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A tax rate records a percentage of tax you are required to collect, and where it applies. Each rate ties a tax category to a place, so goods carrying that category are taxed at that figure when they ship there. The figures themselves come from the tax authority in each place you sell. What you need to do is tell Spree what they are, so it applies the right rate to each order. Most stores end up with several: one per category per country, and more where a country taxes by state. For example, a store selling standard and reduced-rate goods into three countries needs six rates. To manage tax rates, navigate to Settings → Tax rates, under the Selling group.
Tax rates configure Spree’s built-in tax engine. They do not decide which engine a market uses. If you have connected an external tax provider, select it in Tax engine on each market rather than configuring rates here.

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Reviewing Your Tax Rates

The Tax rates list, showing each rate, what it applies to and whether it is included in the price Each row shows:
  • Name - What the rate is called.
  • Rate - The percentage charged.
  • Applies to - The country, and the state where one is set.
  • Included in price - Whether displayed prices already contain this tax.

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How to Create a Tax Rate

Click Add tax rate. The Add tax rate panel
  • Name - What customers see on the tax line, so use the name they would recognise, such as VAT or Sales Tax.
  • Rate - The percentage, entered as a whole number. Enter 20 for 20%.
  • Tax category - Which products this rate taxes. Only goods carrying this category are affected.
  • Country - Where the rate applies. Leave it empty to tax every country.
  • State - Narrows the rate to one state. This field only appears once you pick a country that has states.
  • Included in price - Prices already carry this tax, so it is backed out of the displayed price rather than added at checkout.
  • Show rate in the tax label - Adds the percentage to the tax line the customer sees, so it reads “VAT (20%)” rather than “VAT”.
Click Create tax rate.
A rate that names no country taxes every country. Leaving Country empty is occasionally what you want, but more often it is an oversight that taxes customers who should not be charged.

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Included in price, or added at checkout

This switch is the difference between how European and North American stores usually work, and getting it wrong misprices everything on the affected goods.
  • On suits regions where advertised prices include tax. A product shown at 120 with a 20% rate is treated as 100 plus 20 tax, and the customer pays 120.
  • Off suits regions where tax is added at the end. A product shown at 120 with a 20% rate becomes 144 at checkout.
Whether a market displays prices with tax included is set on the market itself. Set Tax-inclusive pricing on the market and Included in price on its rates to match, or displayed prices and charged tax will disagree.

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How to Edit a Tax Rate

Open the row menu and choose Edit. Changes apply to new calculations only. Orders already placed keep the tax they were charged, so correcting a rate does not rewrite your history.

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How to Delete a Tax Rate

Open the row menu and choose Delete.
Deleting a rate stops tax being charged on its category in that location. Be sure to check that another rate covers those goods before removing one.

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Further Reading