<Solved> State sales tax not correctly applied

[alwayspaws]

State by state the tax rates vary but the rates are not being properly applied. I have my state tax entered for in-state sales but the same rate is being applied everywhere in the 48 contiguous USA.

[alwayspaws]

For example: “The total sales and use tax rate in New York City is 8.875%. This includes: New York City local sales and use tax rate of 4.5% New York State sales and use tax rate of 4%”

My cart only adds 6% sales tax.

[lesley]

Taxes can only be handled on a state level in thirty bees, not a state and city level.

[alwayspaws]

@lesley I’m not asking for city level taxes. The state taxes are not being applied to the cart correctly. Customers are being charged at my state tax rate, not their own.

[x97wehner]

I had an issue with my theme's checkout page not calculating them correctly. I had to grab the thirty bees default checkout page and overwrite the theme one to get it to work correctly.

[jnsgioia]

@alwayspaws Do you have to charge sales tax for every state?

I only have to charge sales tax for items shipped to Arizona (which is my nexus) and, for some products, California and North Carolina (which is the nexus of a supplier which ships directly to the customer for me). To do this I have two tax rules, one for the things I ship directly with just Arizona customers paying the tax, and the other with Arizona, California and North Carolina customers paying tax.

If you have to charge sales tax for all states you will have to enable all of them in taxes and then create a new tax rule which includes all of them. You can only have one tax rule attached to a product.

[alwayspaws]

@jnsgioia I thought everyone is required to charge sales tax for every single sale in the USA, however it seems as if this was held back for 2017, but may be in effect in 2018.

I Googled and found out what “nexus” means. I have no idea how to create tax rules but I’ll look into it. Thanks for clarifying!

[alwayspaws]

@x97wehner that might be too advanced for me. Are you in the USA and charging sales tax for the United States? If so, I’d really like to know how you did that. Thanks!

[jnsgioia]

@alwayspaws I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon. The paperwork to remit the taxes to each state as it is now would be a huge headache! They will probably come up with some kind of internet tax though.

[alwayspaws]

@jnsgioia that’s a relief to hear. I subscribe to Website Magazine and they are constantly discussing this and last time I read an article about it, it seemed like it went through.

I still would like to know how you managed to create more than one tax rule, please.

[jnsgioia]

You need to enable whichever states you have to collect tax for under the Localization-Taxes tab (make sure they have the correct tax listed, and edit it if it is wrong) and save. Then go to Localization-Tax Rules. If you only need South Carolina enable rule #40 and save. If you need more than one state you will have to create a new tax rule. Name it something you will remember save and then fill in the next bunch of fields, save. Once you have your tax rules set up you need to attach the rule to the products. I do this with my csv import.

[alwayspaws]

@jnsgioia Thanks very much for explaining this.

[alwayspaws]

@jnsgioia - you knew THIS question was going to come! :)

Once you have your tax rules set up you need to attach the rule to the products. I do this with my csv import.

What is the name of the column on the CSV and what field does it need to be data-matched with when importing the csv in admin, please?

Happy Thanksgiving! :)

[jnsgioia]

The column is Tax Rules ID and the field is Tax Rule ID. The value will be a number. I use 3 for Arizona and 53 for my combination rule.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[alwayspaws]

@jnsgioia Hi! Referring to what you mentioned above: "the other ....tax rule with Arizona, California and North Carolina customers paying tax" - What do you mean by "for my combination rule."? Those three states all have different tax rates. Thank you!

[jnsgioia]

I created a new tax rule which has all three of those states and their taxes attached.

[alwayspaws]

@jnsgioia I tried to select three states but only one stays selected:

What else do I do please?

[jnsgioia]

@alwayspaws I think you need to add one and then add the second one.

[alwayspaws]

@jnsgioia I don't understand. I already created separate rules for two different states, so what do you mean by your combination rule? I may be misinterpreting something. Thanks.

[jnsgioia]

@alwayspaws I'm sorry it has taken me solong to respond. We are having some crazy busy days...

When you are on the edit page of your combined rule you need to add the states one at a time. That is click the "add new rule" button, add the state, save, then repeat for however many states you have. My combined rule page looks like this:

[Traumflug]

@jnsgioia said:

When you are on the edit page of your combined rule you need to add the states one at a time. That is click the “add new rule” button, add the state, save, then repeat for however many states you have.

This actually sounds like something which should go into the thirty bees distribution. Could you make a list of which taxes are required?

[jnsgioia]

@traumflug I am not sure what you mean here.

The way it is now works for me. The state taxes are set up and you just have to add them to your new rule. It will be different for everyone. In the US we have to charge tax only for the state in which you are located. For me that is Arizona for everything and California and North Carolina for some items which I have dropshipped from those sates.

[alwayspaws]

@jnsgioia Aside from my own state rule which I previously set up, I created two new rules- one each for California and Florida.

Are you saying I now take those two rules and put them together in a combined rule?

What’s the advantage of that? I don’t see it yet.

Thanks.

[jnsgioia]

You can only have one tax rule attached to an item so if you need to charge tax for an item in more than one state you will need to combine the states into one rule. I don't know if that is clear or not... :|

[alwayspaws]

@jnsgioia I’ll try to clear this up.

Example: A customer lives in California and items are being shipped to that customer from a supplier located in California, so a specific tax rule must be created for the California tax rate.

As of this date, USA taxes are only charged in the state that a resident lives in, if that is where the goods are Shipping From.

Is the combined rule for shipping different items to the same person from three different states?

If that’s the case, I don’t need to combine tax rules.

If I’m understanding correctly then I need to create an individual rule for California, Florida and Georgia. These are only examples.