Configuring Taxes for Canadian Sites/Zones

[s_mack]

As well, the only thing "wrong" about it that I can see is that it doesn't correctly deal with NS. Provincial taxes can change at any time, and the "correct" way of doing it is covered later in the thread anyway. So really "ecom newbie"... "take it down altogether"? Seriously? This tutorial is invaluable to all Canadian Zenners and it holds your hand 99.9% of the way. Hoping for that extra 0.1% is fine... demanding it is not.

[djbelize]

- Tax Class Title: GST/PST/HST Class /* HINT: Yes, this is the same one you just used
- Zone: Eastern Canada - HST Zone
- Tax Rate (%): 13.0000
- Description: 15% HST#R99999 9999 RT0001
- Priority: 1
/*HINT: Insert your Tax Number (RST) as part of DESCRIPTION and it will show up on invoice !!!

Hello, just noticed you have the tax rate at 13% and description at 15% ... i'm guessing it should say 13% on both ... just wanted to point out in case people are copying and pasting as i was :) ... and moved forward without double checking and it shows this on their invoice ...

[Royal]

Hello, just noticed you have the tax rate at 13% and description at 15% ... i'm guessing it should say 13% on both ... just wanted to point out in case people are copying and pasting as i was :) ... and moved forward without double checking and it shows this on their invoice ...

Yes! It should be 13%.

- Tax Class Title: GST/PST/HST Class /* HINT: Yes, this is the same one you just used
- Zone: Eastern Canada - HST Zone
- Tax Rate (%): 13.0000
- Description: 13% HST#R99999 9999 RT0001
- Priority: 1
/*HINT: Insert your Tax Number (RST) as part of DESCRIPTION and it will show up on invoice !!!

[newagekat]

Hi:

There seems to be a lot of confusion around the original tax setup info on this post. For those of you who can't seem to get your head around it, here's a modified version as of July 1/2010.

NOTE: each province handles shipping taxes differently. Please check with he appropriate government agency in your province,

Thank you Dr Byte and Peter Mosier for their work on this topic.

===================
Step-by-Step SETUP:
===================

STEP (1): Set the location for your store:

Configuration --> My Store

- Country: Canada
- Zone: BC (This is my province)

STEP (2): Create the "Tax Zones". The are geographical regions where a particular set of tax laws applies
Locations/Taxes --> Zones Definitions
* Since HST has been adopted or modified as of July 1, 2010, the following zones will be required:

Canada GST Zone (Except NB, NL, NS, ON, BC)
HST Zone - NB, NL, ON
HST Zone - BC
HST Zone - NS

Create the Zone for all of Canada
- Zone Name: Canada GST Zone
- Description: GST (Except NB, NL, NS, ON, BC)

Now click on the newly created "Canada GST Zone" row to drill down one level to "Sub Zones"
Click INSERT to create 8 new sub-zones, one at a time:

- Country: Canada; Zone: Alberta
- Country: Canada; Zone: Manitoba
- Country: Canada; Zone: Northwest Territories
- Country: Canada; Zone: Nunavut
- Country: Canada; Zone: Prince Edward Island
- Country: Canada; Zone: Quebec
- Country: Canada; Zone: Saskatchewan
- Country: Canada; Zone: Yukon Territory

Click on "BACK" to go up one level.
Now create the HST Zone - NB, NL, ON:
Click Insert

- Zone Name: HST Zone - NB, NL, ON
- Description: NB, NL, ON

Now click on the newly created "HST Zone" row to drill down one level to "Sub Zones"
Click INSERT to create 3 new sub-zone:

- Country: Canada; Zone: New Brunswick
- Country: Canada; Zone: Newfoundland
- Country: Canada; Zone: Ontario

Click on "BACK" to go up one level.
Now create the HST Tax Zones for NS:
Click Insert

- Zone Name: HST Zone - NS
- Description: HST for NS

Now click on the newly created "HST Zone" row to drill down one level to "Sub Zones"
Click INSERT to create new sub-zone:

- Country: Canada; Zone: Nova Scotia

Click on "BACK" to go up one level.
Now create the HST Tax Zones for BC:
Click Insert

- Zone Name: HST Zone - BC
- Description: HST for BC

Now click on the newly created "HST Zone" row to drill down one level to "Sub Zones"
Click INSERT to create new sub-zone:

- Country: Canada; Zone: British Columbia

Do NOT create a separate Tax ZONE for Shipping. You will simply use the "Canada" tax zone for the GST Shipping tax CLASS (below).

*** Important: this means that SHIPPING GST will only be charged to destinations within Canada,
*** but NOT charged on exports.
*** According to Canada Customs & Revenue Agency (1-800-959-5525), you do *NOT* charge GST
*** on the shipping fee for EXPORTS.

STEP (3): Create the "Tax Classes"

Note: You can only assign ONE Tax CLASS to a product.
But since we want shipping GST to show up separately, we will make a seperate Tax CLASS just for it.

Locations/Taxes --> Tax Classes

create TWO (2) tax classes:

- Tax Class Title: GST/HST/PST Class
- Description: All taxable goods

- Tax Class Title: GST on Shipping
- Description: GST on shipping within Canada

STEP (4): TAX RATES

Here is where it all comes together: Tax Rates.
Tax RATES associate Tax ZONES & Tax CLASSES to determine the correct Tax Rate.

HINT: The "DESCRIPTION" is what shows up on the invoice, so use it judiciously!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Locations/Taxes --> Tax Rates

create SIX (6) Tax Rates:

- Tax Class Title: GST/PST/HST Class
- Zone: Canada GST Zone
- Tax Rate (%): 5.0000
- Description: 5.0% GST
- Priority: 1

/*HINT: Insert your GST# as part of DESCRIPTION and it will show up on invoice !!!
/*HINT: Leave PRIORITY at "1" for a non-cumulative tax (i.e. Ontario)
- Tax Class Title: GST/PST/HST Class /* HINT: Yes, this is the same one you just used
- Zone: HST Zone - NB,NL,ON
- Tax Rate (%): 13.0000
- Description: 13.0% HST (NB,NL,ON)
- Priority: 1

/*HINT: Leave PRIORITY at "1" for a non-cumulative tax (i.e. Ontario)
but change to "2" for cumulative tax (i.e. You are a Quebec store)

- Tax Class Title: GST/PST/HST Class /* HINT: Yes, this is the same one you just used
- Zone: HST Zone - NS
- Tax Rate (%): 15.0000
- Description: 15%
- Priority: 1

- Tax Class Title: GST/PST/HST Class
- Zone: HST Zone - BC
- Tax Rate (%): 12.0000
- Description: 12% HST#R99999 9999 RT0001
- Priority: 1

That takes care of taxes on products. And now, the Shipping taxes:

- Tax Class Title: GST Shipping Class
- Zone: Canada GST Zone
- Tax Rate (%): 5.0000
- Description: 5.0% GST on shipping
- Priority: 1

- Tax Class Title: GST Shipping Class
- Zone: HST Zone - NB,NL,ON
- Tax Rate (%): 13.0000
- Description: 13.0% HST (shipping)
- Priority: 1

- Tax Class Title: GST Shipping Class
- Zone: HST Zone - NS
- Tax Rate (%): 15.0000
- Description: 15% HST shipping
- Priority: 1

- Tax Class Title: GST Shipping Class
- Zone: HST Zone - BC
- Tax Rate (%): 12.0000
- Description: 12% HST shipping #99999 9999 RT0001
- Priority: 1

STEP (5): Specify the appropriate Tax Class for SHIPPING MODULES

MODULES --> SHIPPING

Edit whichever shipping module(s) you are using.

Tax Class: GST Shipping Class

/* SEE PREVIOUS HINT

STEP (6): Specify the appropriate Tax for PRODUCTS

This may take some time....

CATALOG --> Categories/Products

Drill down to each product. Click EDIT

TAX CLASS: "GST/PST/HST CLASS"

==============

I hope I did not forget anything.

[djbelize]

STEP (5): Specify the appropriate Tax Class for SHIPPING MODULES

MODULES --> SHIPPING

Edit whichever shipping module(s) you are using.

Tax Class: GST Shipping Class

/* SEE PREVIOUS HINT

Hello, i'm hoping someone could help me choose the appropriate shipping method module ... i'm residing in windsor ontario and am just looking to ship within Ontario probably toronto the furthest as of now ... to start off as most of my business is locally and as i expand i'd like to offer further shipping. Any help or direction would be great ! :)

[sculpt]

Hi all!

Great tutorial!

Unfortunately, even after going through it over and over again, I still seem to be doing something wrong.

i have set up the BC HST zone (12%), and the BC Shipping HST zone (12%), but when I go to check-out, I am charged 24% on the TOTAL (product + shipping charges), instead of 12% on each...

what have I done wrong?

Any advice appreciated :-)

[sculpt]

UPDATE: I solved my problem. My best-guess is that, when you have a tax zone defined that doesn't associate with any specific geographical zone, that tax is added as well by default. I made a few changes, so I am not sure, but I think that was what was wrong (I had a zone that was geographically undefined)

Hi all!

Great tutorial!

Unfortunately, even after going through it over and over again, I still seem to be doing something wrong.

i have set up the BC HST zone (12%), and the BC Shipping HST zone (12%), but when I go to check-out, I am charged 24% on the TOTAL (product + shipping charges), instead of 12% on each...

what have I done wrong?

Any advice appreciated :-)

[DrByte]

Correct: A zone that's not assigned any geographical limitations is thus universal, and therefore applied to everyone.

[vito]

newagekat, thanks for that updated set of instructions. It worked a treat. Well done. :)

Vito

[batman42ca]

I followed the instructions from newagekat (instructions as of July 1 2010) then did a dump of the affected dbase records. If you import what follows into your database, this should take care of steps 1-4 inclusive assuming you've done no other tax configuration yet.

NOTE: this also assumes the dbase prefix is "zen_" which is easy enough to change with a search and replace in the code below

NOTE: I haven't tested this on a new install yet so hopefully I haven't missed any relevant dbase tables.

--
-- Dumping data for table `zen_geo_zones`
--
LOCK TABLES `zen_geo_zones` WRITE;
INSERT INTO `zen_geo_zones` VALUES (2,'Canada GST Zone','GST (Except NB, NL, NS, ON, BC)',NULL,'2010-11-12 11:07:32'),(3,'Canada HST Zone - NB, NL, ON','HST (NB, NL, ON)',NULL,'2010-11-12 11:12:12'),(4,'Canada HST Zone - NS','HST (NS)',NULL,'2010-11-12 11:13:48'),(5,'Canada HST Zone - BC','HST (BC)',NULL,'2010-11-12 11:15:19');
UNLOCK TABLES;

--
-- Dumping data for table `zen_tax_class`
--
LOCK TABLES `zen_tax_class` WRITE;
INSERT INTO `zen_tax_class` VALUES (2,'GST/HST/PST Class','All taxable goods',NULL,'2010-11-12 11:16:43'),(3,'GST/HST Shipping Class','GST/HST on shipping within Canada','2011-07-22 12:00:03','2010-11-12 11:17:33');
UNLOCK TABLES;

--
-- Dumping data for table `zen_tax_rates`
--
LOCK TABLES `zen_tax_rates` WRITE;
INSERT INTO `zen_tax_rates` VALUES (2,2,2,1,'5.0000','5% GST',NULL,'2010-11-12 11:21:21'),(3,3,2,1,'13.0000','13% HST (NB,NL,ON)','2010-11-12 11:22:47','2010-11-12 11:22:33'),(4,4,2,1,'15.0000','15% HST (NS)',NULL,'2010-11-12 11:23:31'),(5,5,2,1,'12.0000','12% HST (BC)',NULL,'2010-11-12 11:24:13'),(6,2,3,1,'5.0000','5% GST Shipping','2011-07-22 11:46:06','2011-07-22 11:38:17'),(7,3,3,1,'13.0000','13% HST (NB, NL, ON)  Shipping','2011-07-22 11:46:31','2011-07-22 11:39:28'),(8,4,3,1,'15.0000','15% HST (NS)  Shipping','2011-07-22 11:46:42','2011-07-22 11:40:21'),(9,5,3,1,'12.0000','12% HST (BC)  Shipping','2011-07-22 11:46:54','2011-07-22 11:41:47');
UNLOCK TABLES;


--
-- Dumping data for table `zen_zones_to_geo_zones`
--
LOCK TABLES `zen_zones_to_geo_zones` WRITE;
INSERT INTO `zen_zones_to_geo_zones` VALUES (2,38,66,2,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:08:05'),(3,38,68,2,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:08:22'),(4,38,72,2,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:08:42'),(5,38,73,2,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:08:56'),(6,38,76,2,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:09:09'),(7,38,77,2,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:09:54'),(8,38,78,2,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:10:07'),(9,38,70,3,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:12:45'),(10,38,69,3,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:12:55'),(11,38,74,3,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:13:05'),(12,38,71,4,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:14:50'),(13,38,67,5,NULL,'2010-11-12 11:15:36');
UNLOCK TABLES;