Sales Tax Issue
 

I currently have sales tax set up for one zone only (the state of Iowa in the US). It is adding sales tax for purchases in the State of Iowa; however, it is applying the tax after shipping. I need sales tax to be applied to the product total only and not to the shipping cost. How do I set the sales tax to be added before shipping charges? I'm sure it is an easy fix, but I can't find where it gives me that option. Any help would be appreciated...

Thank you,
Belinda

Re: Sales Tax Issue
 

In my XC version 4.4 branch the sales tax calculations observe the formula entered in the admin's Shipping&Taxes->Tax System page. It is the "apply tax to" formula field. Hopefully your version has something similar.

Re: Sales Tax Issue
 

Thanks for replying Thomas - but unfortunately, no such luck with X-Cart 5. There is no Tax System page or "apply tax to" formula field...

Re: Sales Tax Issue
 

Wow. Just spent 15 frustrating minutes with XC5 demo admin.
1. Sales Tax module is disabled and no way to enable in demo mode;
2. I read the docs:
http://kb.x-cart.com/display/XDD/Specifying+sales+tax+for+your+products
3. There appears to be no way to import or export sales tax rates/zones;
4. The demo store admin is slow as molasses;

...and it is very clear that sales tax is not ready for production.

XC4 tax interface may be perceived as too complicated, but it has the features.
based on the docs, XC5 tax features are simply missing.
And not having tax system enabled on the demo admin makes it impossible to test without installing.

Dear X-Cart: in the US, there are states that have 90+ tax zones (New York is one) and some states require collecting tax on shipping, some states do not. XC5 is useless for production until it can import tax zones from a spreadsheet and there is a setting per tax zone to apply to DST+SH or just DST. Or ST. With or without shipping.

:-(

Re: Sales Tax Issue
 

I am still looking for advice on how to correct this major issue. X-Cart - is there a solution on the way?

Re: Sales Tax Issue
 

Thanks to Sergey, I have this fixed. No further response needed. :-)

Re: Sales Tax Issue
 

Can you please share the solution with the community, please?

Re: Sales Tax Issue
 

I wasn't trying to be evasive with the community, I just didn't think my solution would be of assistance to anyone else. I had read the limited Knowledge Database about a thousand times, but the help desk replied to me and put the steps in a way that gave me a fresh perspective and I found my error.

1. You should assign different tax classes for the shipping shipping methods, and for the sales tax entry.
By default, both have "Default tax class" assigned.
2. So, you should create a new sales tax class, for example "Iowa Sales Tax".
3. After that, assign the new tax class to your sales tax entry.
4. Finally, assign the new tax class to all your products, manually or using Export/Import functions.
Read more about it in our Knowledge Base:
* http://kb.x-cart.com/display/XDD/Shipping+and+taxes

I hadn't named my new tax class properly...once I did and assigned it to all my products, it calculated properly. User stupidity (which is why I didn't share the answer with the group). :-)

From your response earlier - I doubt this will assist you - sounds like your sales tax set-up is much more complicated than mine - but if it does, great.

Re: Sales Tax Issue
 

Hi, guys!

Sorry for being silent on this matter for a while. You know, we have been to IRCE.

@BDGirl Thank you for sharing solution for setting up sales tax.

@carpeperdiem thank you for having look at tax system and giving feedback.

1. Thanks. We should definitely add it.
2. Yes, you are right import/export of tax rates is not supported yet. We are thinking of adding it, but I think that approach of using services -- like Avalara where your taxes are always up-to-date without having to worry about them -- is much better. What do you think of it as a merchant?

3. I just checked it out and it works fine to me. Could you please check admin demo one more time? Just to make sure the problem is gone.

Thank you.

Tony.

Re: Sales Tax Issue
 

Actually this is not a good approach - to only be able to use 3rd party systems. XC should allow for manual setup of taxes including import/export.
Some of the tax setups may be very complicated but some are not and using services like Avalara does not justify the expense at all. Such sales tax for example is for FL - changes are only once per year and known way in advance, it is based on county and FL doesn't have one zip code that falls in 2+ counties so sales tax setup is as easy as setting up destination zones and assigning tax rate to them... This can be done for like 30 min not to mention if you do import export from store to store it can be done for like 2 min...
Other states like NY or WA have way more complicated sales tax so service like Avalara is helpful but still does not mean XC should lack the system...

Costly example of "why just not use this service" is Peachtree - since it was taken by and renamed to Sage it doesn't allow for manual tax setup anymore, it takes only Sage tax services which are annual subscription based and it costs $$$ per year.... many businesses just switch to another accounting software or refuse to upgrade their old versions.... Just think about it...