Online Store and taxes

[zootinzack]

I have some items that are tax included, some that are tax added. I'm in Quebec so I have a total of four tax options that I apply individually to items.

That works fine on the Point Of Sale.

However on my squaresite.com , despite troubleshooting this for over two hours, taxes simply don't show up. I can override to either charge taxes on all items or on some items, but can't seem to link the online store to the Location that charges taxes appropriately on an individual item-based basis.

I suspect it's because my online store is not linked to my location, but I can't find where to change this.

[Summer2024 · Accepted solution]

Hi, @zootinzack ! Welcome to the Square Community! 

I'm going to outline a few things to try below. Please let m eknow if you have any questions. 

Make sure your online site is linked to your correct Square location

Each Square Online site has a default “business location” setting. If it’s not tied to the same location as your POS (where your item-level taxes are configured), your site will ignore those item-based tax settings.

To check or change it:

1. Go to your Square Dashboard → Online.

2. In the left menu, click Settings → General.

3. Scroll to Business Information → look for Business Location.

4. Make sure it’s set to your Quebec location (the same one you use in POS).

5. Click Save, then Republish your site.

If your site is linked to the default “Online” location instead of your actual business location, taxes won’t sync properly — that’s the most common cause.

Confirm your item-level tax settings

You already have this part set up on your POS side, but double-check they’re properly assigned in your Item Library:

1. Dashboard → Items → Item Library.

2. Choose an item that should have tax included or tax added.

3. Under Sales Taxes, confirm the correct taxes (GST, QST, or both) are applied.

4. Save.

Square Online uses the same item library, but only pulls those taxes if the site location is linked (as above).

Enable tax sync in Square Online

1. In Square Dashboard → Online → Settings → Taxes.

2. Under Automatic Tax Calculation, toggle ON for “Sync with Square.”

3. Make sure your tax location shows your Quebec address (so Square applies Canadian GST/QST rules).

4. Click Save and Republish your site again.

This syncs your item-level taxes from POS into your website’s checkout.

Square Online doesn’t natively support a mix of “tax-included” and “tax-added” items at checkout. It’s one or the other per site.

Workarounds for this :

• Keep “tax-included” pricing in your item price itself for those few items. Manually adjust the base price to include the tax.

• Use a note in your product description like “Price includes GST & QST” to clarify for customers.

• Keep the rest of your items as “tax-added” via the site’s automated tax system.

Once you’ve saved everything:

1. Go to your live site (in a private/incognito window).

2. Add one “tax-included” and one “tax-added” item to your cart.

3. Go through to checkout and see if the taxes display correctly.

Let me know how this goes!