Online checkout GST

[Ajit]

Hello,

We have few online checkout links that we share with our customers.

We want to charge GST. GST functionality is enabled and set to "Add Tax to Item Price". 

When we visit the shared online checkout link, it doesn't add GST to the online checkout link.  It still displays the same amount which was entered in during Online checkout link setup.

Is there any other settings which have to be configured before it shows the Amount including GST.

Regards,

Ajit

[Seamus]

Hey @Ajit,

Thanks for reaching out.

At the moment Square Online unfortunately doesn't display exact GST amounts at checkout, though displays the message "GST Included where applicable":

We're hoping to be able to break this down into exact amounts in the future.

If your customers require a receipt that highlights GST, the workaround for now is to send them a receipt for the transaction from your Square dashboard. Sorry I can't be of more immediate help here!

[Ajit]

Hello @Seamus ,

Thanks for your response.

Displaying exact GST amount at checkout is another query which we can cover later.

If I put in a price of $1 for a online checkout link. GST doesn't have effect on the price.

Does it means we have to calculate GST and increase the prices by 10%.

[Seamus]

Hey @Ajit,

GST should definitely not have an impact on the overall price, this is working as intended - GST should be inclusive in the overall price of your goods.

Unlike the US-style tax system where tax is added to the overall cost of an advertised price, GST in Australia needs to be included in the overall price, so for Australian accounts the GST option is set up as inclusive (you can change it via tax settings, but we don't recommend doing so in order to maintain tax compliance):

Hope this makes sense!

[Ajit]

Hi @Seamus ,

I have the settings of "Add Tax to Item Price" as per my first post.

So it means, I should modify my Online Checkout link price to include GST and modify the GST settings to "Include Tax in Item Price"

If "Add Tax to Item Price" is selected, does it add tax to the item price or Online Checkout Link Prices or both ?

[Seamus]

Apologies for mis-reading your initial post @Ajit!

I took a further look into this and it appears as though this is an off-shoot of the same issue as GST amounts not displaying, as Square Online doesn't currently support taxes for Australia.

The reason we shows"GST Included where applicable" on checkout is to cover our obligations in Australia, however custom additive taxes or GST amounts can't currently be added to sales via Square Online. GST should be an inclusive tax though rather than one you add on, per guidelines from the ACCC. The solution here would be to change the GST to an inclusive tax. 

I do apologise for the inconvenience here in terms of the feature gap for Australian Square Online accounts. I'm hoping our eCommerce team will be adding this functionality at some point in the near future.

[Ajit]

Hello @Seamus ,

Is it possible to provide a timeline for the mentioned change.

Also, is there a roadmap you can share so that we know what is being released.

[Seamus]

Hey @Ajit,

Unfortunately I don't have a timeline for this one, and we don't publicly reveal public road maps as policy. This is one I've advocated for before and will continue to advocate for internally, as I understand it's expected behaviour for Australian merchants and is quite important.

You can read a little more about feature requests here.

[Contentment]

Hi Seamus, this lack of functionality has become a problem for my business now that I am registered for GST. I am contemplating finding an alternative provider for my online payment system. Is there any update on when this functionality might be available?

[Seamus]

@Contentment I don't have any further updates to provide at the moment unfortunately.

This is something we continue to advocate for on behalf of Australian sellers and once I'm able to share more I'll loop back on the threads where sellers have requested it in the past.

Sorry I'm not able to share anything more for now!

[aplozza]

Any update on this topic?

My business is about to register for GST and my accountant has advised on multiple occasions to "get rid of square because they dont support tax", which makes a big head ache during accounting. I really don't want to move away from square, but will if I need to. 

[Seamus]

No updates at the moment unfortunately @aplozza.

Square does support tax, though it's tracked on the Square transaction history side, rather than the Square Online side. So your items and transactions for online sales will still have tax applied on the transaction backend, it's just that the email confirmation/item listing for online orders does not currently display tax amounts.

[aplozza]

@Seamus My business utilizes both Square online and Square invoices. Just so I understand the above comments and functionality of square online vs square invoices, the Square online prices should be "GST Inclusive" as the Square online system does not calculate GST at checkout. Is that correct?

Square Invoicing on the other-hand does calculate tax if the toggle for "Include tax in item price" is set to "OFF". ie, it adds tax onto the prices. 

[Seamus]

@aplozza Yes, this is correct.

Also, if you locate the Square Online transaction in your Square Dashboard transaction list it will give you a full GST breakdown and the ability to forward a receipt with GST breakdown to your customers if they request one be sent. 

[aplozza]

Ok great. I also use the Square-Amaka-Xero integration. Does square send the GST amounts collected via the online store to Xero? I know Square Invoicing does but not sure of Square Online. Basically, I need the reports sent to xero from both revenue streams to show the tax portion.  

[Seamus]

@aplozza provided the integration is pulling from your regular transactions, I don't see why it wouldn't - if you already have the integration set up it sounds pretty each to test! Make a small online purchase, see what data pushes through, then refund your purchase.

I don't have Xero so am not able to test this, however if you are able to do this and report back I'd appreciate it!

[CombatJKD]

Please advise a fix on this related issue: GST is not being applied, although settings are correct for both online store and checkout links. To clarify, the total is correct (including GST) but the GST is not itemised. So as a consequence, when this information feed goes through to XERO, the item comes up as GST FREE, which it is NOT. Therefore, this is an Australian tax issue due to the reported GST being incorrect. Please advise a fix on this as as it stands, it has to be adjusted manually through XERO as is labour intensive which defeats the very purpose of having a direct feed.

Thanks in advance for an expected solution to this issue

[Arie]

Hi @CombatJKD,

Thanks for writing in to the Seller Community! 

At this time, Square Checkout Links and Square Online don't support taxes, so no custom GST or tax amounts are shown. However, when you look at your transaction history via your Dashboard, you'll be able to see an itemised breakdown. While I'm not sure whether Xero pulls data from the Dashboard transactions, it would be best to reach out to Xero directly via their helpdesk to check where the data is pulled from and if they have a workaround to the manual adjustments.