Calculating U.S. sales taxes in ProductCart using a tax data file
Early Impact recently partnered with Tax Data Systems to allow US-based users of ProductCart to quickly, easily and accurately calculate sales tax on orders placed on their store. Tax Data Systems provides inexpensive subscription services to complete and updated data files that contain all the information that is needed to properly calculate sales taxes. The company sends regular updates to its customers to keep them up-to-date with the latest tax changes.
Take advantage of Tax Data Systems’ data files to automatically perform the following tax-related tasks:
- Properly calculate sales tax, based on the tax rate associated with the customer’s shipping address.
- Correctly handle scenarios in which a ZIP code lies across county lines and therefore multiple tax rates are associated with it. The customer will automatically be prompted to select the county that they reside in.
- Automatically determine whether shipping charges should be added to the taxable total.
- Automatically determine whether handling fees should be added to the taxable total.
As a ProductCart customer, you are eligible to special discounts on Tax Data Systems’ subscription services.
$50 discount per state (Price: $99 = 33% savings - Regular price: $149/state)
$500 discount for all states (Price: $999 = 33% savings - Regular price: $1,499)
Next steps:
Technical Notes The file that is uploaded to ProductCart must be a CSV file (comma separate value). Tax Data Systems will provide ProductCart users with a file that is already formatted using this file format. If for any reason you need to edit the file or if you elect to create a tax data file from scratch because you decide to no longer subscribe to Tax Data Systems’ service or elect to subscribe to a different service, then you must format the file as indicate below.
- The file must have 6 columns, which are listed below
- The columns must be named exactly as shown below
- The values entered in the column fields must adhere to instructions shown below.
| Required Column Name | Value | Example |
| ZIP_CODE | 5-digit numeric value | 94109 |
| COUNTY_NAME | Alphanumeric | LOS ANGELES |
| CITY_NAME | Alphanumeric | HOLLYWOOD |
| TOTAL_SALES_TAX | Numeric | 0.0825 |
| TAX_SHIPPING_ALONE | Either Y of N | N |
| TAX_SHIPPING_AND_HANDLING_TOGETHER | Either Y of N | Y | | | NOTES:
- Do NOT alter the column names. They are used by ProductCart in the source code of the file that calculates taxes. If you alter the column names, the calculation will not work properly.
- If you want to charge taxes only on the handling fees, but not the shipping charges (many US states do this), enter “N” and “Y” in the fifth and sixth columns respectively. When TAX_SHIPPING_AND_HANDLING_TOGETHER is set to Y and TAX_SHIPPING_ALONE is set to N, this means that taxes will be applied only to the handling fees. If the handling fee is built into the shipping charges (ProductCart allows you do so when configuring shipping options), only the handling fee portion of the shipping charges is taxed.
- COUNTY_NAME and CITY_NAME are used if more than one instance of the zip code is found in the tax file. The user is then prompted to select which city/county combination that the shipping address is located in. The information is shown in a drop-down menu. If there are no values for these fields, then the drop-down menu will not contain any entries and the customer will NOT be able to complete the checkout process. Therefore, if you do not have the information needed to fill out these fields, you MUST ensure that there is only one instance of any given ZIP code in your file.
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| Disclaimer: The purpose
of this page is to provide you with information
that may help you correctly setup ProductCart to
calculate sales taxes. However, you should consult
your local tax Authority to determine the tax laws
that you need to adhere to. Early Impact shall not
be liable under any circumstance for any tax miscalculations
performed by ProductCart or for sale or other taxes
that you did not pay to your local tax Authority. |
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