Custom Sales Tax and International Tax

This article goes over how to set up custom tax rates for countries, state/provinces, and zip/postal codes. These tax rates will be applied on checkout based on where the item is shipped.  

Article Sections

• Enabled Custom Taxes
• Create Tax Rates
• How Custom Rates are Applied
• Related Articles

Enable Custom Taxes

1. Access the Taxes section.
2. Click Setup
3. Enable Tax -  toggle on.
4. Tax Method - From the drop down menu, choose Custom.
5. Match only first 5 of zip/postal code - When toggled on, only the first 5 digits of the zip code will be checked against the database. The zip code database only has 5 digit codes available and any additional numbers or letters are not recognized.
6. Save - Click to save changes.

Create Tax Rates

1. Access Custom Rates.
2. Click Add Custom Rate.
3. Location Type - Choose either Country, State or Zip.
4. Based on what you choose, choose from next drop down to specify details.
5. Tax Rate - Enter the tax rate.
6. Create - Click to save changes.

How Custom Rates are Applied

1. First, it checks to see if there is a zip / postal code match, if so, it applies that tax rate to the order.
2. If no zip code match is found, it checks to see if there is a state / province match, if so, it applies that rate to the order (exact match required).
3. Finally, if there is no matches for state or zip, the system will check the country and if there is a match, that rate will be applied.

REMEMBER: If you configure a custom rate by zip, the zip code you configure in the admin area MUST match what the shopper would enter (i.e. if you set up one for a Canadian zip code, if you configure this as "H4X1Y6" in the admin area, the shopper must enter "H4X1Y6" exactly at checkout to have sales tax charged accordingly).  

Related Articles

• Zip Code Sales Tax Database
• Avalara Integrated Sales Tax