Why are my non-taxable sales incorrect?

[txicecreamgirl]

The only items we sell that are "non-taxable" are bottles of water.  So I know each month that my non-taxable sales should be a smaller number with no change.  Last month, I noticed that I had an odd number that was too high for my non-taxable sales.  

1. Is it possible that refunds show up under non-taxable sales?
2. If not, what else might cause this? As far as I can tell, all our other items have the correct sales tax applied to them and most months are correct.  Just every now and then I will see an odd number in non-taxable sales that doesn't look correct.

Thanks!!

[Chad · Accepted solution]

Hey @txicecreamgirl, I have an idea of what happened! 

If you entered  a custom amount for a sale a tax won't be applied automatically. You would have toggle on the tax by clicking on the amount. This can cause a discrepancy in the taxable item reporting. 

Since we can't discuss account specifics here, I had a Support Specialist look into your non-taxable sales. They went ahead and sent you an email with a breakdown of what happened. If you feel comfortable, feel free to share what they found. It might make for a great best answer. 😉

[txicecreamgirl]

Yes, thank you.  That's exactly what happened.  Now I have to figure out why someone entered a "custom amount."  But the mystery is solved as far as why I have an odd non-taxable sale amount.  

Thank you!!

[Chad]

@Txicereamgirl, you're welcome! You might be interested in Employee Management to track which employee is manning the register. 

Just a suggestion. 😀  ✌️

[toastmostroast]

Hello. I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a way to set Custom Amount to default to add Sales Tax?

2. Now there Partial Refunds are possible, will the Non-Taxable and Taxable Sales totals reflect Partial Refunds? Currently, it seems that there is an overstatement since Partial Refunds are not subtracted.

[txicecreamgirl]

I want to add to this that I think one of our employees also accidentally toggles the sales tax "off" sometimes.  He goes very fast and adds comments at the bottom, and the comment box is "dangerously" close to the sales tax button.  I wish this wasn't so easy to do, but just something to keep in mind.  

[KT123]

Chad, I'm having the same sort of issue...seems like many of my transactions are falling under non-taxable. All should be taxable. Please advise! Thanks

[maranda]

I also have this problem each month.  Can you tell me if you figured out what is happening?

[txicecreamgirl]

We noticed that after two employees left, our non-taxable sales went back to normal for the most part. So I am sure that they were either accidentally toggling the sales tax "off" when they wrote comments during a sale, or they were for some reason entering a custom amount.  (They were relatives so this is highly possble.)  Do you think it may be human error like this?  Also you can ask support to look at your specific account and they can tell where those amounts are coming from. 

Also, of course, make sure that all of your taxable items have the tax applied.  

This was our experience anyway.  Hope this helps.  

[BarsAndRec]

Hello,

I am having this same issue. I have looked through every individual transaction and they all have tax assigned to them (aside from 3-4 that should not have tax assigned to them), yet our non-taxable net sales amount for the month is huge. I tried to add up tips and delivery fees and can't get that number to match. There are no custom amount items in any of these transactions. Can someone from Square please assist?

Thanks!

Kate

[JustinC]

Hey there @BarsAndRec! Sorry you're having issues reconciling your Tax Reports. 

It might be best to reach out to our CS for. Since your issue sounds account specific, they'll be able to pull up your Tax Reports and go over those figures with you to make sense of them. 

Options to contact Square are here: squ.re/howtocontact. Let us know how it goes!