Overview
Setting up sales tax in serviceminder can be accomplished in four simple steps! Review the process on this page so you can seamlessly apply taxes to your proposals and invoices.
Please confirm with a CPA or your local tax office regarding the sales tax requirements for your city and state.
This article will review:
Setting Up Your Tax Rates
1. If you are integrating with QuickBooks, make sure your taxes are set up there first.
In order for the QuickBooks tax rate table to load from QuickBooks to serviceminder, an invoice has to sync over first to indicate to QuickBooks to share information with our system. This can be a dummy $1 invoice or a real invoice. Once that first invoice has synced, you will see your QuickBooks tax rates display beneath your serviceminder tax rates.
2. Create your tax rates in the serviceminder system.
Navigate to Control Panel >Invoice > Manage Tax Rates. Then click Add.
If using QuickBooks, remember to use the dropdown menu to connect the QuickBooks tax rate to the serviceminder tax rate you are creating. This step is important for invoices to sync successfully moving forward! It is also helpful to name the rate the same or something similar to the matching QuickBooks rate so you know which ones go together.
Provide the combined tax rate percentage that represents all state and local taxes combined. If using QuickBooks, make sure this percentage matches the rate you'll be linking it to.
3. Map your tax rates and assign them to your contacts.
Once you're new tax rates are created, click the Mapping button at the top right corner.
This is where you will map tax rates to the territories that your state requires (state, county, city, or postal code). Use the dropdown menus to assign a tax rate to the applicable zones.
Once that is complete, you can click Save and Update All Contacts or Save and Apply to Unmapped Contacts. This will assign tax rates to your contacts automatically based on their address on file.
4. Check the Taxable box for Services and/or Parts/Add-Ons that need to charge tax.
First, navigate to Control Panel > Services. Here you can edit services individually and make them taxable by scrolling down to the Duration and Pricing section, then checking the Taxable box and saving your changes.
Services are the master "on/off switch" for proposals and invoices that determines whether or not the rest of the line items can be taxed. If the Service can not or should not be taxed, give it a value of $0 then create an identical Part that holds the dollar value.
Then, head over to Control Panel > Parts/Add-Ons and edit your relevant parts to make them default as taxable on proposals and invoices.
You can also update parts in bulk to be taxable directly from the Parts grid. Filter the grid so it is displaying only the parts you want to update, then click Actions > Update.
For any previously created proposals or invoices you will need to edit them and manually check the taxable box on the service line and any parts that need to be taxed.
The service line box is immediately viewable. To check the box on a part, click the pencil first, then mark the taxable box in the window that opens at the top of the page.
Tax Finder
Do you live in an area that uses incredibly complex tax codes? Does your state map taxes by the individual address? Then you will likely need to use Tax Finder feature. Tax Finder can be found in the Marketplace. It will automatically map your tax rates for you and can look up tax rates for each individual contact.
With Tax Finder, you get 100 lookups per month. It will look up your contact when they are imported into the system and automatically update their tax rates if their address is changed in the system as long as you use the search bar when entering the contact's address. The tax rates are automatically named and mapped for you.
This feature is an additional charge. To learn more about Tax Finder and add it to your account, please visit our Marketplace.
FAQs
Why isn't tax applying on my proposal/invoice?
If the tax is not applying correctly, please review these three questions. If the answer is No to any of those questions, please review the steps above on this help page to make the necessary adjustments.
- Are my taxes set up in Control Panel >Invoice > Manage Tax Rates?
- Is the correct tax rate mapped to this contact?
- Is the Taxable box checked for the Service and relevant Parts on my individual invoice?
Why aren't my tax rates from QuickBooks showing up?
Ensure the following to make sure your QuickBooks tax rates sync over properly:
- Make sure your QuickBooks integration is Active in Control Panel > Integrations > Accounting
- Review your tax rates in QuickBooks. The need to be Active and have a valid percentage in order to populate in serviceminder.
- Sync at least one invoice (it can be a "dummy" $1 invoice that is then voided) from serviceminder over to QuickBooks.
When mapping my tax rates, do I need to select a rate for all items within each of the categories (i.e., postal codes, cities, counties, and states?
This depends on how your taxes are set in your area. If you only have state tax, you can set that and be done. If you have tax rates set up by county, you'll map your rates to their corresponding counties. If your taxes rates vary by more than one category or even by individual address, Tax Finder might be the right fit for you.
Do Service settings override Part settings in regards to taxes?
Services are the main On/Off switch for Taxes. If Parts are On but Services are Off, taxes will not be collected on that invoice.If you are a franchisee, your brand's deploy account, the Services will all default to having the taxable box unchecked. Each location will need to check it on depending on their local tax laws. This way, it doesn't default to on and owners don't charge taxes if they don't need to.
Are taxes included in my royalties reporting (End of Week/End of Month)?
Within the End of Week/End of Month report, you may see a column which tells you the taxes charged per that reporting period but these are NOT included in the royalties that are due. The system automatically doesn't apply royalties to taxes.
