Sales Tax on an Order Looks Wrong

Problem

A line was taxed at a rate nobody expected - too much, too little, or nothing at all - or two similar orders came out taxed differently.

Background

The rate on a line is not read live from your settings. When the line is created, OfficePro works out the rate from the order's tax group and the product's class, and saves that figure onto the line. The line keeps it from then on.

That is deliberate - it is what stops a rate change from silently rewriting last quarter's takings - but it means an old line can legitimately carry a rate that no longer matches your current settings. Two orders taxed differently is often two orders raised either side of a change, not a fault.

Resolution

Work from the line outwards.

1. Check when the line was created. If it predates a rate change, the figure is correct and should be left alone. Repricing it would misstate a period you have probably already filed.
2. Check the product's tax class. A product that should be reduced-rate or exempt but was never classified counts as Standard and is charged the full rate. This is the most common cause of "too much tax".
3. Check the class actually has a rate. On the Admin page open Tax Rates by Product Class. An empty box for that class does not mean exempt - it means taxed at the normal rate. If your state exempts the class, the box must contain 0. This is the most common cause of groceries being charged full rate.
4. If a class you set to 0 is still taxed, check the OTHER jurisdictions in the group. Class rates are per jurisdiction, so 0 against Exempt on the state still leaves the county and city charging their normal rate. In Tax Rates by Product Class, a grey figure is an inherited rate - grey under Exempt means that jurisdiction is still charging.
5. Check which group the order used. The group comes from the destination through Ship-To Regions. An order shipped somewhere unexpected, or falling through to Everywhere else, will use a different group than you assumed.
6. If tax came out as zero, look at whether the group has any jurisdictions attached. An empty group means "no tax here" - correct for out-of-area orders, wrong if it happened to your local group because nobody attached the jurisdictions after creating it.
7. If the rate is absurd - hundreds of percent - a rate has been typed as a percentage instead of a decimal. 4.85% must be entered as 0.0485. Open the jurisdiction under Sales Taxes and check.
8. Compare against the summary. What Each Tax Group Actually Charges shows the rate every group and class combination resolves to. If that figure matches the line, the configuration is doing what it is set to do and the setting itself is what needs changing.

If the Group Rate column disagrees with what was charged

The Group Rate shown against a group is a stored summary, refreshed only when somebody opens that group and saves it. Charges are always calculated from the jurisdictions in the group, so if the two disagree, the charge is right and the summary is stale. Open the group and save it to bring the display back in line.

Correcting a line that really is wrong

Fix the configuration first, or the next order repeats the error. Existing lines keep their stored rate, so any already-wrong line has to be corrected on the encounter itself. If the period is closed or the return is filed, talk to your accountant before altering it - the fix for a filed period is usually an adjustment, not an edit.