Compounding Local Tax to Zone Tax

[LadyHLG]

I have a modified version of the local tax mod. Currently, if the sort order of the local tax is higher than the zone tax it completely replaces it, and if the zone tax is sorted higher than local tax it over rides the local tax. I would like to have them compound instead, and I'm not sure how to make that happen.
I am attaching the local sales tax code and I really hope someone can help me figure this one out.

Thanks
LadyHLG

[Kim]

Have you looked at the instructions in the FAQs for the Canadian Tax set up? That uses multiple taxes in different zones.

[LadyHLG]

Hi Kim,
Yes I saw the Canadian Tax set up info. But I think what I want to do is slightly different, in that I want to charge multiple taxes to a single zone. The reasoning here is that if I set up zones for each county in a state with their corresponding taxes I can charge both the county tax and then add on municipal taxes based on the city or zip.

LadyHLG

[DrByte]

so ... set up multiple taxes for each zone ... and set the compounding level to the order in which you want the compounding to happen...

granted, if that mod totally changes the default logic in Zen Cart then ... well ...

[LadyHLG]

I just reread my previous post and I didn't quite explain it correctly. I guess what I am trying to do is to apply a city tax to only part of a zone.

For instance, (and this is NOT how WI does sales tax!! Its only an example..) I set up each county in Wisconsin as a zone, ie Wisconsin Dane Co., Wisconsin Rock Co. etc. then I set each zone's corresponding county sales tax.

So all of Dane county charges 5%, but the city of Madison charges an additional .5%. So this mod will apply an additional .5% to any order shipped to Madison (but not any other city in Dane Co.). Does that make sense? This way I can force the user to select their county, and apply the necessary county tax, and then add on whatever city tax there might be for a specific city only (or even zipcode). Unless I am mistaken there is no current way in ZenCart to accomplish this.

The truth is this isn't for WI its for Texas and California, which have separate municipal taxes tacked onto specific cities within the counties.

I do believe I have this working the way I want, and I will post the file if anyone wishes, but the file is only one part of how this works and I am still developing it so it may not make much sense on its own.

Thanks again for the assistance
LadyHLG

[stldrum]

Hi LadyHLG,

I have to do the same thing for 7 states including counties and cities. Can you steer me toward a tutorial or manual that can help me to set up all this. I'm a little confused.

[LadyHLG]

stldrum,
As Kim mentioned above you might want to take a look at Dr.Byte's Canadian Tax set up. That's where I started. It has some good ideas and info and hopefully will give you a better idea of how sales tax works within Zen Cart. You really need to understand that before you try to go much further.

There are quite a few posts on setting up sales taxes. The problem is no one way works for every situation or state, so there isn't going to be one post that will necessarily work to explain what needs to be done.

There are a few mods out there that can do different things as well. You can do a search in the forums for "local county sales tax" or different variations of it and find lots of info. My biggest suggestion here is to be sure exactly how sales tax needs to be calculated for each state before getting too far, and when in doubt contact the taxing authority for the state.

After going through everything I chose to combine the Zen cart zone structure with a customized mod, I made it more flexible, to work with any zone with different variables. I am happy to share what I have but I am still learning Zen cart and php, so I am not able to write an admin interface for what I have. Its just too far beyond what I know how to do, which means all the additional sales tax data that gets entered has to be done manually through whatever MYSQL GUI you use.

LadyHLG

[stldrum]

Thanks LadyHLG,

I start trolling through the forums. We have locations in 7 states and I know that a lot counties and cities have specific taxes. It seems like a bit of a nightmare. Can't I just charge everyone in that state the state rate?

I bet it's not that easy.

Thx again!

[LadyHLG]

My biggest suggestion is call each state and verify how much you need to charge, and under what circumstances. You may save yourself from a nightmare or two!

Good Luck!
LadyHLG