a module for city-specific sales tax rates

Hi -

OK, this is my first attempt at offering something back to the ZC community. Please remember this when evaluating, and kindly grade me "on the curve."

This module is a modification of "California Sales Tax Module," found here: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46091. Instead of working off of ZIP codes, it uses city names. This has a couple of advantages that I can see:

1. it's (usually) easier for the user to configure, as there are generally fewer cities than ZIP codes.
2. ZIP codes occasionally can span cities and will therefore yield inaccurate tax codes. Using the city should be more accurate.

Please read the readme.txt fully before using, ESPECIALLY the part about the sql not working as a file upload through Admin->Tools->Install SQL Patches. I welcome any feedback.

Well, the lack of response suggests that nobody cares, but in the off-chance that someone does, I've modified this module to support tax-exempt status for in-state resellers. It does require the addition of a field in the customers table. This is most easily accomplished with the SQL script in the Customer Tax Exempt add-on.

If this module seems lame or unnecessary, feel free to let me know; you won't hurt my feelings.

Maybe this is what I need? I'm in Arizona and have to charge state, county, and city taxes according to destination.... Although I'm not sure which to charge if my customer is in one zone and the package goes to another....

Hi, Dragonlady –

It sounds like in AZ, you're responsible for more collection than we in CA are. I don't know that my add-on will do everything for you, but perhaps it would be a starting point. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

I'm working on it now. But I'm not sure how I will set up for those who have to pay county taxes, but not city ones? For instance, I live in an unincorporated area, so if I buy something online from an Arizona seller I have to pay state and county, but not city.

And worse, our Pima county charges more if people aren't in a city. :no: I don't know HOW I'm supposed to figure that one out.

And when I called the department of revenue, they told me flat-out they couldn't help me figure it out. And they don't even have all the city rates on their website; in some cases I have to call the city and find out.

I'm actually wondering how much it would hurt my business just to say "no sales to Arizona". :wacko:

Hi DragonLady (and other Arizonans who find this)...

The City of Flagstaff has some great information on this:
http://www.flagstaff.az.gov/faq.aspx?TID=10
As does the city of Prescott:
http://www.cityofprescott.net/services/finance/tax.php

My internet business is based in Phoenix and from the information above, I'm taking the approach of:

1. If I ship out of state, no sales tax (unless there is some destination tax I'm not yet aware of).
2. If I ship within the state, I'm going to charge sales tax at the rate of my local (shipping-from) address, which includes State, County and City taxes, which is a whopping 9.3%. Unfortunately that'll be sure to aggravate some customers.

If that ever becomes a problem, there are some companies (e.g. Amazon) who have headquarters out-of-state, yet distribution warehouses in-state, and thus seem to have a way to ship within Arizona with no sales tax for customers. That's probably something for a tax accountant to figure out.

Good Luck!

This is brilliant. Are the CA tax rates still current?

I hope this will resolve my issues. I need to charge for certain states as well in some instances.