Sales Tax Q&A: How can we improve sales tax settings?

[Tom]

On November 10th, 2021 we hosted a Q&A with our Commerce Platform team which focused on sales tax settings.

The Commerce Platform team manages the sales tax product experience: everything from configuring tax settings in the online Square Dashboard to applying taxes to a sale, reporting, and filing.

One of the main goals of this event from our side was to ensure you're getting the most out of your tax settings and identify where Square can improve. We can't share out specific details on our product roadmaps, though we will certainly make sure all of the replies that came through on this post are considered as we iterate. Thank you to everyone who participated!

[divyar]

@butterflyam, 

Thank you for your feedback! We are looking to make this easier for sellers as they start scaling to multiple locations.

[Marlenes]

I am a wedding venue and use the invoices mainly. Dealing with rentals and service fees many items do not have sales tax. I noticed when recently working in invoices I can no longer click to add or remove sales tax per item level on the invoice. This has been a great inconvenience. I use custom items regularly and do not create library items for all line items. 

[sqnick]

Hi @Marlenes, it looks like your Sales Tax is marked as being disabled. In that case the tax won’t appear as being able to be selected on any of our products.

[Tbauguss]

I would pay a small monthly fee for a Tax Jar type of collection and dispersing service directly through Square. I only sell local because of all the tax laws. I would have to hire someone to keep it all straight. An accountant charges $75 an hour. Can’t afford that so we just don’t advertise anywhere but local. It costs us sells which in turn cost Square transaction fees. 

[JustMikes]

I use Davo.  They integrate with Square and pull taxes every day and file for me every month.  They only charge 39.99 a month.  You can click the link to see what they are about.   https://www.davosalestax.com/integrations/?refSource=friend&[email protected]

[sqnick]

Thanks @JustMikes, We have integrations for TaxJar and Avalara as well in our Square App Marketplace.

[Tbauguss]

How did you set up a sales tax account in every state?

[sqnick]

Hey @Tbauguss, Thanks for the feedback! We agree that this is a big pain point for our customers and we are working to solve it. For my own clarity, are you saying you avoid selling online to avoid the hassle of dealing with multiple tax jurisdictions?

[Tbauguss]

I avoid advertising out of state because of the sales tax nexus. Some states require a seller to have a tax ID and collect sales tax in their state if you advertise in the state. 

[ritaendres]

Knowing what exactly is taxed in Michigan is difficult to determine. (Unless you like sifting through governmental blah blah. 🤣) Is there a way for Square to help with that? In my first year of business, I unfortunately had a lot of things marked taxable that should not have been.

[sqnick]

Hi @ritaendres. We are exploring how we can improve Seller’s experience with these types of issues. Out of curiosity, what types of products did you run into issues with?

[CarrieC]

I use Square Online and it only calculates sales tax for orders placed within in my state. We need a way to charge sales tax for other states as well and this isn't possible right now from what I can tell. Are there 3rd party apps we can add or am I going to have to leave Square Online for Shopify?

[sqnick]

Hey @CarrieC. If you navigate to the Sales Tax settings page in Square Online you should be able to add an additional address in another state. If you do this Square Online should start automatically collecting tax in that state.

[lm64]

Hello, How can I set up sales taxes on exempt clothing sold for less than $110 ( New York State Publication 718-C, Sales and Use Tax Rates on Clothing and Footwear )? Orders include sometimes no exempt items.

Thank you! Lana

[sqnick]

Hey @lm64! I’m happy to say that this feature is currently in Beta. If you are interested I am happy to turn this feature (Rule-based Tax Exemptions) on for your account.

[lm64]

Hello,

It would be great! I need to know what Beta is. I've never used this before. Thanks!

Lana

[Dolce]

is it possible to set up for the taxes the for here food with taxes and to go without?

[sqnick]

Hey @Dolce. You should be able to accomplish this using Tax Rules. Here is a help article that explains how to accomplish this. Let me know if this addresses your issue.

[Dolce]

I cant see the link

[sqnick]

Oops. It should be fixed now.

[1klivreri1]

I would just like to see total collected for a date range and you already offer that. Square is so easy to use, I recommend it to every business owner I know.