Ontario, Canada - Removing sales tax when somone purchases six items

[Downtownbaker]

I'm in Ontario, Canada and we have a tax exemption here when someone purchases six items or more in a bakery.

I'm trying to create a rule that will remove the sales tax (HST) when someone makes a purchases of six or more products.

[Kassi_]

Hey there, @Downtownbaker - 

Welcome to the Community! 

To start - are you trying to set up the tax rule for your Online Store or through Point of Sale? 

If it's Point of Sale, you would only be able to add a Tax Rule for specific items. 

And in the Online Store, you're only able to add tax rates for a particular region. 

Please let me know if you have any other questions. 

[Downtownbaker]

Hello, the tax rule would be on my point of sale. it’s a rule for just about every item in my pos. 

[Klaesis]

I am a bakery owner in Ontario as well.  We've used a different point of sales program for over 15 years and are needing to switch over.  There have been a few glitches with the Ontario tax rules.  For the 6 or more one, I am just creating a separate button that is tax free.  I am still trying to get a good solution for the under and over $4 tax rule.  I haven't purchased items yet, so there is still the option to find a different solution other than square if it gets too difficult.
Have you had any luck on that one?

[Downtownbaker]

I didn’t find an answer here. 
im in Facebook group for bakery owners and I was told there is not way of doing it, other the turning off the taxes for each transaction. 

[JustinC]

@Klaesis @Downtownbaker

I'm afraid you heard right, right now Square does not offer conditional tax rules based on item quantity. 

You'll need to manually turn off tax at checkout by tapping the item in the checkout panel. 

[Klaesis]

Thank you!  I figured out a work around for now.  A lot more extra buttons.  Hopefully someday it can be fixed

[JustinC]

@Klaesis - Awesome! Good to hear 🙂

[Downtownbaker]

I would suggest contacting the bakeries who use square for feedback. 
I run a Facebook group for bakery owners worldwide and many members use square. We all have the same issues with the program. Tax exemptions, preordering of a specific item for a specific date, manually adding orders into the system for custom cakes. 

[Klaesis]

Do you mind sharing the link to the facebook group please?  Thank you!

[SweetKABakery]

Yes, we are finding all of the above to be an issue.  Square has been a nice little POS for routine take-out orders but we doesn't work well at all for custom orders that require a customer to prepay before schedule and requirements are confirmed.  We switched on-line orders off to avoid getting paid orders that we might not have capacity to fulfill.  And now that we are setting up GST, it looks like a super big pain. I will be looking for an alternative if Square won't resolve.

[PolestarHearthB]

Late 2024 and Square still isn't taking any of this seriously.  Does anyone in the Canadian bakery world have a better platform, to recommend?  I've spent years struggling with the more-than-6 tax rule and with properly handling pre-orders.  I need a system that requires a lot less input for my very busy staff.  We're still using an old fashioned cash register and a lot of pen and paper and struggling with a long line-up of customers.  I came to Square thinking all this would become easy with a modern online POS.  Aaah!  I'de really appreciate suggestions of platforms that simplify this stuff.  And ideally platforms that support credit card surcharging too.

[Downtownbaker]

I closed the retail aspect of my bakery so I don’t need to worry about this anymore. 

but if your on FB try asking in this group

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/YWVcxhDiRz7yvDzR/?mibextid=K35XfP

[TeamParlour]

I have the same question - shop owner from Newfoundland here! It would be very convenient if a tax rule (i.e. NO tax) could be applied automatically when 6 or more items from the same Category are purchased. Square, can you make this happen? 

[ashc]

Hiya @TeamParlour,

Thanks for your added input on this feature request!

I don't have a timeline on when this will be available but I would encourage you to check out our Beta Community to join and potentially get access to new features first when we test them out.

[SamuelDesgagne1]

Still nothing for this? Faster checkout, less people inline, get more transactions since people are not discouraged to wait... More transaction fees for Square!

By the way, it’s Quebec too... and surely more provinces...

[SamuelDesgagne1]

Trying to bring this back alive!

How do you in 2021 workaround that since there's no tax rule possible?

You need to know that, in Canada, taxes should be removed on certain items when bought in lots of six or more.

More informations on the problem

[Joe]

Hi there, @SamuelDesgagne1 - thanks for reaching out to us here again on the Seller Community.

Justin offers a workaround within the separate thread you listed above. 

Right now Square does not offer conditional tax rules based on item quantity. 

You'll need to manually turn off tax at checkout by tapping the item in the checkout panel. 

Let us know if you have any remaining questions!

[sofspra · Accepted solution]

There is an odd little known tax rule in Ontario where if a "meal" is under $4,00, then the Provincial Tax of 8% is not payable but the 5% Federal tax is payable.  In an ice cream shop, one can have a single cone under $4 for 5% tax but 2 cones are 13%.

I just set up these few items under $4 as a separate item so a single cane can be 5% but if a

cone is included with other items then the whole sale is 13%. Never any complaints since no one likely knows the rule.

Not sure if this works with no tax rule on over 6 items.  Might work for a few items but gets crazy when many items qualify.

Mel

[SamuelDesgagne1]

Still not the best, should be automatic, human/cashier error proof.

[WildBlue]

It's 2023 ad this is still not resolved!!

- why can I apply a tax exemption to totals below a certain amount but not above one?

- why can I apply a discount when specific items are purchased in specific quantities but I can't do the same thing for a tax exemption?

Please resolve this issue already!