Example tax calculations

Use the Tax notebook to calculate the tax that you charge.

When you set up taxes with the Tax notebook, keep the following points in mind:

Note: For more information on changing the tax rates, see .


Example: Department store

The following tax calculations are based on sample scenarios for a fictional online department store located in Ontario, Canada. All examples are hypothetical.

Although this department store is located in Ontario, Canada, the store has customers from other jurisdictions, indicated as All jurisdictions within Canada, where taxation laws might differ. The following table outlines sample jurisdictions, the store's tax categories, and the tax rates in percentage:

Jurisdictions default shipping Federal tax State tax
CANADA, Ontario 0.00 0.00 7.00 8.00
CANADA, Alberta 0.00 0.00 7.00 0.00
CANADA, All 0.00 0.00 7.00 7.00
UNITED STATES, California 0.00 0.00 6.00 8.00
UNITED STATES, All 0.00 0.00 6.00 7.00

Not all taxes apply for every product. For example, the federal and state tax does not apply to groceries, but they apply to clothing items. As a result, the department store uses tax codes to group taxes together that apply to a particular product. The following table illustrates the tax codes

Tax codes default shipping Federal tax State tax
groceries yes yes no no
clothing yes yes yes yes


Example 1

A customer from Ontario, Canada orders two pairs of women's jeans. Jeans fall under the tax code clothing, which is composed of the default, shipping, federal, and state taxes. In the jurisdiction CANADA, Ontario, the values for these taxes are 0.00, except for federal tax, which is 7 percent, and state tax, which is 8 percent. As a result the total tax charge is $21.00: ($70.00 per pair of jeans * 7% federal tax * 2 pairs of jeans) + ($70.00 per pair of jeans * 8% state tax * 2 pair of jeans) = $21.00.


Example 2

A customer from California, United States orders 3 crates of wild blueberries. Wild blueberries fall under the tax code groceries, which is composed of the default and shipping taxes. In the jurisdiction UNITED STATES, CALIFORNIA, the values for the default and shipping taxes is 0.00. As a result there is no tax charge for the wild blueberries.