Hi Square Team & Sellers,
Iโm reporting what appears to be a bug or limitation in how Square for Retail POS handles sales tax on shipped orders within Canada โ especially affecting cross-province shipping and 3rd-party marketplace sales.
๐งพ Background
I'm based in Ontario (13% HST).
I'm starting to sell through Walmart Marketplace, which:
Collects the full customer payment (incl. taxes)
Charges based on the shipping province (e.g., GST + QST for Quebec)
Pays me the net after fees
To keep reporting clean, I manually enter these sales into Square for Retail, but I'm seeing some serious issues.
โ ๏ธIssues
1. Destination-Based Tax Not Applying on Shipped Orders
I created a customer with a Quebec shipping address, marked the order as shipment, and added shipping fees.
Square still applies Ontario's 13% HST, not the correct 5% GST + 9.975% QST (14.975% total) for Quebec.
According to Squareโs documentation, it should base tax on the destination province for shipped orders:
๐Square Help โ Create and Manage Your Tax Settings (Canada)
โFor shipped orders (Square Online or Retail POS), we apply destination-based tax if youโre registered in that province.โ
2. Shipping Fees Not Taxed (Even in Ontario)
In Ontario, shipping fees should be taxed at 13% HST if the product is taxable.
But in Square for Retail, shipping lines are not taxed โ even with โApply tax to shippingโ enabled.
3. Confusing or Misleading Tax Registration Settings
In my Tax Registrations, it says:
โAll Canadian provinces and territoriesโ are active.
But destination-based tax is clearly not being applied, raising the question:
โDo I still need to add each province manually?
If so, why does Square say theyโre already โactiveโ?
๐งฉ Why This Matters
This undermines tax compliance when shipping out of province or syncing external marketplace sales into Square.
It also creates inconsistent behaviour between the Square Online store and the Retail POS app.
Tax on shipping is being skipped, even in provinces like Ontario where it legally applies.
โ Suggestions
1. Fix Retail POS Tax Logic for Shipped Orders
โ Respect the shipping address and apply the correct provincial tax automatically.
2. Ensure Tax is Applied to Shipping Fees
โ This should follow standard tax rules in each province when the product is taxable.
3. Clarify What โAll Provinces Activeโ Means
โ If destination-based tax needs a manual province registration, update the language in the UI.
4. Add a โMarketplace Saleโ Mode
โ Let sellers enter tax-collected transactions (e.g. Walmart, Amazon), specify the tax collected, and avoid distorting Squareโs tax reports.
Would love to hear from the Square team or other Canadian sellers.
Is this a bug in Square for Retail? Or just a feature gap?
Thanks
@isabelle @Summer2024 for vis
