Tax Settings Problem

  • rsj211

    (@rsj211)


    10 years, 11 months ago

    I’m working with a client whose website was set up with MarketPress Lite. The tax charges being applied to sales are not working correctly, and I’m trying to figure out why and how to fix it.

    In Store Settings, we have the tax rate set at 8.25% and have selected the option to Apply Tax to Shipping Fees.

    For non-physical products, we have special tax rates of 0% set up for non-physical products. This is working properly.

    For physical products, we do not have special tax rates enabled on any products in the store. There are two issues with the tax being charged:

    1. Inconsistency regarding which orders are taxed

    Our store is based in Texas, and orders shipping outside of Texas don’t need to be charged sales tax. Of the 22 orders that were taxed in the last year, 18 of them were shipping outside of Texas.

    Additionally, for most destinations, there are some orders being taxed and some not being taxed. For example:
    – of 2 orders shipped to Ohio (of the same item), 1 was taxed and 1 was not
    – of 3 orders shipped to California (of the same item), 1 was taxed and 2 were not

    2. Inconsistency regarding what (product vs. shipping) is being taxed, and at what rate

    For 19 of the 22 orders that were taxed in the last year, it looks like the tax (at a slightly incorrect rate) was applied to the shipping charge only. For example, on a product that costs $65 and has a shipping charge of $7, the tax charged was $0.58. That reflects a tax rate of 8.286%.

    The three other orders were taxes as follows:
    – one order of $1105.00 with $25 shipping, which was taxed $2.06 (8.240% against the shipping charge)
    – one order of $65 with $7 shipping, which was taxed $5.94 (8.25% against the total including shipping)
    – one order of $15 with $5 shipping, which was taxed $1.65 (8.25% against the total including shipping)

    So… what is going on here? How do I fix this so that the correct tax rate is being applied to the combined product+shipping total for orders shipping only within Texas?

    Site in question is: http://www.thehotviolinist.com

    https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/wordpress-ecommerce/

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Thread Starter rsj211

    (@rsj211)

    10 years, 11 months ago

    Just updating to say that I did some troubleshooting and I’ve narrowed the source of the problem (at least partially) to a plugin we’re using called Free shipping per product by Robin Wilson (http://www.rewweb.co.uk/freeship-per-product-free-shipping-for-marketpress/). If I disable that plugin, taxes get calculated correctly for a shipping address in Texas, with no tax applied to buyers elsewhere.

    With the plugin enabled, Texas taxes are being calculated correctly ($5.94 on a $65 product with $7 shipping). If the same item is set for an address outside of Texas, however, it gets tax calculated at $0.58, which is 8.25% of the shipping charge.

    I’ve contacted the plugin developer to see if they can offer a fix so that non-Texas shipping destinations will not incur any tax.

    However, even if that gets resolved, it doesn’t explain the instances in the last 12 months where Texas buyers had tax levied only against their shipping rather than the products + shipping.

    Plugin Author Bojan Radonic – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support4)

    10 years, 11 months ago

    Hey there rsj211,

    Hope you’re well today and sorry for late response 🙁

    Glad you managed to find the plugin that was conflicting with MarketPress and solved that part of the problem.

    As for taxes being applied to products and shipping I’ve been testing this on my sandbox site and I can’t reproduce the issue.

    First thing please make sure that you have “Apply Tax To Shipping Fees?” set to yes in Products -> Store Settings -> General -> Tax Settings, see screenshot http://screencast.com/t/3hgYQfG5.

    After that make sure you set shipping price for specific countries in Products -> Store Settings -> Shipping http://screencast.com/t/kaWjsw5x8.

    With that being set when US is selected for shipping, taxes (I’ve set 10% as you can see in screenshot 1) are being calculated on both product and shipping, see screenshot http://screencast.com/t/wUtMQkhm.

    If “Apply Tax To Shipping Fees?” set to No, taxes are only applied to product http://screencast.com/t/eytZzHiam6NN.

    Best regards,
    Bojan

    Thread Starter rsj211

    (@rsj211)

    10 years, 11 months ago

    Thanks for looking into this Bojan.

    I’ve double-checked, and the “Apply Tax To Shipping Fees?” box is checked. http://www.screencast.com/t/17XjiMg41

    On the Shipping screen, we are using Fs Table Rate shipping (a variation of the Table Rate option generated by the Free shipping per product plugin mentioned above), so we don’t set country-specific shipping costs, but the shipping costs that are being applied to orders are correct.http://www.screencast.com/t/ACS0djEz5IE

    For orders with shipping addresses inside Texas, tax is being correctly calculated against the product+shipping cost. http://www.screencast.com/t/hP1FtCBg38

    For orders with shipping addresses outside Texas, tax is being incorrectly calculated against the shipping cost. http://www.screencast.com/t/XQAAeRYyalhM

    Any thoughts on how to fix this?

    Plugin Author Bojan Radonic – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support4)

    10 years, 11 months ago

    Hey again rsj211,

    I was testing table rate shipping in MarketPress in order without the plugin you’re using and everything was working fine so I’m assuming the issue is related to Free shipping per product plugin and using Fs Table Rate.

    Since I’m not sure how Free shipping per product works can you please try to confirm if everything works with Table Rate shipping? Also you might want to create new product just for testing just in case plugin is somehow affecting previously created product posts.

    Best regards,
    Bojan

    Thread Starter rsj211

    (@rsj211)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    Switched the shipping to Table Rate (as opposed to Fs Table Rate) and am still getting tax levied against the shipping charges for orders shipping outside of Texas.

    I created a new product to see if it was something with the old inventory, and the issue persisted: http://www.screencast.com/t/mgu6xMcN3V

    Plugin Author Bojan Radonic – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support4)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    Hey again rsj211,

    After more testing of this I’ve managed to recreate it, taxes are only calculated to shipping if selected state is not matching the one set in store settings.

    I’ve discussed this with our developer and he told me that this is by plugin design and that this is related to local sales tax in US, which works on sales tax per state, so only people inside the state pay sales tax.

    Hope this helps 🙂

    Cheers,
    Bojan

    Thread Starter rsj211

    (@rsj211)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    Bojan,

    Thanks for all the work you’ve done getting to the bottom of this.

    To clarify, it’s by Marketpress Lite’s plugin design to charge tax against shipping even if no sales tax is being charged?

    Is there some way to get the “Apply Tax To Shipping Fees?” option to only apply tax when sales tax is active (as it is when shipping to a state matching the one set in store settings)? Tax on shipping, like the sales tax, should only be levied against buyers inside the state.

    Plugin Author Bojan Radonic – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support4)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    Hey again rsj211,

    I don’t believe this is possible out of a box with the current version of plugin, I’m not exactly sure if this is by plugin design (because of some other tax law related to shipping) or possibly a bug.

    Either way I’ll have to consult plugin developer for his opinion on this and will post here as soon as I have any information.

    Best regards,
    Bojan

    Thread Starter rsj211

    (@rsj211)

    10 years, 9 months ago

    Hi Bojan,

    Just checking to see if you have any updated information about this.

    Justro

    (@justro)

    10 years, 4 months ago

    Hi.

    Could someone please help me with woocommerce/tax on shipping issue.

    I’ve set up the tax (standard) and ensured the SHIPPING COLUMN is checked but it still won’t calculate and show the tax from shipping. It only calculates and shows the tax from the products.
    Thank you.

    Plugin Author Bojan Radonic – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support4)

    10 years, 4 months ago

    Hey Justro,

    You’d probably want to seek assistance for this on the WooCommerce support forum rather then here as they should be more familiar with their own plugin, you’ll find their support forum here.

    Cheers,
    Bojan

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

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