Configuring taxes

Note:   This topic is intended for administrators and developers with administration access rights in Episerver.

Configure taxes so that rates are calculated and added to the total price during the checkoutCommerce: Completing a purchase on a website, involving the collection of shipping and billing address, shipping method, payment, and so on. process. You can combine and apply multiple taxes (such as federal, state and local tax) to a purchase. Set up and maintain taxes with the following methods:

• Creating or editing tax controls manually
• Importing data with a CSVcomma-separated values; tabular data in a plain text file separated by the comma character. file
• Exporting taxes to a CSV file

Configuring taxes manually

To set up your taxes manually, work in the following areas in the Administration tab of the Admin Site—Tax Categories, Tax Jurisdiction Groups, Tax Jurisdictions, and Taxes—and the configuration pages for each catalogCommerce: a top-level container for catalog entries such as categories, products, and variants (SKUs). item.

1. Create and configure Countries and Regions (Go to Administration > System Settings > Dictionaries > Countries): In the Countries section, create the countries you plan to sell your products in and set appropriate country codes. For country codes, it is important to use the ISO Short code provided at MSDN site Table of Language Culture Name, Codes, and ISO Values Method [C++]. Using the ISO Long code or anything else does not correctly calculate taxes during checkout.
2. Create new Tax Categories (Go to Administration > Catalog System): Create tax categories that are used to associate your catalog items with the tax rates you define. For example, you create categories such as General Sales, Food, and Luxury Items depending on the tax regulations for your item types. The categories you create are selectable on the Page Details of your items (Variations/SKU Edit page) and on the Tax Edit page.
3. Create and configure Tax Jurisdictions (Go to Administration > Order system > Tax Configuration): Specify particular tax jurisdictions for a particular region by specifying zip codes, country codes, and so on. Tax rates are applied to whatever level of information you specify for each jurisdiction. For example, if you specify only the country code as US, customers with a US address (regardless of state, county and so on) are included in this jurisdiction.

   Note:  Country Code and Region Code that you enter in the Jurisdictions Edit page must match the codes you used in step 1.

4. Create and configure new Tax Jurisdiction Groups (Go to Administration > Order system > Tax Configuration): You can include multiple tax jurisdictions in the new Tax Jurisdiction Groups.
5. Create and configure Taxes (Go to Administration > Order System > Tax Configuration): Specify tax rates and also associate the Tax Categories and Jurisdiction groups created in Steps 2 and 4.
6. Associate Catalogs to the Tax Categories created in Step 2 (Go to Order Management > Catalogs): Go to the Catalog Management subsystem and link specific catalog items to the appropriate tax categories from the Pricing/Inventory page within each Variation/SKU Edit page.

Configuring taxes using CSV import

CSV Tax Import can update tax data in bulk. Creating a CSV tax file with a specified format (see Example Scenarios) lets you complete steps 2 through 5 of Configuring taxes manually in one shot. While you can complete step 6 of that procedure manually, you can also use CSV import in the Catalog Management subsystem to associate catalogs with tax categories.

To import your CSV tax file into Commerce ManagerOne of several main user interfaces in Epi Commerce. This UI area, available from the top menu after logging in, provides screens for managing markets, customers, catalog, orders, and so on. You can manage the information on some Commerce Manager screens in other, newer user interfaces. Where possible, we recommend using the newer ones., follow these steps.

Prerequisite: A CSV tax file.

1. In Commerce Manager, click the Administration tab.
2. In the navigation tree, go to Order System > Taxes Configuration > Taxes.
3. Click Import/Export menu > Import Taxes.
4. Click Add New File and then Browse to select and upload your CSV tax file. The path of your chosen file appears in the field.
5. Click Upload File and then Save The File. The CSV tax file appears in the Files Available for Import section.
6. Select and highlight the CSV file and click Start Import. The import process begins and completes in a dialog box. You can now view your tax setup in the Commerce Manager.

To edit the existing setup, repeat the steps with a modified CSV file.

Warning:  Re-importing a CSV file only edits existing information or adds new data - nothing is deleted. If you delete an entire row of data in the CSV file, you must manually delete those entries in the Commerce Manager. You can delete all the tax data and perform the CSV tax import from scratch.

Exporting taxes to a CSV file

CSV Tax Export can extract selected tax data from Episerver Commerce to a CSV file. You can use the file to copy tax data among sites. The format of CSV file matches the CSV file used to import taxes.

To export tax data from Commerce Manager, follow these steps:

1. In Commerce Manager, click the Administration tab.
2. In the navigation tree, go to Order System > Taxes Configuration > Taxes.
3. Select the tax value that you want to export.
4. Click Import/Export menu > Export Taxes.
5. Click Start Export.
6. The export process begins and completes in a popup dialog box. You can download or delete the CSV file.

The exported taxes CSV file appears in the Exported Files List, located in [App_Data] \ImportExport\[ApplicationName]\taxexport\ .

Sample CSV files and scenarios

Example 1: Single tax per catalog item based on a single jurisdiction

If your variable is State, then you can specify the tax rate on a state-level. For example, CA is 9% and MA is 6%. If you placed an order from California, then 9% sales tax is applied during checkout.

Jurisdiction	Jurisdiction Group	Tax Rate	Tax Category
California	CA Tax Group	9%	General Sales
Massachusetts	MA Tax Group	6%	General Sales

See TaxCSVSample1.csv in this sample .zip file.

Example 2: Two or more taxes per catalog item based on more than one jurisdiction

If you have a luxury item that requires State and Federal tax, then you can specify tax rates on a state and federal level. For example, a luxury item purchased in CA has a 9% state tax rate and a federal tax rate of 3%. Both taxes are applied during checkout.

Jurisdiction	Jurisdiction Group	Tax Rate	Tax Category
California General	CA GS Tax Group	9%	General Sales
Massachusetts General	MA GS Tax Group	6%	General Sales
California Luxury	CA LX Tax Group	9%	Luxury Sales
Massachusetts Luxury	MA LX Tax Group	6%	Luxury Sales
US Federal Luxury	US LX Tax Group	3%	Luxury Sales

See TaxCSVSample2.csv in this sample .zip file.

Example 3: Tax CSV file with tax type specified

You can specify the tax type. Episerver provides Sales Tax and Shipping Tax.

Jurisdiction	Jurisdiction Group	Tax Rate	Tax Category
California	CA Tax Group	9%	Sales tax
Massachusetts	MA Tax Group	6%	Shipping Tax

See TaxCSVSample3.csv in this sample .zip file.

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