AccurateTax for Magento Documentation

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Installing the Extension
• General Settings
• Tax Zones and Rates
• Tax Rules
• Product Tax Classes
• Shipping Tax Class
• Adding Classes to AccurateTax
• Testing

Introduction

AccurateTax is a product that allows online retailers to accurately calculate and charge sales tax on all orders shipped within the United States. It scrubs and validates the shipping address, looks up the correct sales tax rate(s) for the order based on the address and the items in the order, and calculates the tax amount, adding it as a sales tax charge to the customer’s order. The solution consists of a Magento extension that is installed on the retailer’s store, and the centralized AccurateTax server-based application that is hosted on our systems.

Installing the Extension

Before installing the AccurateTax extension in your store, you should have the following:

• A Magento store and the login information to access the administration utility
• Your license key and checksum as provided by AccurateTax
• Knowledge of the state(s) in which you have nexus
• A Magento access key

Once you have this information, go to the AccurateTax listing on the Magento extension store to install it on your website. For general Magento extension installation instructions, not specific to AccurateTax, click here.

General Settings

1. In the Magento administration, go to Stores -> Configuration
2. On the left side navigation, under the Sales section, click on Tax
3. Scroll down to the AccurateTax section, then click to expand it
4. Set “Enable Module” to Yes
5. Enter your license key and checksum values
6. Select the states for which you want to call the AccurateTax servers to calculate sales tax
7. Leave the service URL (https://app.accuratetax.com/service.php) as the default unless advised to change it
8. Choose whether to enable logging, which can be useful for developers needing to troubleshoot their connection.
9. Click the “Save Config” button to save your changes.

Setting Up Tax Zones and Rates

1. In the Magento administration, go to Stores -> Tax Zones and Rates
2. Create a zone for each state you wish to collect sales tax for. To do so, click the “Add New Tax Rate” button.
3. Complete the fields as follows:
   • Tax Identifier can be any unique name that helps you understand what it refers to. For example, “US-CA”
   • Leave Zip/Post is Range unchecked
   • Zip/Post Code should have a value of “*”
   • Set the State dropdown to the state you’re setting a zone for
   • Set the Country dropdown to United States
   • Rate Percent should be set to a default fallback rate to use for the state, in case the call to AccurateTax fails
4. Click the “Save Rate” button.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 for all taxable states.

Setting Up Tax Rules

Once you have your zones and rates created you will need to create rules. Rules assign the Zones and Rates in Magento to Tax Classes.

1. In the Magento administration, go to Stores -> Tax Rules
2. Click the “Add New Tax Rule” button in the upper right corner
3. Complete the fields as follows:
   • Name: Use any name you wish.
   • Tax Rate: In most scenarios, you will check all tax rates to apply this rule to them
4. Optional: If you need to apply this rule to unique customer or product tax classes, click the down-facing arrow to the right of Additional Settings
   • Customer Tax Class: In most cases, this will be Retail Customer. Click to change it to a different customer tax class as needed.
   • Product Tax Class: In most cases, this will be Taxable Goods. Click to change it to a different product tax class as needed.
5. Note: In most stores, only one tax rule is needed.
6. Click the “Save Rule” button in the upper right corner.

Product Tax Classes

Once these steps are completed you will need to make sure that each product has a Tax Class assigned and it is one contained in the rule you previously created (default “Taxable Goods”). 

Next you must follow the Tax Class Mapping instructions within the AccurateTax interface.

Shipping Tax Class

Under Stores > Configuration > Sales > Tax in the section labeled Tax Classes, make sure that the Tax Class for Shipping is assigned to a Tax Class Appropriate to Shipping. After doing so you must make sure that Tax Class assigned to Shipping is mapped to a Shipping AccurateTax Tax Class in the AccurateTax Admin (see following section).

Adding Your Magento Tax Classes to AccurateTax

1. Log in to your AccurateTax Account
2. Navigate to the Settings > Tax Classes tab.
3. Under the Store Tax Classes List, Click the button Labeled “New Tax Class”
4. For both the Tax Class Name and Tax Class Code field enter the tax class as it appears in your store.
5. Click the button labeled “Create”.
6. Under the Store Tax Classes list click the newly created Store Tax Class.
7. On the right side under AccurateTax Tax Sku, select a state from the drop-down list.
8. Under the Available Mappings drop-down select an appropriate mapping.
9. Click the button labeled Assign or if you wish this mapping to be assigned to all states click the button labeled “Assign to All States”

Please note: assignments are saved, but do not currently show on this screen. If you are mapping
multiple states to a single tax class, such as adding Apparel Items for NY and FL, you will need to create separate mappings, i.e. repeat steps 7-8 for each state.

This should be done for all your Product Tax Classes as well as any Tax Classes that are used for Shipping

Testing Your AccurateTax Extension

To test your configuration, go to your storefront and add at least one taxable product to your shopping cart. Begin the checkout process, and make sure to enter a US-based address in one of the taxable states you configured in your store.

Once you reach the Review & Payments screen of your Magento checkout, you will see sales tax in the cart summary, typically on the right side of the page as shown below.