Setting up tax rates for Shopify POS

The Shopify POS app applies taxes based on the store location that you assign to your POS device. Store locations must be included in your shipping zones for taxes to be calculated correctly.

Stores selling in the United States can activate Shopify Tax for their in-person sales with the Shopify POS app. Review the considerations for activating Shopify Tax.

After your tax settings are configured, you can adjust the taxes that are applied to individual orders or products during a transaction from the Shopify POS cart.

Set the tax rate for a new POS location

The Shopify POS app applies taxes based on the store location that you assign to your POS device.

Steps:

  1. Make sure that the new location is included in your shipping zones so that taxes can be calculated correctly. You need to do this step even if you never ship your products (for example, if you're only running Shopify POS).
  2. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Taxes and duties.
  3. In Manage sales tax collection, select the country/region your POS is located in.
  4. In the Tax rates section, click the tax region and set the tax rate, then click Save:
    • If you're in the United States, choose automatic tax settings or manually specify the rates for state, county, and municipal taxes, including shipping taxes. You can also activate a tax service like Shopify Tax. Review the considerations for activating Shopify Tax.
    • If you're not in the United States, use the default values or manually specify the rates for countries and their regions. You also specify whether you will charge taxes on shipping.
  5. Add your new store location as a location in your Shopify admin.
  6. Assign your Shopify POS device to the new location. If the new location isn't shown, then background the app by pressing the home button on your device. Open the Shopify POS app again, and your new location should be available.

Considerations for activating Shopify Tax

If this is your first time activating Shopify Tax, then you might need to update some areas in order to get the most accurate tax calculations. Before activating Shopify Tax, review the following considerations:

  • Shopify Tax calculates sales tax at a much higher level of precision combined with the ability to automate product exemptions based on product categories. You will no longer a need to set county- or city-level overrides.
  • Shopify Tax uses your product categories to automatically apply product rate exemptions. Review your product categories before activating Shopify Tax as they will begin affecting the rate charged on your orders.
  • Be sure that your products are checked as This is a physical product within your product page unless they are digital goods. If you are using this setting to prohibit goods from being shipped, then manage sales channels within each product page.
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