Questions About Sales Tax

If I change a tax rate, does it change past sales?

No. The rate is worked out when a line is created and stored on that line. Past orders, and any refunds against them, keep the rate they were charged. Enter a new rate on the day it takes effect.

Why is 4.85% entered as 0.0485?

Rates are stored as decimals throughout. The screen shows you the percentage it read back, and refuses anything at or above 1, because a rate of 100% or more is always a typo.

What is the difference between an empty class rate and a zero?

Empty means taxed at this jurisdiction's normal rate. Zero means not taxed at all. If your state exempts groceries and you leave the Grocery box empty, groceries are charged the full standard rate and nothing warns you. Enter 0.

I set a class to 0 but it is still being taxed.

Class rates are per jurisdiction. Setting Exempt to 0 on your state leaves the county and the city charging their normal rate, so the product is taxed at their combined rate rather than nothing. Set 0 against that class on every jurisdiction in the group. In the grid, a grey figure is an inherited normal rate - grey under Exempt means that jurisdiction is still charging.

A tax group has no jurisdictions in it. Is that broken?

No - that is how you say "no tax here", and most practices want exactly one such group for orders shipped outside the area they collect for. It is only wrong if it happened to a group that should be charging tax.

The Group Rate does not match what was charged.

Group Rate is a stored summary, refreshed when somebody opens the group and saves it. What a customer pays is always calculated from the jurisdictions in the group. So the charge is right and the display is stale - open the group and save it.

Why do I add state, county and city separately instead of one combined rate?

So the total can be broken down by authority when you file, and so each authority carries its own Pay to the Order Of:. A single combined row charges the right total and leaves you unable to report it.

An order was not taxed at all.

Check the destination against Ship-To Regions. Anything not matching a named region falls to Everywhere else, which for most practices points at a no-tax group. That is correct for out-of-area orders and wrong if the address was local.

Do I have to use product classes?

No. A practice that sets no class rates is charged the plain jurisdiction rates on everything, exactly as before the feature existed. Use them only if something you sell is taxed differently.

Where do I see what my settings actually charge?

What Each Tax Group Actually Charges on the Admin page resolves every group and class combination for you. Read it after any change - it catches a percentage typed as a decimal faster than anything else.

Can OfficePro tell me the right rate for my area?

No. It charges what you configure. Rates and rules are set by your tax authority and change without notice; confirming what to configure is a question for your accountant.