When you log in to your Retail POS account for the first time, the sales tax you set in the Getting Started wizard determines the sales tax of your location. This sales tax determines the default tax rate applied when taxable items are scanned at the register.

For example, if your location is in New York, and your sales tax is set to 8.875%, then all your taxable items are taxed at 8.875%.

You can set sales tax per location. If needed, you can create multiple sales tax rates and apply them in your location or customer settings or during a sale. 

Sales taxes are applied to all items sold at a location, to a specific customer, or in a sale. Tax classes are applied only to item groups that always need to be taxed at a different rate, like groceries or children's items.

Adding a sales tax

1. Navigate to Settings > Sales Taxes.
2. Click + New Sales Tax.
3. Enter a tax name.

4. Enter a tax rate.

   

5. Click Save Changes.

Setting a sales tax in location settings

1. Navigate to Settings > Locations.
2. Click Customize for a location in the list.

3. Under Tax Setup, click the Sales Tax dropdown and select a sales tax.

   

4. Click Save Changes.

Setting a sales tax for a customer

1. Navigate to Customers > Customers.
2. Locate a customer and click the name to access the customer details page.

3. Click the Sales Tax dropdown and select a sales tax.

   

4. Click Save Changes.

Setting a sales tax in a sale

1. From an in-progress sale, click Set Tax at the bottom right of the item list.

   

2. Click the Tax dropdown and select a sales tax.
3. Click Save Sales Tax.

Removing sales tax from a customer or sale

Before you can remove sales tax from a sale, you must have either a sales tax or a tax class set at 0% (exempt). Tax-exempt sales taxes remove taxes for a specific customer or an entire transaction, tax-exempt classes remove taxes for an item.

Removing sales tax from a customer

1. Navigate to Customers > Customers.
2. Locate a customer and click the name to access the customer details page.

3. Click the Sales Tax dropdown and select your tax-exempt sales tax.

   

4. Click Save Changes.

This customer will not be taxed and their items will be kept in a separate total from your normal sales tax in your reports.

Removing sales tax from an entire transaction 

1. From an in-progress sale, click Set Tax at the bottom right of the item list.

   

2. Click the Tax dropdown and select a special sales tax.
3. Click Save Sales Tax.

You can also use tax classes to remove tax from an item.

What's next?