Create your taxes (VAT, fixed tax, withholding) and apply them to sales

Why it matters

An invoice without the right VAT, or with a tax counted twice, exposes you to an unhappy customer and a wrong tax return. In Genuka, you create each tax once, with its rate or amount. It then calculates itself on orders, and the total of tax collected stays traceable.

Summary

Taxes are created in Settings › Finance › Taxes. A tax is either a percentage of the price, or a fixed amount. It then applies to the lines of an order, to the whole order or to shipping fees. Genuka adds the tax on top of the item price: your selling prices are therefore entered before tax.

Before you start

• taxes.view permission to view taxes, taxes.* to create them, edit them and apply them to an order line.
• The business currency is set (see "Fill in your business information"): fixed taxes are expressed in this currency.

Steps: create a tax

1. Open Settings › Finance › Taxes, then click Create a tax.
2. Enter the Name ("VAT") and a short Code ("VAT19"). The code appears in the order's tax breakdown.
3. Choose the Type: Percentage then the Rate, or Fixed then the Amount.
4. If you have several taxes, set the Order in which they are calculated.
5. Tick if needed Is withholding or Include in base for subsequent taxes (see "Fields and options").
6. Click Save.

Steps: apply a tax to an order

In the order form:

• One line: open the line's menu, then Edit taxes. Choose from the existing taxes, or create one with a new tax, then Save.
• The whole order: Add/remove a tax, then tick or untick the taxes. They apply to all products in the order.
• Delivery: shipping fees can carry their own taxes, shown separately under Shipping taxes.

The order summary shows the Line taxes, the Order taxes and the total.

Steps: a product's default taxes

When accounting is turned on, a product's record and a collection's record have an Accounting block with a Default taxes field. Genuka applies these taxes automatically to lines of that product whose taxes were not chosen by hand. The product's own tax takes precedence over its collection's. A change never touches orders already placed.

Fields and options

Edge cases and common mistakes

• A fixed tax is counted per line, not per unit. A line of 5 items carries the fixed amount once. And if all products in the order carry the same fixed tax, it is counted only once for the whole order.
• My prices include tax. Genuka adds the tax to the price entered. If your displayed prices already include VAT, enter your prices before tax, otherwise the customer pays the tax twice.
• "Error creating tax. Error: ...", without more detail. The message does not give the cause. Most often, the code is already used by another tax (two taxes cannot have the same code), or the rate is outside the -100 to 100 range.
• Changing a rate does not rewrite the past. Orders already saved keep the tax amount calculated at the time.
• "This tax doesn't exist anymore" on an old order: the tax was deleted afterwards. The amount stays on the order.
• The Default taxes block does not appear on the product record. Accounting is not turned on. If it appears greyed out, your role has no accounting management right.
• The line menu has no "Edit taxes". Your role does not have taxes.*.

FAQ

How do I create VAT at 19.25%? Create a tax, Name "VAT", Code "VAT", Type Percentage, Rate 19.25, then Save.

Can I apply a tax automatically to all my products? With accounting turned on, yes, through the Default taxes of each product or collection. Without accounting, choose the tax on the order with Add/remove a tax.

Where can I see how much a tax has brought in? Open the tax from the list: its page shows its orders. For the return, see "Prepare a tax return".

See also

• Fill in your business information (parametres-entreprise)
• Create an order (creer-commande)
• Get accounting started (configurer-comptabilite)
• Prepare a tax return (declarations-fiscales)
• Set up shipping fees (frais-de-port)