Tax On Ship To <> Not Bill To Address

[NodsDorf]

Is there a module or a simple way to switch a Oscommerce 2.3.x install to look at the ship to address for collecting tax opposed to the bill to address.

 

I looked through the ad-ons and didn't see one, but it seems like this would be a fairly common issue that more then likely has been addressed.

 

Any help is appreciated.

[Guest]

@@NodsDorf

 

Don,

 

Tax laws won't allow tax on the shipping address as only those from WITHIN your own state/province are required to pay taxes.

(they have been trying to change this for years but as of right now it is as above)

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[♥mattjt83]

Hi Don,

 

Just looking through the order class I see this:

 

if ($this->content_type == 'virtual') {
    $tax_address = array('entry_country_id' => $billing_address['entry_country_id'],
						 'entry_zone_id' => $billing_address['entry_zone_id']);
  } else {
    $tax_address = array('entry_country_id' => $shipping_address['entry_country_id'],
						 'entry_zone_id' => $shipping_address['entry_zone_id']);
  }

 

Maybe just get rid of the if statement and have:

 

$tax_address = array('entry_country_id' => $shipping_address['entry_country_id'],
					           'entry_zone_id' => $shipping_address['entry_zone_id']);

 

I haven't tried it out but it seems like it would work :) I wouldn't do it though unless you always want every order to use the shipping address as the tax address.

[MrPhil]

Tax laws won't allow tax on the shipping address as only those from WITHIN your own state/province are required to pay taxes.

 

?? I thought osC did use shipping address for tax calculations, except billing address for digital downloads. Did that change at some point? State sales tax is either figured on the shipper's location (for in-state sales) or the recipient's address (shipping address), depending on the state. The (original) code mentioned above does use the shipping address for physical shipments, and billing address for virtual (download). Did an add-on change this for the OP?

[NodsDorf]

@@DunWeb that is what I have believed for the last 9+ years. However, that is not the case for Ohio Businesses, Ohio is a destination oriented state meaning any items that are physically received in state which are taxable goods then you must charge tax reguardless of the billing address.

 

@@mattjt83 thank you Matt I will delve into the code if need be, I just really thought this would be a very common occurance. It maybe,just super easy to fix so no ad-ons are needed.

 

@@MrPhil forwhatever reason our store www.rubberstore.com is charging tax based on the bill to address only. I did do some custom tweeking to allow Ohio users to upload tax exempt forms but to my knowledge I didn't touch any core code.

[knifeman]

I think you changed something. My store has always charged based upon shipping address.

I have upgraded my retail site to 2.3.1 and set a tax zone for the state in which our business is located. Any order that ships to our home state is charged sales tax.

 

Tim

[Guest]

@@NodsDorf

 

Wow, well that's the first State I have heard that is doing that. Not sure how you are going to deal with that problem. Sounds like some custom coding headed your way.

 

 

One question comes to mind. Who do you remit taxes to ? The destination state ? That means you will have to have tax account for EVERY state in the USA. Crazy !

 

 

Chris

[knifeman]

One question comes to mind. Who do you remit taxes to ? The destination state ? That means you will have to have tax account for EVERY state in the USA. Crazy !

 

 

Chris

Collecting tax for every state is what the brick and mortar stores want websites to do. Currently you collect tax for the state your business is in. If an order ships to a state that your business has a physical location, then you must collect tax and remit to that state.

 

Tim

[MrPhil]

It sounds to me like some people are confused. Every state with a sales tax requires that it be collected and remitted to the customer's state. If the seller is out of state (has no business nexus in the customer's state), the responsibility falls upon the customer (they must declare "use tax", usually on their income tax form) and the seller doesn't have to lift a finger. If the seller is in (has a nexus in) the same state as the customer ("ship to" address), the tax rate may be based on either the customer's ship-to address or the seller's nexus address, and the seller must collect and remit the sales tax. The only time you would use the billing address is when there is no physical delivery of goods or services. I've never heard of any state doing anything different. States are not allowed to collect sales tax on goods and services leaving the state, only entering and within.

 

Your reply to @@DunWeb sounds like a normal situation of tax rate based on destination (ship-to) address. It's quite common. Why do you think Ohio is different?

[Guest]

@@MrPhil

 

I've never heard of any state doing anything different. States are not allowed to collect sales tax on goods and services leaving the state, only entering and within.

 

 

This is what I thought as well, but the OP says Ohio requires taxes collected on EVERY sale depending on the customer ship to address. I did some searching for Ohio Tax laws and could not find anything to substantiate the OP's claim.

 

@@NodsDorf I would suggest you TRIPLE check Ohio tax law as I think you are incorrect.

 

 

@@knifeman I agree, if you have a physical location within that the customers ship to state then you would collect taxes on that sale, however if the business location is (in this case) Ohio and a customer in Nevada orders something, then NO taxes are collected at the time of sale.

 

Chris

[MrPhil]

If Ohio is requiring that the seller collect and remit sales tax, even if they have no business nexus in the state, that's a new one. I'm not sure it's constitutional, as they would be forcing citizens of another state to do something for them. I think I would have heard more about this (as in a great hue and cry) if it were true, so I'm sure the OP is wrong. As I said, if Ohio is merely setting the tax rate based on the customer's delivery (ship-to) address, that's common practice (though not the easiest thing to implement). The only alternative is to set the tax rate based on the seller's address.

[knifeman]

@@MrPhil

 

 

 

 

This is what I thought as well, but the OP says Ohio requires taxes collected on EVERY sale depending on the customer ship to address. I did some searching for Ohio Tax laws and could not find anything to substantiate the OP's claim.

 

 

I cannot find where the OP said this. Op is in Ohio and says he must collect tax on sales to ohio.

 

"Ohio is a destination oriented state meaning any items that are physically received in state which are taxable goods then you must charge tax reguardless of the billing address."

 

Tim

[NodsDorf]

To try and be clear as possible.

Our Ohio bussiness must charge tax on all customers whom are not tax exempt, and receive our goods (pick up or receive delivery) in the state of Ohio, no matter what state their billing address is located.

 

Our current tax is being applied based off of "Bill To State" not the "Ship To State", therefore I must change it.

 

If Oscommerce has always been tax on ship to, then I have totally confused myself over the years as I have always thought it was based on the bill to address. Furthermore, I must then have also messed something up in my code to cause this to be handled this way, which I don't recall doing.

 

Thank you all for input

[MrPhil]

The stock osC behavior is to use the shipping address for physical shipments, and bill-to address for "virtual" (download) deliveries. If your store does differently, you must have changed the code at some point. Can you look in includes/classes/order.php and see if it matches the code given by @@mattjt83? If it matches, have you done anything to tag physical sales as "virtual"? Can you tell from your records whether your taxes are actually based on shipping address or billing address?