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Creating Tax Methods

The state where your business is registered will have its own set rate for sales taxes. To find out the exact rate. we recommend conducting your own research to ensure you have the best information. This information can be provided by a relevant tax authority in your local area.

Once you have the Tax Rate, you can create a Custom Tax Method in the "Tax Methods" section on your website. 

• • From the Jump to menu please select "Tax Methods" and you will be taken to the page where you can set up the Sales Taxes you wish to charge for any sales that match the parameters you put in.
    
    
  • Tax Methods can be set up in 2 different ways. You can use our "Automatic Tax Method" feature, which will automatically charge the correct tax rate for any in-state purchases made on your site.
    
    For this option, the rate will be calculated based on the data from www.avalara.com and is based on the State, City, and Zip code you have entered in your Site Settings when you were setting up your Business Information. This is the easiest and most accurate way of setting up your Sales Taxes. 
    
    
    
    
    If you decide to go with Auto Tax Method, make sure to delete any Custom Tax Methods as they will always override Auto Tax Methods
  •  Second way of setting up Tax Methods is to create a "Custom Tax Method", and manually determine the rate you'd like to charge and the locations in which you'd like to collect taxes. By default, your website comes with a "Sales Tax" Tax Method you can use as a template. If this is the method you'd like to use, make sure that the "Tax Calculation determined by:" dropdown is set to "Tax Methods Only" 
    
    
    If you decide to go with Custom Tax Method, make sure you are aware of the proper and correct taxes within the area you are setting the parameters. Taxes cannot simply be made up, or this could impact your taxes at the end of the year. This information can be provided by a relevant tax authority in your local area
    
    
    
  • Clicking on the Custom Tax Method will open up the back-end page of the selected method where you can determine and specify when the method will be triggered, and how much it will charge. First up, you need to make sure it is set to Available, and give it a name and an optional internal description 
    
  • Next step would be to determine a location. This means that you can choose a Country and a State where this tax method will charge taxes.
    
    Any order placed on your site with a shipping address within the selected Country/State will be charged additional tax upon checkout. 
    
  • Next up is "Rate". This is the field where you can specify the Tax Rate for this Custom Tax Method. Once you know what rate you are obligated to collect, please enter the number and decimal only, with no special characters (!, @,#,$,%, etc.)
    
  • If the tax laws in your state require that you include Shipping in the calculation, you can do so in the field below which is labeled "Include Shipping In Calculation"
    
    

Troubleshooting

1. When I choose my home state at checkout, taxes aren’t being calculated.
   1. If you’re not seeing taxes being calculated, you first need to make sure you’ve selected your state. Go to the back-end of the site. Click Site Settings. Scroll down and make sure your state is set.
   2. You may not have selected the Automatic option. Go back. Select it and save the page.
2. My page won’t save.
   1. You may need to use an approved browser. If you’re using anything other than Firefox or Chrome, you should stop and use either Chrome or Firefox.
   2. If you’re using an approved browser, you may need to clear your cache. Check out how to clear the cache by using the article on How To: Clear your Cache.