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Shift4Shop's integration with Tax Cloud tax allows you to have real-time tax calculation on your customer orders with rates coming directly from your Tax Cloud account. This guide will help you set up your Tax Cloud integration.
Note
To use Shift4Shop's Tax Cloud Integration you must first have an account with Tax Cloud. You will also need to have the Tax Cloud connector. Please click here for more information on the Tax Cloud Connector for your store.
Important
Please be aware that Tax Cloud handles discounts a bit differently than the Shift4Shop store will. When an order contains a discount, the Tax Cloud system will expect the discount amounts to be diluted among the items of the order. Your Shift4Shop store however will treat discounts as a separate line item on the order. Due to this incompatibility, discounts cannot be calculated using the Tax Cloud system and Shift4Shop.
A better solution for the handling of discounts would be Avalara which does accept discounts as a separate attribute.
What you will need
To set up your Shift4Shop/TaxCloud integration you will need the following information which can be generated directly from your TaxCloud Merchant Interface.
- A TaxCloud account (see above)
- Your TaxCloud API ID
- Your TaxCloud API Key
- Default TIC
Tip
You may retrieve the above information by logging into your TaxCloud Merchant Interface and navigating to Locations and clicking on your already configured location name. The API information will be located towards the bottom.
Your TIC will depend on the type of products you are selling and taxing. TaxCloud will provide this information as it is selected in the interface.
The final piece of information you will need is a USPS UserID. TaxCloud utilizes the United States Post Office database to verify addresses before processing the tax transaction. Therefore this information will be needed to continue your integration.
If you do not already have a USPS UserID, you may click here to create one.
Setting up your TaxCloud integration
To begin inputting your Tax Cloud settings, follow these steps:
- Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager
- Use the left hand navigation menu and go to Settings >Payments
- Once there, click on the "Setup Tax" button underneath Tax Manager
You will now see a section labled "Enable real-time tax calculation" where you can enable TaxCloud and specify your TaxCloud account settings.
Once you have completed the configurations, click on the button marked "Save Changes" located at the top right.
Taxability Information Code (TIC)
With TaxCloud, you have the option of specifying taxability information codes (TIC) either for your entire store or for individual products. The TIC numbers will be generated for you directly from the TaxCloud user interface depending on the items you specify tax for.
Note
More information on this will be provided by TaxCloud
As mentioned, you have the option of specifying TIC information either globally on your entire store, or individually on a per product basis.
Default (Store-wide) TIC code
To enable a TIC number on your entire store, simply add the TIC to the default field of the Tax Manager settings described above.
Product Specific TIC codes
In some cases you may need to specify tax codes for individual products. For example, some states will require a certain tax be collected on certain types of products (i.e. Food items are charged a different rate than general goods)
In these cases, you can also specify TIC codes for individual products by placing them in the product's "Extra Field 1" section.
- Go to Products >Product List
- Find the product that you'd like to edit and click on its name (You can also look to the far right of the item and click on its "Action >Edit" button)
- While viewing the product's "Information" tab, scroll down to the "Extra Fields" section and add the product specific TIC to extra field 1.
Note
The TIC in Extra Field 1 should be formatted with "TIC:" as a prefix in order for the system to recognize the code.
Shopper's Experience
Your shoppers will see the real-time tax calculated for them at the final checkout step:
Note
Shipping will always be passed as an item TIC code: "11010 - Transportation, Shipping Postage, and similar Charges"
Troubleshooting
In order to troubleshoot any possible issues that might arise, it would benefit you to know how the order is treated after placement.
After an order is placed, the TaxCloud system will authorize the transaction. When the order is moved to the "new" status, the TaxCloud system will capture the transaction. Both authorization and capture tasks will occur in case the order is paid with a payment method that automatically places it in the "New" status of your Shift4Shop store.
If there are any errors during the authorization/capture requets, the Shift4Shop system will show an error message inside the Internal Comments section of the Order Details page.
If/When necessary, the requests can be resubmitted to TaxCloud by clicking on the order's "Actions" button located at the top right of the order page, and clicking the "Resubmit TaxCloud" link provided.
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