No matter how simple or complex your taxation is, TransActPOS can handle it. The system is setup to handle various tax rates all at one time, but setting it up could seem challenging at first glance. Back in January, we offered a brief glimpse into what TransActPOS has to offer when it comes to taxation (eNews 14). This article offers a step-by-step guide on how to set up your taxation properly. For a full version, go into the Help Center within TransActPOS or click Online Text Help once you are logged in to LearnTAPOS and search for "Sales Tax Setup Guide."

(The following guide is completely setup within System | Support Files | Sales Tax Menu)On the Tax Table Setup menu, click on Non-tax Types to begin setting up non-tax types for non-taxed items in your inventory. Some examples of non-tax types are labor, shipping, and food items. Within this submenu, clicking New will allow you to add a non-tax type. Simply enter a maximum of four characters for the ID and a short, but descriptive Description and click OK to save it into the system. Once your Non-Tax Types are setup, you can start to assign them to items within your inventory. To do this, locate a non-taxed item within IC | Inventory File and click the Edit button. Once this is done, select the appropriate non-tax type from the Non-Tax Table drop down menu.

In this step, let's setup the Taxable Item Types. Clicking Taxable Item Types from the Tax Table Setup menu will bring you to a listing of taxable item types within your system. Like before, clicking New will allow you to create a new taxable item type. Just like with the Non-tax types, enter a maximum of four characters for the ID and short description. You can also select which of these taxable item types will be the default when creating a taxable item (if an item type already exists that you want to be the default, highlight it within the list and click the Properties tab and check the Default box). Once these types have been set up, you can establish them within your inventory. Just like before, locate a taxable item in your Inventory File and click the Edit button. The Taxable Item Types are located in the Tax Table drop down menu. Select the appropriate one and click Save to apply the change.

The next step is to create tax locations for your system. Some stores have multiple taxation locations located around their store or may have contractors and workers that travel to various tax locations. Clicking on the Locations button will bring up a tax location list for your system. To add a new one, click New and enter a maximum of four characters and a short description. You can also set a default location for taxation to occur by checking the Default box in the corner of the Properties screen. Much like with the Taxable Item Types, if you wish to have a default location that is already in the list, highlight it and click the Properties tab. From here, you can click the Default box to make this location the default for your system. Applying these will take place in the following step.

Customer Types allows you to setup different taxable customer types within your system. These are set at the customer level. By clicking on Customer Types on the Sales Tax Menu, you will be presented with a listing of current customer types in your system. To create a new one, click New. Here, you can enter up to six characters for the customer type ID and a short description. Below the Description field is a location drop-down menu. These are the locations established in the previous step. Simply choose the location for the specific customer type you are creating. If you are viewing this list and don't see one that fits, clicking the button next to it will open the Locations list, allowing you to create another. Once one is selected, you can enable a few options. There are two boxes for exemptions: one for State Exempt and one for Local Exempt. Select the ones that fit the created customer type. You can also set a default customer type for all new customers being entered into your system by checking the Default box. Just like before, you can highlight an existing one in the list and click the Properties tab to set an existing customer type as the default customer tax type.  

Once the Customer Types are established, you can start assigning them to specific customers within AR | Customer File. Once in the Customer File, click the Accounting tab and the first drop-down menu on this tab is the "Sales Tax" field. Here, you can select from the various Customer Tax Types you set up before.

We are almost there! The final step in the Sales Tax Setup process. Before you setup the Tax Tables to be used in your system, the previous four steps must be completed. Otherwise, you won't have enough information to fill in for each Tax Table. Clicking on Tax Tables brings up a listing of existing Tax Tables already established in your system. To create a new one, click New. On the Properties tab, you can establish the Table ID (maximum of six characters) and description for the given tax table. Now that you have created locations and taxable item types, you can select them from the drop-down menus respectively. Clicking the button beside each drop-down will allow you to create a new type without having to back all the way out.

The bulk of your time will be within the bottom portion of this screen. This is where you establish from what price ranges you want what percent of sales tax for the selected location/taxable item type. Clicking the Add button will bring up a Tax Rate Detail screen, allowing you to enter details for the tax rate you are adding. First, select whether the tax rate you are creating is a State or Local rate. Next, enter a minimum dollar amount and maximum dollar amount that this rate will apply to. Finally, enter the percentage of tax to be charged when the total falls within the range set previously. Clicking OK will add it to the Tax Table you are creating. You can create multiple tax rates for each tax table.