state sales tax

[chrismole]

How do I apply tax to my state only? I have setup a Tax Zone called "IL" and then setup a Tax Rate for IL at 8.75%. However, all customers from all states are getting charged IL sales tax. How do I only charge sales tax for IL customers?

Thx,
C

[jpf]

"Tax zone" much match a "ZONE" --IE: fully spelled out and not the abrevation.

[chrismole]

Ok, just so I am clear, the system entry in Zones has to be re-typed manually in Tax Zones? And then it looks like I go to Tax Rates and choose the Zone I typed in, correct?

Also, does the system apply state sales tax if the billing address OR the shipping address is in the same state as the business? I would think it's billing, but I am not sure how that works.

[betagirl]

Chrismole - did you get this sorted out? I'm having the exact same problem, and I've triple checked everything (it works fine on another osC (not osCMax) site that I administer.

Thanks in advance for any tips/solutions you've found!

EDITED/PROBLEM SOLVED: So in my continuing attempts to get this configured properly, clicking around in the admin Locations/Taxes area - for the first time ever I was prompted to set up a country zone. (Clicked on Tax Zones --> Details --> then got the country/zone (state) screen).

Once I did this, everything worked fine. If I hadn't clicked on the "details" button, this would not have gotten configured properly. When I initially setup the store, I merely edited the existing (default) zone - by clicking "edit". The "edit" does not produce the same info as "details". Apparently key.

Hope this helps anyone maybe having the same issue!

[foggygurl]

So do you have to create a zone for each sate and then only put in an amount for the state you are charging in?

[betagirl]

No, you only create the zone for the state you want to charge tax in. For me, it was California. So this installation only has one Tax Zone - California. Here's how I did it -
In admin:

1) Select "Tax Zone" - if there is already a zone defined by default, click "details"; then select the correct "Country" from the drop down, and the correct "Zone" (state) from the drop down below it. Click "update".

If there is not a zone defined by default, click on the "insert" button, give the zone a name (lets call it "Alabama") and description ("Alabama Sales Tax"), and click on "insert". You will then need to associate the country and state with that new zone.

So from the tax zones window, select the zone you just defined ("Alabama") and click on "details". What you should see is a page returned that is empty, you'll need to create the country/state associations from here. Going with this example - click on the "insert" button; select "United States" and below it, select the correct state ("Alabama"); then click on "insert".

Now a new zone has been created.

2) Tax Classes - click here to set the class for the tax (in oscMax 2.0, the defaults already there are "Taxable Item" and "Non Taxable". If you need to add another class, do so here.

3) Tax Rates - here's where you'll set the rate to be applied. Assuming nothing is already defined here, select "new tax rate".

Configure the rate by selecting the corresponding Class ("Taxable Item" or whatever you have defined)

The Zone will be selected form those you have already established ("Alabama" or whatever you called yours)

Enter the tax to be charged, give it a description, and set the priority per the instructions. Click "insert" and you're done!

I hope that helps, and I apologize if it was over-explanatory, but I wanted to go through each step in case others stumble here and would benefit from a step by step instruction.

Cheers!

[foggygurl]

That helps a lot. Thank you! :P

[chrismole]

thanks for the explanation. I did get this configured in the admin and it seems to be calculating tax correctly.

However, it also seems to be adding tax to items when the shipping address is in my home state, instead of the billing address. I was thinking that it should calculate sales tax based on the billing address.

For example, I live in Illinois and my credit card billing address is in IL. If I went to your online store (based out of CA) and made a purchase and I wanted to have it shipped to a friend on CA, I would NOT pay CA sales tax. I would pay no tax because I live in IL. Does that make sense?

When I ran a test purchase on my oscmax2 store, it it calculating tax based on the shipping address. Anyone else experiencing this issue or know for sure how sales tax should be applied with online purchases?

Thx,
C

[betagirl]

Actually, it is working correctly. Sales tax is charged based on where the item is shipping from, and where it is shipping to - thus all items shipped from California to California destinations (regardless of where the person paying for the item lives or what the billing address is) are subject to California sales tax.

I found this at Amazon that explains a bit more in-depth:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/468512/

Hope that helps!

[chrismole]

Yes, you are right, it is working correctly. Thanks.

Here's the explanation I got from the IL Sec. of state:

Illinois sales tax is applied to merchandise received and used in Illinois, regardless of where it was purchased. If it was purchased in Illinois, the tax rate is determined by the location where the sale is made. If the merchandise is purchased form an out of state source, the common "Use Tax" rate is 6.25%.
If the merchandise is delivered out of state, and not brought back into Illinois for consumption, no sales tax can be assessed.