The quick answer
Go to Setup > Accounting > Manage Tax Periods. Use Set Up Full Year to create next year's tax year, quarters and monthly periods for the Fiscal Calendar shown in the filter. After a return is filed, click the status padlock on the last month of that return, check Close for each subsidiary that filed (or click Mark All), and click Submit. NetSuite closes that month and every earlier tax period still open for those subsidiaries.
Tax reporting periods are a separate set of periods from accounting periods. They have their own year setup and their own close status, and they decide which tax period a transaction's tax lands in. This example works through a company with three VAT-registered subsidiaries: it creates FY 2027 tax periods, then closes the third quarter of 2026 after the Q3 return is filed. The person and company names in the screenshots are fictional example data.
Before you start
The example account is OneWorld with Multiple Calendars and the legacy tax engine (Advanced Taxes on, SuiteTax off). If your account uses SuiteTax, or you only collect US sales tax, tax reporting works differently and this page may not apply.
You need a role with permission to manage tax periods. The example uses Administrator.
File and reconcile the return before you close anything. Closing a tax period doesn't file a return, and filing a return doesn't close the tax period. They're separate actions.
01. Check the subsidiary's Tax Fiscal Calendar
Go to Setup > Company > Subsidiaries and click View next to the subsidiary. Each subsidiary has two calendar fields. Fiscal Calendar drives its accounting periods. Tax Fiscal Calendar drives its tax reporting periods.
Here both fields show Standard Fiscal Calendar, and the other two subsidiaries use the same Tax Fiscal Calendar. That's why all three share one list of tax periods, while each subsidiary still keeps its own close status on every month. Check the field on each subsidiary you file for. If one runs its tax year on a different calendar, its tax periods live under that calendar instead.
02. Review the existing tax periods
Go to Setup > Accounting > Manage Tax Periods. Many accounts list it under a Taxes group in that menu, and what you see depends on your role and tax features. The page title is Manage Tax Reporting Periods. Keep the subsidiary's Tax Fiscal Calendar, here Standard Fiscal Calendar, in the Fiscal Calendar filter.
The Status column shows a padlock on monthly periods only. Year and quarter rows roll the months up and have no status of their own. In FY 2026, Jan 2026 to Jun 2026 show the closed padlock because the first two quarters were filed and closed earlier. Jul 2026 to Oct 2026 show the open padlock. In this example, dated 10/06/2026, Nov and Dec 2026 show no padlock.
The list stops at Dec 2026. Until FY 2027 exists, a January 2027 transaction can't be assigned to an open tax period, and saving taxable transactions can fail.
03. Set up next year's tax periods
Click Set Up Full Year. On Tax Reporting Periods for Full Year, check that Fiscal Calendar is the calendar you filtered on. First Fiscal Month comes from that calendar and is read-only; here it's January.
Enter 2027 in Fiscal Year End. Keep Period Format set to Calendar Months and Year In Period Name set to Ending Year of Period, then click Save.
Calendar Months creates one tax year, four quarters and twelve monthly periods. The months are the posting periods; the quarters and the year roll them up. Monthly periods work fine for quarterly returns.
Back on the list, FY 2027 runs from 01/01/2027 to 12/31/2027 with Q1 2027 to Q4 2027 and Jan 2027 to Dec 2027 underneath. The new months are open. In this example none of them shows a padlock yet.
04. Close the filed quarter
The Q3 2026 return covering July to September has been filed for all three subsidiaries. Before you close, check that Jul 2026, Aug 2026 and Sep 2026 all show the open padlock.
Click the open padlock in the Status column of Sep 2026, the last month of the quarter. The Close Tax Period page shows Period Sep 2026, Status Open, Start Date 09/01/2026 and End Date 09/30/2026.
On the Subsidiaries subtab, click Mark All. Close is now checked for Example Supply Co., Example Supply UK and Example Supply Ireland.
Mark All closes the period for every listed subsidiary, so clear the box for any subsidiary whose return and reconciliation aren't finished. Then click Submit. Whether you get a confirmation prompt depends on the account, so check the boxes before you submit. The Notes subtab keeps the history of closes and reopens.
05. Confirm what closed
Back on Manage Tax Reporting Periods, Sep 2026 shows the closed padlock. So do Jul 2026 and Aug 2026. Closing a tax period for a subsidiary also closes every earlier tax period still open for that subsidiary, so you don't have to close the quarter one month at a time.
Oct 2026 still shows the open padlock, and the rest of Q4 and all of FY 2027 stay open, so fourth-quarter tax can still post. If someone later enters a transaction dated in a closed tax period, NetSuite reports its tax in the next open tax period; if there isn't one, the save can fail. The accounting periods for July to September didn't change. Close those separately in Manage Accounting Periods.
Common questions
What's the difference between a tax period and an accounting period?
Tax periods group transactions for VAT and GST reporting. Accounting periods group them for the general ledger and financial statements. With Multiple Calendars, each subsidiary has a Fiscal Calendar for accounting periods and a separate Tax Fiscal Calendar for tax periods, and each set has its own close status.
Does closing Sep 2026 also close Jul and Aug 2026?
Yes. Closing a tax period closes that period and every earlier tax period still open for the subsidiaries you selected. In this example, closing Sep 2026 for all three subsidiaries closed Jul, Aug and Sep 2026, and Oct 2026 stayed open.
Does closing a tax period close the accounting period?
No. The two are closed separately. Closing the September tax period doesn't touch the September accounting period, and closing the accounting period doesn't close the tax period.
How do I reopen a closed tax period?
Click the period's padlock on Manage Tax Reporting Periods, clear Close for the subsidiary you need to reopen, and click Submit. That reopens the period and the later tax periods already set up for that subsidiary. Keep this permission to the people who own the tax filings.
What happens if someone enters a transaction dated in a closed tax period?
NetSuite generally reports its tax in the next open tax period instead of the closed one. If there's no open tax period to use, saving the transaction can fail. Changing a transaction that was already in a filed return usually means reopening periods and filing an adjustment.
What does In Progress mean in the Status column?
The tax period is closed for some subsidiaries and still open for at least one other. It shows as closed once every subsidiary on that calendar is closed.
Why is there no tax period for next year?
NetSuite doesn't create tax periods on its own as the year turns over. Someone has to run Set Up Full Year (or add a year, quarters and months by hand) for each tax calendar. Do it before the first transaction of the new year needs a tax period.