Local Sales Tax Mod - Support Thread

[CustomBooks]

LadyHLG-
Thanks for your speedy reply; I'm afraid I need more direction. Yes, an out-of-state customer pays sales tax if the item ships to a Nevada address because MY business resides in Nevada. Sales tax in Nevada in based on the shipping address, and the tax rate varies by county. The problem is I can't expect out-of-state customers to know which Nevada county they are shipping to. I tried to follow the redme files for version 2.3 - helpful tips - how to set up counties as zones, and when I removed the state of Nevada as a zone, all I had were the counties in Nevada when someone needed to fill in an addresss. I would like the local sales tax mod to key off of zip code instead of county. Does that make sense? How do I do that?

[LadyHLG]

CustomBooks,
So if I understand this correctly you are working under the assumption that someone from out of state might ship to someone in Nevada? I guess that makes sense.

Ok you can do one of two things,
Option 1
Leave the counties as they are, in which case someone from out of state will have to find out what county they are shipping to on their own, (not really that difficult to do on the internet but you never know if the customer will figure that out). Then tax based on the county. This option doesn't really require the local sales tax mod at all unless you have to apply additional sales tax based on city or something like that.

Option 2 -
Remove the counties completely from the zones and re-add Nevada (one entry for the whole state) back in as a zone by itself. Then set up all the zip codes in Nevada for local taxes.

It really has to be one or the other.

Is this making any more sense?

LadyHLG

[CustomBooks]

LadyHLG-
Yes, I do have out-of-state customers shipping to Nevada and this poses a problem. With one sales tax zone, I either charge the lowest county sales tax rate (and lose money) or charge the highest county sales tax rate (and overcharge).

I don't want to make my out-of-state customers pick a county when they enter an address, so option one is out.

So, option two. How do I "set up all the zip codes in Nevada for local taxes"? I'm not quite sure how to use the local sales tax modification. There are 6 different sales tax rates within the state and 17 counties. If I use Nevada as my zone, are the sales tax rates (6.85%, 7.1% etc) my zone definitions? Or are the counties my zone definitions? Several counties have the same sales tax rate. Here's what I setup, however, it does not seem to be working correctly. Suggestions?

Tax Zone=Nevada
Apply To=postcode
Look For=89701-89703;89706;89711-89714;89721;
Tax Rate=7.4750
Tax Description=Carson
Tax Shipping=true
Tax Class=Taxable Goods

[LadyHLG]

CustomBooks,
If you are taxing purely based on the ship to zip code than you will not have to use zone definitions or zen cart zone taxes at all.

So you would have your countries set up (with USA and any other countries you ship to). Then you would have your states set up as zones, including Nevada (just Nevada not counties).
You do not need to set up anything else as far as zone definitions or zen cart tax rates (you do however need tax classes set up!).

All the sales taxes will be handled by the Local Sales Tax Mod.
So set up each tax rate with all corresponding zip codes exactly as you described.

Tax Zone=Nevada
Apply To=postcode
Look For=89701-89703;89706;89711-89714;89721;
Tax Rate=7.4750
Tax Description=Carson
Tax Shipping=true
Tax Class=Taxable Goods


LadyHLG

[CustomBooks]

LadyHLG-
Eureka! I removed the excess zen cart tax definitions and tax rates and everything is working as expected except for:

Zip codes in range of "89830-89835;" is not being recognized by the local sales tax mod. I thought I could use the hyphen to specify range. However, "89830-to-89835;" works fine.

And, here's another problem: If I don't have a Nevada zip code defined (let's say the Post Office adds a new zip code and I am unaware) - no sales tax is charged (of course).

Is there a way to specify all undefined 89xxx zip codes should default to a minimum 6.85% sales tax within the local sales tax mod? Or, can I add one general Nevada zen cart tax rate and give it a lower priority (somehow) so it kicks in if the local sales tax mod doesn't find a matching zip code in its database?

[LadyHLG]

CustomBooks,

Is there a way to specify all undefined 89xxx zip codes should default to a minimum 6.85% sales tax within the local sales tax mod? Or, can I add one general Nevada zen cart tax rate and give it a lower priority (somehow) so it kicks in if the local sales tax mod doesn't find a matching zip code in its database?

The only way to do this kind of thing would be to set up a zone tax for Nevada of 6.85% then set each zip code tax to whatever the additional tax is for that area.

So, as an example, if zip code 89830 has a total sales tax of 7.0% you would set the zip code tax at .15%. The cart would then apply a statewide tax of 6.85% to all orders in Nevada and then additional .15% to all orders in 89830 totaling your 7.0% sales tax.

LadyHLG

[CustomBooks]

LadyHLG-
Got it! Many, many thanks for all your help.

[LadyHLG]

You are welcome!

LadyHLG

[therealex]

Hi,
I'm using zc 1.3.8a, and I've managed to install the mod and the upgrade. Yesterday I downloaded a file that had all the New York State counties and respective tax rates, called zencart_local_tax_ny.sql

Although the mod is working, I can't figure out how to incorporate that file (which loaded and can be found in the database). I also can't remember where the heck I found it! I've searched this thread, the previous one, and the "free software add-ons" section. I was hoping to ask the writer for advice.

Any info would be greatly appreciated, and thank you to LadyHLG for all of her unselfish and gracious work.

[LadyHLG]

therealex,
It could be possible that the file you have is not meant to work with this particular mod. There have been several local tax mods developed over the years, and I am certain that there have been some specifically designed for NY.
If the file you have was created for this mod it should have over written your local sales tax table and you would see that data in the admin interface for the mod.
There have been files posted by other members specifically for this mod for NY, I'm not sure how up-to-date they will be but it might be a place to start.
In addition to this current thread there is an older support thread HERE.
This one is specifically for NY

Hope that helps!

LadyHLG