TaxJar - Why is my product being charged tax incorrectly?

Question:

We have created a product with the "Not Taxable" checkbox set, but at checkout this product is still showing tax to be collected.  We are using TaxJar. Why is this not working?

Answer:

If you are using TaxJar, all the tax rate fields in coreFORCE are ignored ("Not taxable", "Tax rate", "State Tax rate", "Postal code tax rate" etc.)*  The only field that will affect whether a product is taxed in TaxJar is the Product Tax Code in the Product Category. See the screenshot below for an example of setting the product tax code for the Gift Card category.

If you are using a tax calculation provider (TaxJar or Avalara), instead of thinking "How much tax should be charged on this product", you should think "What category is this product from a tax perspective?"  All the rules related to how much tax will be collected for a category will be handled by the calculation provider.

Important Note: Coreware staff are not tax professionals and no suggestions given by Coreware in written or verbal form should be considered tax advice.  If you are unsure about what category should be used for a product, consult a qualified tax professional. (See this article on the TaxJar site)

* The exception to this is tax exemption. If a contact has a value in the Tax Exempt ID custom field, coreFORCE will not send the order to TaxJar at all.