Local Sales Tax Mod - Support Thread

[potteryhouse]

Hi,

Obviously nothing is going to be absolutely simple, but this mod should do what you want based on your comment.
It should go without saying, Try this on a TEST setup first, NOT the live site.

First you need to decide if you will be taxing buy Zip code (which is what I use), City, or Suburb.

Depending on which you choose you will then need to gather the applicable information that you will add to the database in the setup steps. There is some flexibility in entry format when using zip codes.

Next, you should read the two help / readme files in the mod package, then read the short but good tutorial at:

http://www.toastboy.com/main/zen-cart-local-tax-module-setup/

Next make a checklist of the steps you will need to do based on the read me files and tutorials.

You will have NY State tax listed once in the database, and zip codes (in this example) for each City, town etc.. You can group all the zip codes that have the same local tax rate together (separated by a semicolon ; or for ranges by -to-) when entering them, this should reduce the number of input records you create.

The mod depends on the customer entering their location (i.e., zip code), and it applies taxes based on what the customer entered and what is found in the database for the location.

[gwynwyffar]

I've uploaded my NY State Sales tax file for you (tax_rates_local.sql). It is sorted by county and zip code. You might want to check to make sure the rates are the most current, but you should be able to just import it and it should work. You'll want to set your NY State sales tax to 4%, then the local taxes are added to it. There are 2 tax lines shown at check out, the state and county tax.

I've been using the Local Sales Tax mod successfully on ZC 1.3.9h for several years and am in the process up upgrading our site to 1.5.1, so I haven't confirmed it works the same, but it should.

[lekcomp]

I've been having problems with shipping being taxed when it shouldn't be. My original thread was here. How can I get this module to not tax shipping?

[potteryhouse]

I am under the understanding that Florida does require tax on shipping. But if you do not then go to your admin page and under 'Shipping Modules' select your shipping module for the store, then change the 'Tax Basis' to what you need. This is a sample of the text when you are updating this module page:

Tax Basis
On what basis is Shipping Tax calculated. Options are
Shipping - Based on customers Shipping Address
Billing Based on customers Billing address
Store - Based on Store address if Billing/Shipping Zone equals Store zone

You might also want to try to setup the

Shipping Zone
If a zone is selected, only enable this shipping method for that zone.

[delia]

Okay, with the new sales tax laws being passed to grab money from online retailers, Georgia is now requiring us to collect based on the county/tax division we are shipping to. There are 179 counties and the city of Atlanta - 180 possible tax destinations. If anyone already has the information of zip codes to counties, I would really appreciate the list - the sql of course would be best but right now the only thing I've been able to retrieve is a non-alphabetized list out of html.

I've moved this cart from OsCommerce and they had it set up there but though it imports the tax classes - it does not import the zone definitions to match since Zen Cart can't do zip codes or suburbs so the local mod is my only option. (By the way the Avatax mod is best for those who have to worry about different states - I helped develop it but it is a commercial product).

And thanks to potteryhouse for updating this mod to 1.5x!

[hilltop]

I am new to ZenCart and have a new install of v150. We collect sales tax in Washington state (179 different "areas / rates") and Idaho. I am looking at adding the Local Sales Tax Module. I have a couple of questions about it.

1. Read me 2.5.5 says to rename the admin folder to match the admin folder on the website. Does that mean it overwrites the existing admin folder?

2. Is there a file format that can be used to setup the zones for the local sales tax and then import it into ZenCart?

3. If someone already has Washington state set up we'd love a copy.

I believe I have read all of the FAQs / Tutorials for the module - if I have overlooked something please point me to it.

Thanks in advance.

[skylab001]

I've installed this in my 1.3.9h cart and it works. I do have one issue though, I only use paypal express checkout for payment, I had an issue I solved by deleting my state zone and using only the local taxes. The issue I'm trying to resolve now is that it no longer shows products and amounts itemized when on paypals checkout page. The total is right though. Does anybody have a fix for this?

[slomojojo]

Here's the 2013 Florida discretionary tax rates by zipcode. Change for 2013:

Walton county changed from 7% to 7.5%. Rate table PDF is available here

These are the affected zipcodes:
32422;
32433;
32434;
32435;
32439;
32454;
32459;
32461;
32538;
32550;

[skylab001]

I've installed this in my 1.3.9h cart and it works. I do have one issue though, I only use paypal express checkout for payment, I had an issue I solved by deleting my state zone and using only the local taxes. The issue I'm trying to resolve now is that it no longer shows products and amounts itemized when on paypals checkout page. The total is right though. Does anybody have a fix for this?

I've sorted out my issues with PayPal, it seems to be on the PayPal integration side. Another issue I've discovered now though, and it seems I'm not the first, is that discount coupons don't work unless moved after the tax in the display. Has anybody figured out how to fix this?

[dancingbay]

I'm very new to Zen Cart. I am testing it out to see if it will work for me, so have it installed at localhost.

I unzipped the file and pasted the folders from the FullVersion/catalog folder into the root of my ZenCart folder. I then opened the sqlfile folder. I did not see a file that was named LocalSalesTaxv2.5.sql. The best i could guess was Zencart_v1.5.0_admin_localSalesTaxes.sql. Should I have used tax_rates_local.sql instead?

Anyway, I was not able to install the sql at TOOLS -> Install SQL Patches, but was able to run the sql at phpMyAdmin. This is what I pasted into the SQL area:

SET @localSalesTaxesSort = (SELECT sort_order FROM zen_admin_pages WHERE menu_key = 'taxes' ORDER BY sort_order DESC LIMIT 1);
SET @localSalesTaxesSort = @localSalesTaxesSort+1;

INSERT INTO zen_admin_pages(`page_key`, `language_key`, `main_page`, `menu_key`, `display_on_menu`, `sort_order`) 
VALUES ('localSalesTaxes', 'BOX_TAXES_LOCAL_SALES_TAXES', 'FILENAME_LOCAL_SALES_TAXES', 'taxes', 'Y', @localSalesTaxesSort);

For the next step, I'm supposed to go to MODULES -> ORDER TOTAL and find "Local Sales Taxes", but it isn't there.

Also, if I try to go to

What have I done wrong?

Thanks,
Alisa