How-to guides

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Prerequisites

Every task on this page needs a role with the Can Update Organisation Config permission. Users without it can view tax configuration, but Zenskar rejects their changes. For details, see Permissions.

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Manage tax categories

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Create a tax category

A tax category classifies products by how they are taxed. Every business entity in your organization uses the same tax categories.

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Tax Categories tab, click Add Tax Category.
3. In Tax Category Name, enter a name that is unique in your organization.
4. Optional: under Third-Party Tax Tool Mapping, enter or select a third-party tax code for each connected third-party tax engine.
5. Click Add Tax Category.

Zenskar confirms the change. For how tax categories work, see Tax categories.

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Rename a tax category

Tax rates and other modules keep using a tax category after you rename it.

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Tax Categories tab, open the menu of the tax category, and click Edit.
3. In Tax Category Name, enter the new name.
4. Click Save Changes.

Zenskar confirms the change.

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Map a tax category to a third-party tax code

A third-party tax code applies in every business entity that uses that third-party tax engine.

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Prerequisites

• Connect the third-party tax engine to a business entity. For steps, see Avalara AvaTax or Anrok. Until then, the panel shows Connect tax tools instead of a code field.

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Tax Categories tab, open the menu of the tax category, and click Edit.
3. In Avalara Tax Code, enter the code. In Anrok Tax Code, select the code from the Anrok catalog.
4. Click Save Changes.

A new code for a third-party tax engine replaces the previous code for that engine.

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Remove a third-party tax code

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Tax Categories tab, open the menu of the tax category, and click Edit.
3. Clear the code field of the third-party tax engine.
4. Click Save Changes.

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Manage served countries

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Add a served country

A served country is a country in which the business entity bills customers. The business entity uses one tax engine for each served country.

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Entities tab, find the card of the business entity, and click Configure.
3. On the Countries Serving tab, click Add Country.
4. In Select Country, select the country.
5. In Currencies, select every currency in which the business entity bills customers in that country.
6. In Tax Engine, select Zenskar, or the third-party tax engine connected to this business entity.
7. Click Add Country.

Zenskar confirms the change. A served country covers only contracts in its currencies. A missing currency can affect contracts in that currency.

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Add a currency, or turn a currency on or off

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Entities tab, find the card of the business entity, and click Configure.
3. On the Countries Serving tab, open the menu of the country, and click Edit.
4. Do one or both of the following:
   • To add a currency, select it in Add another currency.
   • To turn a currency on or off, click it in the list of currencies. At least one currency must stay on.
5. Click Save Changes.

Zenskar confirms the change. A new currency uses the tax engine for the country. A currency that is off is hidden from the Countries Serving list.

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Change the tax engine for a served country

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Entities tab, find the card of the business entity, and click Configure.
3. On the Countries Serving tab, open the menu of the country, and click Edit.
4. In Tax Engine, select the new tax engine.
5. Click Save Changes.

Zenskar confirms the change. The change applies to every currency of the country that is on. The tax rates of the country stay configured. They apply again if you switch back to Zenskar.

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Move a business entity to a different third-party tax engine

A business entity can have at most one third-party tax engine connected. Zenskar does not translate codes from one third-party tax engine to another. Choose one of the following options. Option A: keep tax calculation running. Use this option if the business entity has tax rates for the affected served countries.

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Entities tab, find the card of the business entity, and click Configure.
3. For each served country for which the business entity uses the old third-party tax engine, change the tax engine to Zenskar. For steps, see Change the tax engine for a served country.
4. Disconnect the old third-party tax engine, and connect the new one. For steps, see Avalara AvaTax or Anrok.
5. Map your tax categories to codes in the new third-party tax engine. For steps, see Map a tax category to a third-party tax code.
6. For each affected served country, change the tax engine to the new third-party tax engine.

Option B: accept a gap.

1. Disconnect the old third-party tax engine, and connect the new one.
2. Map your tax categories to codes in the new third-party tax engine.
3. For each served country for which the business entity used the old third-party tax engine, change the tax engine to the new one.

If the new third-party tax engine is already connected to another business entity in your organization, you can map the tax categories before you disconnect the old engine.

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Remove a served country

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Entities tab, find the card of the business entity, and click Configure.
3. On the Countries Serving tab, open the menu of the country, and click Remove.

Zenskar confirms the removal. Zenskar removes the country and all of its currencies. Zenskar keeps the tax rates of the country. If you add the country again, the tax rates apply again.

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Manage tax rates

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Add a tax rate

The Zenskar tax engine uses tax rates only for served countries where it is the tax engine.

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Entities tab, find the card of the business entity, and click Configure.
3. On the Tax Rates tab, click Add Tax Rate. Add Tax Rate is unavailable until the business entity has a served country. To add a tax rate for one tax category, you can also click + Tax Rate next to that tax category.
4. In Tax Category, select the tax category.
5. In Country, select the served country.
6. Optional: narrow the jurisdiction. For steps, see Narrow a tax rate to a state, city, or ZIP-code range.
7. In Effective From, select the start date.
8. In Tax Name and Tax Percentage, enter the first tax component.
9. Optional: to add more tax components, click Add Another Component.
10. Optional: to add later rate changes, see Schedule a rate change.
11. Click Add Tax Rate.

Zenskar confirms the change. For how tax rates work, see Tax rates.

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Narrow a tax rate to a state, city, or ZIP-code range

In the Add Tax Rate panel, under Where this rate applies, do one of the following:

• For a state, click Add State. In State, enter the state.
• For a city, click Add State, and then click Add City. Enter the state and the city.
• For a ZIP-code range, click Add ZIP Code. Enter the state and the city. In ZIP Code Start and ZIP Code End, enter the range.

For a single ZIP code, enter the same value in ZIP Code Start and ZIP Code End. The start code and the end code must have the same length. Enter the state, city, and ZIP code in the same format as the billing addresses of your customers. For the matching rule, see How Zenskar matches a jurisdiction.

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Schedule a rate change

1. In the Add Tax Rate panel, enter the first rate change. For steps, see Add a tax rate.
2. Click Schedule Rate Change.
3. In Effective From, select the date on which the change takes effect.
4. In Tax Name and Tax Percentage, enter the tax components of the change.
5. Optional: to add more rate changes, repeat steps 2 to 4.
6. Click Add Tax Rate.

Zenskar confirms that the rate changes are scheduled. Zenskar ends each rate change on the day before the next one starts. The last rate change has no end date. If a rate change fails to save, Zenskar keeps the rate changes saved before it, and reports how many rate changes it saved. The remaining rate changes stay in the panel. Correct them, and then click Add Tax Rate again. A new rate change can affect active contracts that use the tax category.

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View the rate changes of a tax rate

1. Go to Settings > Tax Configuration.
2. On the Entities tab, find the card of the business entity, and click Configure.
3. On the Tax Rates tab, find the tax rate.
4. Click the number of rate changes in the row of the tax rate.

Tax Rate Details opens. It lists every rate change of the tax rate, with its status, start date, end date, and tax components.