Welcome to the Intuit Community, gressgardens,

Thanks for choosing QuickBooks Online.

To record the payment you've made to HMRC for the VAT Return filed outside of QuickBooks, you can create an Expense transaction under Expense account.

To create an Expense account, here's what you'll need to do:

1. Go to Accounting from the left navigation menu.
2. Click New button at the upper right hand.
3. Choose Expenses for the Account Type, then select Taxes Paid for the Detail Type.
4. Enter a Name for this account, and click Save and Close.

To create an Expense account, here's what you'll need to do:

1. Click the Plus (+) icon at the top.
2. Click Expenses.
3. Enter the necessary information.
4. In the Category details section, choose Taxes Paid account for the Category, Description, Amount, then select No VAT for the VAT column.
5. Click Save and close.

That's it! If there's anything else you need help with in recording transactions, please let me know. I'd be happy to assist. Have a great day!