Why is the CA Prepayment amount amount zero, even though I have sales this month?

Overview

You want to know why your current CA Prepayment filing shows $0 due even though your company had sales that month.

Environment

Avalara Returns

Resolution

• The amount included in this prepayment is based on the sales tax collected for that month, minus any credits, not the sales total itself

  • When credits exceed sales (total sales tax for month is negative) the payment amount is $0

  • For sales with no tax due to being exempt or non-taxable, there is no tax collected, so the payment amount would be $0 unless taxable sales were also processed

• This form is filed to remit payment for sales tax collected during a filing term, so there is a payment amount only if the sales tax collected in that month was positive

Note: Credits are processed as part of the quarterly filing (CA CDTFA 401, 401 A2, etc.) and will be processed follow standard credit process when the actual return form is filed