Feature Request: Disabling Tax for Tax Exempt Customers

Feature Request: Disabling Tax for Tax Exempt Customers

[The title of this thread has been edited from the original: ax Exempt Customers]

 

Many of my clients are tax exempt (schools and public libraries) and I need to create estimates and invoices without sales tax. These clients buy MANY items and I can't be deleting the sales tax manually for each individual item. I need to have the customer configured as tax exempt. Shopify gives me that option. Does Square allows it too and I just can't see it?

Thanks in advance!!!

19 Replies
Square Champion

That is not currently an option, but you can just remove the tax from the entire sale rather than removing it from each individual item.

How do you remove the tax from the entire sale rather than item by item?

Admin

Hi @OBRV! To remove taxes from the entire sale, you'll go through the following steps:

 

  1. Once an item(s) are added to a transaction, you will see a line item that says Tax
  2. Click Tax
  3. You'll see your taxes appear with red circles next to each tax. If you click on the red circles, it will remove the taxes from the sale.

Hope this helps!

If I remove the sales tax in this manner (for a tax exempt customer) does Square make an adjustment to my net sales total? 

 

When I file my state sales tax return each month, my state's online reporting system doesn't ask how much tax I collected. It asks for my total net sales, then it computes the tax I owe.

 

If Square isn't adjusting the net total, then my tax owed will not reflect the exemption. This means I'm still paying the tax for that sale, but now it's coming out of my pocket, because I didn't collect it from the customer.

 

This is a big problem, since my state (Oklahoma) gives sales tax exemption to all disabled veterans. That's a lot of my customers. 

 

Please reply to this quickly. I think this is costing me a lot of money!

Square Community Moderator

Hi @mikesclub!

 

Even if sales tax is removed, the sale will still be reported in net sales. 

 

As far as any tax issues go- it'd be best to consult with a tax professional on the best way to handle this is. 

Yes, I understand that the sale will still be reported in net sales (as it should be). 

But the sale price will be incorrect. If the tax is included in the $10 price, then the price isn’t really $10. It’s roughly $9.91. But Square is still reporting a $10 sale, and I will be required to remit sales tax, even though I didn’t collect any sales tax from the tax-exempt customer. 

Since Square gives me the ability to include tax in the price, I’m asking why it can’t report the correct sale price when I make a tax-exempt sale. I understand Square isn’t in the business of doing my taxes for me, but it does generate reports that I should be able to rely on when I pay my sales tax every month. As it stands now, whenever I make a single tax-exempt sale (I make several every month), I have to manually adjust the figures in the Square sales and tax report. 


Come on guys. All I’m asking for is accurate sales reporting when I use the features Square provides. 

Admin

Hey @mikesclub.

 

Thanks for your reply. 

 

I tested this on my end, and I see what your'e saying. I'm sorry we don't have a solution for this now, but I went ahead and moved this over to the Feature Requests section of the Seller Community for Product Team visibility. Thanks for surfacing this issue! 

 

Thanks so much. Didn’t mean to sound so irritated. 

Can this be done in the mobile version? 

The ability to to assign a tax exempt status to a customer and then turn sales tax off for their purchases would be very beneficial.