If your business is based in Canada and connected to QuickBooks Online, Dext can extract and publish both GST/HST and PST/QST from your Cost items. This works whether your account is connected to QuickBooks Online or not connected to any accounting software at all.
To do this, you must enable secondary tax extraction and select a combined default tax code.
Before you start
To set up Canadian secondary tax extraction, your account needs to meet the following requirements:
Your Base currency must be set to Canadian dollars
Your Account country must be set to Canada
Your account must be connected to QuickBooks Online, or not connected to any accounting software at all
Secondary tax extraction isn't available for Canadian accounts connected to any other accounting software, including Sage 50 Canada or QuickBooks Desktop.
You can check your Base currency and Account country in: Business settings > Business profile.
Important:
Only Admin users can manage tax settings and QuickBooks Online connection settings in the account.
Accountants or bookkeepers accessing a client account act as Admin users by default.
Step 1: Turn on secondary tax extraction
Secondary tax extraction must be turned on for Dext to extract both GST/HST and PST/QST from Cost items, whether or not your account is connected to QuickBooks Online.
Go to Business settings.
Select Extraction.
Open the Tax section.
Turn on Extract secondary tax.
This allows Dext to extract two tax amounts from eligible Cost items. If your account isn't connected to QuickBooks Online, this is the only setup step you need - go to How secondary tax extraction works without accounting software below. If you're connected to QuickBooks Online, continue to Step 2.
Step 2: Select a combined default tax code in QuickBooks Online
If your account is connected to QuickBooks Online, set your default tax code in the QuickBooks Online connection settings after turning on secondary tax extraction.
Go to Business settings > Connections.
Select Manage next to QuickBooks Online.
Open Settings.
In the Tax tab, select one Default tax. This default tax must be a combined tax code, meaning it includes both:
GST/HST
PST/QST
For example, a GST/PST combined rate created in QuickBooks Online.
How the combined tax code works in QuickBooks Online
When a combined default tax code is selected:
Dext extracts the total tax amount from the document
Dext assigns the correct GST and PST components automatically
QuickBooks Online records GST and PST separately
This ensures compliance with Canadian multi-rate tax requirements.
How secondary tax extraction works without accounting software
If your account isn't connected to accounting software, Dext extracts GST/HST and PST/QST as 2 separate tax fields directly on each item, without needing a combined tax code.
When Dext processes a Cost item, it shows the extracted tax amount alongside separate GST/HST and PST/QST fields.
Review and edit the GST/HST and PST/QST fields on the Item details page in the same way as any other extracted field.
Download secondary tax in a CSV export
Once GST/HST and PST/QST are extracted, include them in your CSV exports by adding the Secondary tax column to your Custom CSV Export format.
Go to Business settings > Exports > CSV Custom Exports.
Under Custom CSV Export columns, select Secondary tax.
For full instructions on setting up and using a custom CSV export, go to How to create a custom CSV export in Dext.
When to use line items
Use the Create line items feature if:
A document includes taxable and tax-free purchases
Different portions of the document require different tax rates
Additional taxes (such as liquor tax) are included
Line items allow you to split amounts and apply the correct tax code to each portion before publishing.