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Configure tax

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Custom tax rates let you define your own tax rates per geographic region and apply them to specific products. This approach suits stores with a manageable set of tax rates — for example, a single national rate like Australian GST. If your requirements are more complex (many jurisdictions, frequently changing rates), consider using Avalara AvaTax instead.

Prerequisites

Step 1: Set the tax method on your price book

Tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive pricing is controlled at the Price Book level, not at the store level. Each Price Book has a Tax Method setting that determines how prices are displayed to customers.

  1. Go to StoreConnect Navigation > Configuration > Price Books.
  2. Open the Price Book you want to configure.
  3. Set the Tax Method field:
    • Exclusive (default) — prices are displayed without tax; tax is calculated and shown as a separate line item at checkout.
    • Inclusive — prices already include tax; the tax component is shown separately at checkout for transparency.
    • Exempt — no tax is applied to products in this price book.
  4. If Tax Method is set to Inclusive, also set the Tax Zone field. This tells StoreConnect which zone’s tax rates determine the tax portion embedded in the price.
  5. Select Save.

Override tax method per product

You can override the Price Book setting for individual products using the Price Book Entry.

  1. Open the product record and navigate to its Price Book Entry.
  2. Set the Tax Method field:
    • Inherit (default) — the product uses the parent Price Book’s tax method.
    • Inclusive, Exclusive, or Exempt — overrides the Price Book setting for this product only.
  3. Select Save.

Step 2: Create a zone

Zones define the geographic areas where a tax rate applies. Each tax rate must be linked to a zone.

  1. Go to StoreConnect Navigation > Configuration > Locations > Zones.
  2. Select New.
  3. Enter a Name for the zone (e.g., “Australia” or “California”).
  4. Select Save.
  5. On the zone record, go to the Related tab and add the geographic members that define this zone:
    • Zone Countries — add countries by their ISO 3166 alpha-3 code.
    • Zone States — restrict to specific states within a country.
    • Zone Postcodes — restrict to specific postcodes or ZIP codes.
    • Zone Cities — restrict to specific cities.

A customer’s address matches the zone if it matches any one of the zone’s defined members (country, state, postcode, or city).

For a detailed walkthrough of zone setup, see Configure zones for tax and shipping areas.

Step 3: Create a tax rate

  1. Go to StoreConnect Navigation > Configuration > Taxes > Tax Rates.
  2. Select New.

  3. Fill in the following fields:

    Field Description
    Name Internal identifier for this rate (e.g., “GST Australia”).
    Display Name Shown to customers at checkout and on receipts (e.g., “GST” or “Sales Tax”).
    Tax Rate The percentage rate (e.g., enter 10 for 10%).
    Zone The zone this rate applies to.
    Based on Shipping Address Checked (default): tax is determined by the customer’s shipping address. Uncheck to use billing address instead.
    Effective From The date this rate becomes active. Set to today or a past date to activate immediately.
    Effective To Optional. Use this to schedule a rate expiry or future rate change. Leave blank for an ongoing rate.
  4. Select Save.

Repeat this process for each tax rate you need.

Step 4: Apply tax to products

The Price Book Tax Method controls how product prices are displayed (with or without tax), but it does not determine which tax rates are calculated. Each product needs to be linked to the tax rates that apply to it. StoreConnect uses these links to calculate the correct tax amount at checkout based on the customer’s address.

There are two approaches for linking products to tax rates. Both are equally valid — choose based on the size and complexity of your catalog.

Option A: Direct product association

Best for small catalogs or a single tax rate applied to most products. You work from the Tax Rate record outward, adding products to it rather than visiting each product individually.

  1. Open the Tax Rate record.
  2. Go to the Related tab.
  3. Under Product Taxes, select New.
  4. Select the product to apply this rate to.
  5. Select Save, or Save & New to continue adding more products.

To apply the tax rate to shipping costs, add the StoreConnect Shipping Product to the list.

For large catalogs, these associations can be created in bulk using a data import tool such as Dataloader.io.

Option B: Tax groups

Best for larger catalogs or when multiple tax rates apply to the same set of products. You define the tax rates once in a group, then link the group to each product. When tax rates change, you update the group — not every product.

  1. Go to StoreConnect Navigation > Configuration > Taxes > Tax Groups.
  2. Select New and give the group a name (e.g., “Standard Tax”).
  3. In the Tax Group record, go to the Related tab.
  4. Under Tax Tax Groups, select New and link each of your tax rates to this group.
  5. For each product, create a Product Tax Group record pointing to the Tax Group.

As with Option A, the Product Tax Group records can be created in bulk via data import for large catalogs.

:::tip Tax groups are particularly useful for the USA, where many ZIP codes each have their own rate. See Set up zones for applying US tax rates for a full walkthrough. :::

Verification

Test your configuration on your store before going live:

  1. Add a taxable product to the cart.
  2. Proceed to checkout and enter a shipping address within a taxable zone.
  3. Confirm tax appears correctly in the order summary.

Example — Exclusive pricing: A $100 product with 10% GST displays as $100 + $10 tax = $110 total.

Example — Inclusive pricing: A $110 product with 10% GST displays as $110 (includes $10 GST).

If tax does not appear, check:

  • The customer’s address falls within the zone defined on the tax rate.
  • The tax rate’s Effective From date is today or earlier.
  • The product has a Product Tax or Product Tax Group record linking it to the rate.
  • The Price Book’s Tax Method is set to Exclusive or Inclusive (not Exempt).

Next steps

Related articles

Documentation Tax Documentation Configure zones for tax and shipping areas Documentation Set up zones for applying us tax rates Documentation Avalara AvaTax Documentation Recalculating taxes Documentation Configure tax exempt customers

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