Taxes are not applied correctly? help!

Hey Community,

I'm trying to ensure we're collecting the correct amount of taxes. The settings indicate a 10% tax rate, but there's a discrepancy in the calculation. For example, with a subtotal of $28, the tax should be $2.80, yet the system is only collecting $1.96. I'm not sure why Square is calculating it this way. Can someone help me troubleshoot this?

Ken

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Hey @GMRVT.  So Square is doing exactly what you told it to do when you set up your sales tax rates.  And, it is doing it exactly correctly.  Here’s why. In your screen shot above, the receipt notes that “taxes (are) included in item price.” This means that you set up your sales taxes to be INCLUDED in the item price, rather that ADDED to the item price.  The difference between the two is this.

 

For INCLUSIVE taxes at a 10% rate, the sales tax calculation is this:

  • Since the price INCLUDES sales tax, the real item price is $25.45 ($28 / 1.10)
  • The sales tax (10%) on $25.45 = $2.55
  • Therefore, the item price is $28, as you defined it

 

For ADDED taxes at a 10% rate, the sales tax should be $2.80 for a total price of $30.8

 

If you want to ADD sales taxes to the item price, then you must edit your sales tax definition(s) and turn off “Inclusive tax.”  Then, everything will be just fine.

Chip A.
Square Expert & Innovator and member of the Square Champions group. (But NOT a Square employee, just a seller like you)

Was my post helpful? Take a moment to mark it as a solution. Marked solutions help other sellers find possible resolutions to similar problems. Also, if you find your solution elsewhere (say, through Support), it is helpful to come back to your post and tell us about it, then mark that as a Solution. Solutions are what this Community is all about!

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Square Champion

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Hey @GMRVT.  So Square is doing exactly what you told it to do when you set up your sales tax rates.  And, it is doing it exactly correctly.  Here’s why. In your screen shot above, the receipt notes that “taxes (are) included in item price.” This means that you set up your sales taxes to be INCLUDED in the item price, rather that ADDED to the item price.  The difference between the two is this.

 

For INCLUSIVE taxes at a 10% rate, the sales tax calculation is this:

  • Since the price INCLUDES sales tax, the real item price is $25.45 ($28 / 1.10)
  • The sales tax (10%) on $25.45 = $2.55
  • Therefore, the item price is $28, as you defined it

 

For ADDED taxes at a 10% rate, the sales tax should be $2.80 for a total price of $30.8

 

If you want to ADD sales taxes to the item price, then you must edit your sales tax definition(s) and turn off “Inclusive tax.”  Then, everything will be just fine.

Chip A.
Square Expert & Innovator and member of the Square Champions group. (But NOT a Square employee, just a seller like you)

Was my post helpful? Take a moment to mark it as a solution. Marked solutions help other sellers find possible resolutions to similar problems. Also, if you find your solution elsewhere (say, through Support), it is helpful to come back to your post and tell us about it, then mark that as a Solution. Solutions are what this Community is all about!
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Alumni

Hey @GMRVT, welcome to the Community. Here's an article on creating and managing taxes to help with @TheRealChipA's  Best Answer above.

 

If you still have questions please let us know.

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