Sales Tax

Sales tax is a rate you create once, then attach to the dishes that should collect it. New order lines pick that rate up automatically. You can still change tax on a single line.

Add a rate

1. Open Inventory Management → Inventory Configuration → Tax Rates
2. Click Add Tax Rate
3. Enter a Name, such as Sales Tax
4. Choose a Category, such as Prepared Food Tax
5. Enter Rate as a percent. 8.25 means 8.25%
6. Click Add Tax Rate

Add Tax Rate opens this form. Fill it in, then click Add Tax Rate to save.

Optional fields:

Archive asks Are you sure you want to archive this tax rate? before it runs. That takes the rate off the lists you pick from. Tax already recorded on saved orders stays as it was.

Which rate an item uses

On the menu item, open Details and find Default taxes. Check the rates that should follow this dish onto an order. The hint on that field says the choice is still editable per line.

Default taxes sits on the item's Details section.

When the item has no default taxes, the order uses the customer's Default tax rate (on Customer Details). When the customer has none either, the order uses the location's default rate.

A customer Default tax rate is a fallback for items that aren't taxed on their own. It doesn't replace taxes you already checked on the dish.

Service fee

A service fee is a percent of the order's items that you charge on every order, whatever the payment method. It isn't a tax rate. Set it on the location:

1. Open Locations and open the location
2. Find Service Fee
3. Enter Service fee %, a Name shown to customers (such as Service fee), and What the fee is for. The explanation is required once the percent is above zero
4. Leave Charge sales tax on this fee on unless your accountant says otherwise
5. Save

A region's fee reaches every kitchen under it. Set a kitchen to 0 to opt it out.

The fee is worked out on the items after discounts and promotions. It doesn't include tax, delivery, gratuity or line service charges. When it's taxed, the tax uses the order's own rate, so a tax-exempt customer pays no tax on it. On tax-inclusive orders the fee is still added on top.

New orders copy the location's fee. A draft keeps following the location until someone changes it. Once the order leaves draft, its fee is fixed.

A manager or admin can change the fee's percent on one order, or click Remove fee, in the fees area of the sales order. Each change is logged on the order's timeline. Restore location default puts it back.

Common Questions

Q: Can I charge the fee only when a customer pays by card?
A: No. The fee applies to every order. A card-only surcharge has its own rules, and calling a fee every customer pays a "processing" or "card" fee would describe it wrongly.

Q: Where does tax on the service fee show up for filing?
A: On the Tax Collected report, inside the same rate rows as the order's items. The note under the summary says how much of it came from service fees and gratuity.

Q: The dish has no Default taxes and the list says there are no rates.
A: Add a rate under Tax Rates, then come back to the item. The link on that empty state is Manage tax rates.

Q: Two items on the same order have different tax.
A: That's expected when their Default taxes differ. Catering trays and a service charge can use different rates.

Q: I changed the rate percent. Do old quotes update?
A: Lines already saved keep the tax they were given. New lines use the updated rate.

Next Steps

• What Customers See — the public item page
• Creating a Quote — tax lands when you add the item
• Quote Defaults — how long a quote stays valid