Tax Not Being Taken Out (Randomly)

Have any of you seen this before? Everything is working great, but on random orders, the tax is completely not being taken out.

However, from what I can gather, this only seems to happen when:

1. The orders are large....like more than 20 line items

2. AND... only when the discount coupon is used

3 AND... only when the order goes through as a Gift Certificate when no GC is used

Here are two screenshots from the SAME CUSTOMER, on two different orders. Both have over 20 items. Both charge tax, and yet, only one gets the tax taken out of it.

Any idea why?

I think it has to do with the (bug?) I have where RANDOM large orders from customers in my store come in as "Gift Certificate" even though no gift certificate was used.

You will notice that the order below which didn't take the tax out falls under that category (large order, many line items, registered as a Gift Certificate even though none was used, and no tax was taken out). Both are from the same customer.

NO TAX:

http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/images/temp/zcnotax.jpg

WITH TAX:

http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/images/temp/zctax.jpg

Any idea what I could check or tweak to make this work?

Jeff-

Need more details - what version are you using? Upgraded or Fresh install? What addons are you using? What other customizations?

Um ... on the order that's not showing the tax, the order-totals don't add up properly either.
The difference appears to be the tax amount ?

What were the settings for the coupon?
What are your settings for Discount Coupons in Admin->Modules->Order Total?
Is your shipping taxable too ?

DrByte:

Um ... on the order that's not showing the tax, the order-totals don't add up properly either.
The difference appears to be the tax amount ?

I don't know what's going on. In that example, if you add up all the items, the subtotal seems to be relatively correct. But when you subtract the discount coupon, and add back the shipping, the total price is WAY under what it should be.

DrByte:

What were the settings for the coupon?

The coupon is something all our returning customers can use. It will deduct 10% off the order, but only on items that apply.

It's basically a 10% discount coupon, but there is a category restriction that states that if the particular product that you want to purchase is in this restricted coupon category, then it won't take the discount off.

So that way it's supposed to work (and how I thought it was working this entire time) is like this:

Item #1: 10.00
Item #2: 10.00 (but linked to a non-discounted hidden category in our store)
Item #3: 10.00

TOTAL: 30.00
10% Discount Coupon: - 2.00

It will not take the 10% off the second item because it is linked to a category which we restrict the coupon from applying. It's our little way of having non-discountable products due to some restrictions imposed by certain suppliers.

DrByte:

What are your settings for Discount Coupons in Admin->Modules->Order Total?

This module is installed
true

Sort Order
280

Include Shipping
false

Include Tax
False

Re-calculate Tax
Standard

Tax Class
--none--

DrByte:

Is your shipping taxable too ?

It shouldn't be.

Hi ...

I'm having the exact same problem. It was configuring tax previously, then something happened. I didn't make any changes to the settings. I followed the Instructions on the Tax set up for Taxable goods for CA tax 8.25%...running cart version 3.7 -- Please HELP!!

Why is this not working? I also have the totals set up properly. We're not running any discount coupons or Gift Certificates at this time.

Thanks for any help on this.
Kinget

Well....I just figured out my own problem. Go to Admin > Location/Taxes -> Zones, then click on "Details" and make sure that the correct state is selected. Even though it may be selected on the front, I noticed a different state had been selected. I made the change and it seemed to fix the problem. Hope this helps.

Kinget

:thumbsup: Thanks for taking the time to post how you fixed your tax problem.

Unfortunately, that isn't the problem with my original post. My tax zone is configured correctly.

I'm still waiting to hear from the developers if they have any other thoughts or ideas on what the problem may be.

Hi Jeff,

I'm sorry I wasn't any help on that. In thinking about your problem, as I made this mistake a couple of times, and it gave a similar problem result as to what you are going through -- Did you also check your products set up in the catalog - making sure those that the "taxable items" have the correct tax label? (aka..."Taxable Goods" - which is the default label that you would select to add tax to the product) -- The cart will only charge tax for items labeled as taxable goods. (this is a label too that is editable, but the default is set up as "taxable goods") If some of the products do not have the correct label, they would not be charged tax. Is it possible that some of those products that are not being charged tax mistakenly do not have the tax label selected in the product set up? You probably already checked those, but I thought I would mention it.

Kinget

Jeff_Mash:

I don't know what's going on.
That makes 2 of us.

Jeff_Mash:

The coupon is something all our returning customers can use. It will deduct 10% off the order, but only on items that apply.

It's basically a 10% discount coupon, but there is a category restriction that states that if the particular product that you want to purchase is in this restricted coupon category, then it won't take the discount off.

...

It's our little way of having non-discountable products due to some restrictions imposed by certain suppliers.Does this ever happen if there are no "restricted" products linked from hidden categories in the order?

DrByte:

Does this ever happen if there are no "restricted" products linked from hidden categories in the order?

What I can tell you is this. It ALWAYS happens when the user's order mysteriously gets placed as a "Gift Certificate/Coupon"

For example, look at this image: http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/images/temp/zcnotax.jpg

As you can see from that picture, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that this order should be registered as a Gift Certificate/Coupon. The total was well over $400.00, and the only coupon used was a 10% discount coupon which you can see has been taken off, leaving a balance of $412. However, this balance remains UNPAID because the system records the transaction as a Gift Certificate/Coupon payment.

This ALWAYS seems to happen when:

1. There are a lot of items in the cart, AND
2. The user pays with credit card, AND
3. Mostly (if not all the time) when the user is from California

If the user paid with PayPal or Check/Money Order, it will always work. It only seems to be true if the above three conditions are met.

Consequently, when that does happen, it doesn't take the tax out of the transaction either.

Does that give you any clues as to what might be happening based on the above three things?

And the other thing.....whenever that scenario happens above (where the order is stored as a Gift Certificate), no tax is taken out and the grand total is off.

I think it's all somehow related to tax and being in California for some reason.

DrByte, you also picked up on this when you added up the total, took into account the discount and shipping, and the grand total didn't match. This is another thing that is hurting us because it's making us lose money.

So any ideas would greatly help out.

Again, it happens on high dollar orders in California when paying with credit card and using a discount coupon. Result is no tax taken out and grand total is wrong.

Which states do you have tax rates configured for? Is it only for california?

Do you have any of the experimental california tax mods installed (which tax by county or zip, instead of state-wide)?

I found out where the problem is. Tax seems to not charge when the billing and shipping state are different. Example.. California spelt out in billing and California abbreviated in shipping CA. So my question is how do you fix it to recognize that CA and California are the same.

I am having the same problem as the first person who started this thread. I sell in California and charge tax to California buyers. If a customer is in California AND uses a coupon that customer has no tax added to their order and the payment method is marked as "Gift Certificate/Coupon". Additionally, they don't pay anything - their is no PayPal payment or any kind of payment.

This makes no sense as I don't even sell Gift Certificates and the coupon is a $5.00 off coupon of a minimum $10 purchase. The coupon works fine for everyone outside of California. By the way I'm using 1.3.7 and I don't have any hidden categories.

Basically, all my California coupon-using customers can't pay or they think they are getting free product.

Does anyone know how I can fix this? Thanks.

DJMagicCards:

I am having the same problem as the first person who started this thread. I sell in California and charge tax to California buyers. If a customer is in California AND uses a coupon that customer has no tax added to their order and the payment method is marked as "Gift Certificate/Coupon". Additionally, they don't pay anything - their is no PayPal payment or any kind of payment.

This makes no sense as I don't even sell Gift Certificates and the coupon is a $5.00 off coupon of a minimum $10 purchase. The coupon works fine for everyone outside of California. By the way I'm using 1.3.7 and I don't have any hidden categories.

Basically, all my California coupon-using customers can't pay or they think they are getting free product.

Does anyone know how I can fix this? Thanks.

Can you list the steps I'd need to follow to make this happen on a fresh installation of Zen Cart?
I'm thinking about zone definitions, tax rates, coupon settings, which shipping modules are enabled, and their settings, which payment modules, which PayPal module and which patches installed, example customer addresses (no names, and a ficticious street number but otherwise valid addresses), and also any other addons/contributions installed on your site. The "tax basis" settings from Admin->Config->My Store would help too. Did you change any settings in Admin->Modules->Order Total?

If it can be reproduced consistently, then it can be fixed.
If it's not consistent, then at least it can be added to the list of data collected related to the problem.

I was having this same problem and reading this thread I figured out that none of my products were listed as taxable goods. I have hundreds of products. Is there anyway to update all of them as taxable goods?...updating them each manually would take forever!

vetofunk:

I was having this same problem and reading this thread I figured out that none of my products were listed as taxable goods. I have hundreds of products. Is there anyway to update all of them as taxable goods?...updating them each manually would take forever!

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64492