How to Add and Update Sales Tax Item Groups
This help topic explains how to add, edit, delete, or inactivate Sales Tax Item Groups. Sales tax groups are two or more sales tax items grouped together.
The Tax Item Group form deals with sales tax that you are collecting from customers, not paying to vendors. This sales tax is then passed on to sales tax authorities. When you set up a Tax Items Group, Total Office Manager keeps track of what you owe, when it’s due, and who to pay.
Even though you may be charging your customers a combination of local taxes and a state tax, they may be used to seeing only one sales tax line and rate on sales forms. A tax group lets you track each tax separately yet show only the total sales tax on your sales forms.
Note: Every state has a different tax structure for their state, county, and municipality. Check with your own state and local sales tax agencies to find out their rules. Your state may have already combined all your taxes into one tax amount.
Sales Tax Group Example
Lets say you state has all your taxes in a neat little bundle for you, no problem right? Wrong! What if a special tax or a levy tax was imposed for 1%, for duration of two years? Everyone must be charged the 1%. Set up a Tax Item Group and you won’t have to worry if you remembered to charge the special tax. At the end of the two years inactive the Tax Group and go back to normal. Remember to set the special tax or levy up as a tax item first, and then you can make a group.
When you use a Tax Group on a sales form, Total Office Manager calculates each tax individually, then adds the individual taxes together to get the total tax.
Usage
Once your individual sales tax rate items are setup, you can create Sales Tax Group Item when creating invoices. In other words, you will use a tax item on your sales forms to calculate the sales tax on a sale or to identify non-taxable items. A Tax Item Group represents two or more taxes that you collect at a specified rate and pay to a single agency.
If you collect sales tax at more than one rate, or if you pay sales tax to more than one agency, then you must set up a separate tax item for each tax you collect for each agency. If you sell to out-of-state customers, then set up an out-of-state sales tax item that will help you to identify different rates for different locations.
If you charge your customers a combination of taxes, you’ll want to set up tax groups.
Note: If you are not required to collect sales tax, you don’t need to set up tax Items Groups.
Form Access
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From the main menu, click Customer | Sales Tax | Create Sales Tax Group.
Note: Sales Tax Items and Sales Tax Groups are listed in the Items List. Note that items are not just things you sell, but also may include such things as sub totals, discounts, adjustments, credit items, and more.
Field Definitions
| Tax Name | Enter the name of the tax. Example: Group KS Special Levy Tax. |
| Description | Enter a description of the tax. Example:. Special levy tax for restoration. |
| Tax Item | Select the two or more Tax Items that will make up your Tax Group. |
| Total Group Tax Rate | This will show the total amount of the taxes that will be applied to your customer’s sales form. Double check this total to make sure your have selected the correct percentages to be deducted. |
| OK | To save. |
| Next | To save and create a new tax item group. |
Step-By-Step
- Open the form and Sort or Filter the list if desired.
- If you wish to create a new sales tax item, click on the Item button (lower left hand corner of the list), and select New Sales Tax Item from the menu.
- If you wish to delete a sales tax entry, click on the Item button (lower left hand corner of the list), and select Delete Item from the menu.
- If you wish to Edit a sales tax item, click on the Item button (lower left hand corner of the list), and select Edit Item from the menu.
- If you wish to inactivate a sales tax item, select that Sales Tax Item click on the Make Item Inactive.
Tips
- We generally recommend that you avoid deleting sales tax items. You should use the inactivate option instead.
- Group iteLearn about Aptora’s Sales Tax Item Groups and simplify your sales tax management. Ensure compliance, accuracy, and efficiency.ms whose individual items all have percentage-based rates will not calculate correctly when used as line items on sales forms. To avoid incorrect sales tax charges, Total Office Manager makes these items unavailable in the drop-down list in the item column of sales forms such as invoices, estimates, and sales receipts.
- If you need to provide your customer with the separate tax items and rates included in a sales tax group, you can enter each sales tax item of the group as a separate line on the sales form.
- For each different sales tax agency you pay, you must have vendor on your vendor list.
- For each single tax you collect and pay, you need a sales tax item on your item list.
- For each combination rate you collect, you need a sales tax group on your item list.
- A sales tax group includes two or more single taxes set up as sales tax item. The rate for the group is the total of the rates for the items in the group. Group tax items allow Total Office Manager to track and report taxes separately, but display them as one combined amount to customers.
- If your most common sales tax is a combination, be sure that the sales tax group item is shown as the most common sales tax in the sales tax preferences. Then new customers and new sales will automatically have the combination rate.
