2,040.00 to the New York agency, 4,812.00 in total. The three California rows were combined into one payment. Because To Be Printed was checked, Number shows To Print instead of a check number.
Go to Transactions > Management > Print Checks and Forms and choose Checks. For 1010 Operating Checking, both Sales Tax Payments are waiting to print, dated 09/15/2026.
Check the result
- Processed Transactions shows one Sales Tax Payment per agency, and the amounts add up to the header Amount.
- Each payment's payee is the agency from the Vendor column and its bank account is the one on the header.
- With To Be Printed checked, both payments are in the Print Checks queue.
- Pay Sales Tax for the same subsidiary, nexus, and End Date shows no open Amt. Due for the codes you paid.
Each payment reduces sales tax payable for its tax codes and credits the bank account on the header. Open each payment and check its payee, amount, and GL Impact before you print. If a backdated sale later adds tax on or before the cutoff, that code shows up again on a rerun. A backdated journal entry to the agency shows up on Other Tax Payable instead.
If you paid something by mistake, void the payment (if your role and the period allow it) instead of deleting it or posting a journal entry, then rerun Pay Sales Tax to confirm the liability is back. Voiding in NetSuite doesn't get money back from the agency.
Common questions
Why use Pay Sales Tax instead of a bill or check to the tax agency?
Pay Sales Tax pays against the liability NetSuite tracked for each tax code, so the payable clears code by code and the tax reports see the payment. A vendor bill or a regular check to the agency moves the cash but leaves those tax-code liabilities open. They'll still show up the next time you run Pay Sales Tax, and your sales tax payable stays overstated.
What's the difference between End Date and the payment Date?
End Date is the filing cutoff. It decides which tax is included, here everything dated on or before 08/31/2026. Date (09/15/2026 here) is the date of the payment itself, and Posting Period is where the payment posts. Changing Date or Posting Period doesn't change which liabilities are listed.
What does Include All Payments Made After End Date do?
It counts tax payments dated after the End Date when NetSuite works out what's still due as of that date. So if part of August's tax was already paid in September, that payment reduces the August amounts instead of letting you pay them again. Leave it checked unless your reconciliation deliberately excludes later payments.
How do I record a timely-filing discount?
Enter the discount as a negative number in the Adjustment column on the tax code row it applies to. Amount Paid and the header Amount drop by that much. Pick an Adjustment Account in the header so the difference has somewhere to post, and check the total before you save. Which account is right depends on how your company books these discounts.
Why did Pay Sales Tax create more than one payment?
It creates one payment for each tax agency among the rows you marked. Here the three California codes became one 2,772.00 payment and the two New York codes became one 2,040.00 payment. The agency comes from each tax code's setup, so if two codes point to the same agency they're paid together.
How do I undo a sales tax payment made by mistake?
Open the payment and void it, if your role, its print or clearing status, and the accounting period allow that. Don't run Pay Sales Tax again or post a journal entry to offset it. After voiding, rerun Pay Sales Tax with the same End Date and the liability should be back. Voiding in NetSuite doesn't get money back from the agency, so handle that separately.