Customer Tax Exempt

v1.1.0 CUSTOMER TAX EXEMPT

1. rewrote code to allow customers to be exempt from individual taxes;

Please post all bugs in this thread!

This contribution will be available from the downloads section once it is confirmed to be bug free. Please confirm by posting here.

There has been no bug reports, so I have uploaded this contribution to the downloads section.

This contribution solves the issue of two different contributions. One creates a tax exemption by adding the taxes and then subtracting them. This contribution was not very reliable and only worked in cases where the tax rates were always the same percentage.

The other contribution made all taxes completely exempt which is only useful to a very small group of people as most exempt customers are only exempt from one certain kind of tax.

This contribution allows you to remove the tax on a per tax basis as well as on a per customer basis. You can make the customer exempt from all taxes, one tax, or any number of applicable taxes.

If you want or need to include the percentage in the tax descriptions and the inevitable occurs, a tax increase, it seems one will need to reenter the tax description for every tax exempt customer. This could be a serious problem for stores with a lot of tax exempt customers.

The other contribution made all taxes completely exempt which is only useful to a very small group of peopleThis is true in Canada but not necessarily in the US. We do not usually need to collect tax from customers that resell products we sold to them. And US Government customers are not allowed to pay tax.

This contribution does what your contribution does as well as for individual taxes. The functionality is exactly the same. You can simply enter the word "ALL" and it will make all taxes exempt for that customer.

I wasn't commenting on the functionality of the mod.
Just the hassle it will be when taxes increase and your current tax percentage is part of the tax description. I understand that this is not an issue when using the "ALL" option.

I actually do not know PHP or any other programing language, so I don't know if this is possible or too nutty to code. Is it possible to have the stores taxes show up as a list with check boxes, defaulted to checked then admins could just uncheck the exempted taxes? This would not only make this mod very slick but would also allow the updating of the tax description.

This mod was an interesting mod to write. And although I enjoyed writing it, I don't really have a need to improve the functionality of it as it works perfectly for Canada Taxes. When a tax rate increases, you don't need to change the tax description, simply raise the tax rate. Just keep the tax descriptions generic like "Washington State."

I'm happy enough that the mod covers the current tax issues that nearly every zen cart merchant faced with the previous mods. What I'd like to see next is a contribution that can add recycling fees on a per product_type basis now that many provinces and states are charging these fees on electronics.

What are the differences between your Tax Exempt mod and the following:

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&cPath=40_47&products_id=155

Many thanks :smile:

DogTags:

What are the differences between your Tax Exempt mod and the following:

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&cPath=40_47&products_id=155

Many thanks :smile:

The first tax exempt mod "Tax Exemption Status" worked by refunding the tax in the order total. This frequently caused one penny errors in the order's total. It seemed to be an incomplete clone of the group discount mod. The Include Shipping, Include Tax and Re-calculate Tax options of this mod did not function.
Also getting this mod to behave and calculate the order totals correctly could make you go nuts! Especially if you have other discounts, coupons......

This mod, "Customer Tax Exempt" does not use a refund approach but simply makes the tax equal zero. Or since the rewrite one or all taxes, that is if you need to charge more than one tax.

numinix:

Just keep the tax descriptions generic like "Washington State."

This should be made very clear in the documentation!
Or folks are gonna curse this mod come tax increase time.

I would also include instructions on how to set multiple exemptions, ie. comma delimited. I know the example generated by the mod shows to use commas but this may not always be noticed by a zenner who is juggling a bazillion things and has so much caffeine pulsing through their veins that they don't notice the 15 emails in their inbox from the client telling them they don't want tax exempt functionality any more.

Hi, I did a quick and not integrated solution when I couldn't get the Tax exemption module working and I realized that it just basically subtracted the tax.

I will take a look at your Mod when I get time numinix, it sounds like what I am looking for.

Anyway, with the realization that the module is just basically subtracting the tax amount, this is what I did.

I created a "group pricing" under customers called PST exempt and made the discount 7% (BC PST)

When I get a customer who is PST exempt I add them to the PST exempt group and it gives them a 7% discount called "PST exempt"

And last but not least, I changed "Fax number" to "Tax number" everywhere in the files and I can collect the tax number when they set up the account. I Ithink I moved it to show up under "additional contact information" (I don't require Fax numbers so it worked for me)

I have edit order working on my site, so I just go in to their first order and subtract 7% and name it PST exempt. After I move them to the pricing group, they just automatically tax exempt.

I have been setting up my site for a long time (has months turned to over a year) as i have a lot of product, so I haven't really been able to test this except with test orders I create, so I am not sure if there is anything I didn't think of, but it works for now.

I am looking for something that actually removes the tax rather than subtracts it, but up to now I have not seen anything that works.

hth, Pat

oops, I must have posted this to the wrong thread. I have reposted it to the original post.

Thanks for this contribution, I am going to take a look at it now.

Pat

This is the mod you are looking for.

I posted this to the other thread, but I have to repost here:

I installed your mod and it seems to work great. I haven't done extensive testing to see if it conflicts with any of my many many mods, but I can't see how it would.

It was so simple that I didn't quite get it at first, I thought I should "install" the mod and then do something for each person.

Instead it just simply didn't charge the tax you put in the spot.

Brilliant.

By the way, my fax number to tax number change is good because you can have their (in my case) PST number on "file"

Thanks again.

A form for tax exemption would be a good addition to this mod or to the customer sign-up fields.

Of all my mods this was probably my favourite. But, I don't have any plans to update it :p

Numinix,
I installed the mod without any issues or errors,
I do not see the module in order total,
Did I miss anything, can you assist please.

Wolf

That is the other tax exempt module. THis module adds a new field to the customer page that allows you to turn on or off taxes.

Yes, Yes, its working just as you described.
Thank you for clarifying for me..

Wolf

"set multiple exemptions, ie. comma delimited."

Is this possible with this mod? Or are we limited to one definition?

I need to exempt the PST on the product as well as the PST on the shipping of the same product. Two separate calculations.

When I try to add both to the field, comma delimited, I run out of space... truncated.

Thanks in advance.

Lengthen the input field or shorten your tax descriptions to something like (PST,PST on Shipping). It should easily fit those both.

Btw, there is no PST exemption on shipping unless the customer is of native status. Are there other situations I'm unaware of?

Thanks much. I will lengthen the field seeing as how comma delimited is allowed. Easier than changing my established descriptions and relative tax settings.

I cannot find a definitive answer regarding pst exemptions for wholesalers and shipping. I think you are correct in that there are no tax exemptions on shipping. As the shipping they are billed for is not going to be re-sold.

Thanks again.
Great module!!!