Is there a way to create a post-tax discount?

[ARDG]

We're looking to accept a credit voucher from a 3rd party, but want the person redeeming the voucher to pay tax on the full amount.

[#2]

Hello! While I can definitely understand how this feature could be useful in a number of scenarios, our discounts are currently only able to be applied before taxes. 

I'll be sure to share your feedback with our Product team!

PS) If my answer solved your problem, would you mind marking it as "Best Answer"? That'll help the rest of the community find what they're looking for. If not, just write back, and I'll continue to help. Thanks!

[MichaelAnn]

@TupperNicole has described my exact situation.  I try to jockey the numbers so that the invoice total takes all of this into consideration but it is a clunky and time-consuming workaround, especially when you have multiple orders to adjust and frustrating when you are trying to make these adjustments in a crowd setting.

[Mrbbqguy]

6 pages of replies and questions over severaL years and square does nothing. How hard is this to fix?  Must be monumental. 

[FuzedGlass]

Any chance there has been any improvement in this? I just gained ownership of an art studio which has always had a "stay & play" discount that customers can use when they pick up their creations from their last visit. It is incredibly helpful getting customers to become regulars and become habitual visitors, but I have looked at how much tax I'm picking up because of this discount issue and....it isn't pretty.

[Valentina]

At this time, we do not have an update to share about the ability to create post-tax discounts, @FuzedGlass. Could you possibly share with us some context surrounding how the inability to create a post-tax discount is causing you to pick up tax?

As we do not provide tax advice, and each state has different tax regulations, I would definitely recommend speaking with a tax adviser in this situation. They should be able to help answer some questions about discounts as they relate to taxes.

[Syn]

I actually turn off the tax ability and add my discount and tax as separate line entries. It's more work (-ish), but I don't 'eat' the tax that way.  

One day Square will fix this, I guess. 

There are SO many that are in need. @Valentina @FuzedGlass @JustinC etc....

[FuzedGlass]

The main way I would use it would be taking off deposits for classes/parties. We also have loyalty punch cards that give people $20 off when full. I'd like to show this on the receipt for the customer without having to split the transactions. Also, if people pay with gift certificates (we use paper gift certificates) that don't cover the entire balance, the tax isn't charged on the amount we deduct as the gift card payment. I know we can split it later on, but it takes a lot of time and customers get impatient and confused about what we are doing.

[AshleyK]

@hamiltonarchery and @FuzedGlass thanks for sharing the reasons you could benefit from this feature request! It really helps our Development Team when they design the requests. While I don't have a timeline for this feature request, I can still offer to bubble up this feedback to them! 

I appreciate your time and hope that you have a great day. 🙂

[sandyswoodshopp]

I am relatively new to SQUARE, but this is the second issue I've found that makes common sense - and an area that SQUARE refuses to address. Like other vendors at our craft festival, we offer a "PAY CASH AND I'LL PAY THE SALES TAX" discount. Unfortunately, SQUARE processes the discount, then processes the sales tax. As you might already suspect, the discount for cash payment (i.e., the sales tax) is always greater than the tax itself because the sales price gets reduced before the sales tax is applied. Surely, there's got to be a way, an easy way, to fix this.

[Shaylagee]

Hi
I'm wondering if there is a way to an invoice in the following way:
Retail price of item(s)
add shipping and handling
Give a subtotal
Add tax
Subtract a percentage or dollar amount AFTER tax, that is NOT taxed.
Give the final total.

Is this possible? This is the way I need to do it, with the discount being taken off at the very end. I cannot figure it out at all and can't seem to find it in the forum either.

Any help is appreciated.
Many thanks.

[Valentina]

Hi @Shaylagee - and welcome to the Seller Community!

At this time, discounts are applied before taxes, so I've moved your post here where others have made the same request. You may find a solution in this thread that makes sense for your business. If you have any context as to why you would like to use post-tax discounts for your business, examples are helpful for our product teams. We'll be sure to update this thread if anything changes.

[Bogies]

This is definitely a feature that needs to be added. Fours years after the original question and the best that Square can do (or rather its customers came up with) is to split the payment to take off the discount. We accept Groupons and our customers should be paying sales tax on their order. The way it works in Square right now, sales tax isn’t even charged if the Groupon is more that the total after taxes. So, no taxes are even being reported, much less paid, to the state.

Square, PLEASE address this issue! It’s causing companies who don’t know any better to not be compliant with their state sales tax reporting.

[Joe]

We hear you, @Bogies. We appreciate you adding your voice here. I am passing your feedback along to the appropriate team. We really appreciate your patience here. 

[skincarebykayla]

I often sell Services and Items on the same ticket. Items are subject to Sales Tax, Services are not. Sometimes, I run service specials for dollar amounts (i.e. $15 off).

I just realized Square is subtracting fractions of the discount from the Service & Item when discounting, then it calculates Sales Tax. Now, the amount of Sales Tax collected is incorrect. As a result, I owe more Sales Tax than was technically collected. How do I fix this?

[ashc]

Hey @skincarebykayla! Welcome to the Community.

I moved your post to a relevant thread about how discounts are applied before taxes.

There's not a way to control or change this like you're looking for- but it looks like there's some other seller workarounds in here you might be interested in trying.

Right now this is still a feature request so it's best your post is here to track requests for it as well.

[DebNature]

We are having a large number of in store credits from classes we had to cancel due to COVID.  The customers want to apply them to their online store order.  We are seeing that once their credit is applied, it reduces the sales tax on all sales and only collects on the difference.  The classes were a no tax event.  Is there a setting or rule to click for this.

example

online store order  100.00

store credit              -50.00

balance                     50.00

tax collected               3.17

Total of order             53.17

It should be

online store order    100.00

tax collected                6.35

balance                       106.35

store credit                 -50.00

Total of order                56.35

Please help!!!

[JustinC]

Hey @DebNature 

Thanks for the breakdown of how you want the tax to be calculated. Unfortunately, tax is figured on the subtotal after the credit/discount is applied. 

[aeldred]

Hey Justin! I use Square for my business and could also greatly benefit from an after-tax discount option. I do direct sales and always charge my customers tax based on the full retail price of my products, so when I offer deals or party discounts I need to be able to apply the discounts after tax.

After reading through this thread and the requests spanning several years, I'm in agreement with others who have mentioned this should have already been addressed. Can you please make this happen? I'm sure I'm not the only business owner who moved her formerly in-person business online, so having an invoicing tool that works how I need it during these times is important. Love Square other than this pretty significant shortfall!

[SherylT]

this ^^. I am a direct seller, too. When calculating my commission, my company charges tax on full retail then calculates my discount. I do the same when I offer discounts to my customers, but if I want to invoice them using Square (vital during a pandemic when the majority of our sales are NOT in person), I am forced to take a hit.
Here is an example in the way Square forces me to discount:
Product $100
Shipping $10
Discount shipping ($10)
HST $13.00
total charged customer $113.00

How I'd prefer to discount, following the method my company uses.
Product $100
Shipping $10 
HST $14.30
Discount $10
Total $114.30

I've just lost $1.30. That adds up! 
Square, please acknowledge the restrictions of the pandemic, and allow us to also offer discounts after tax. It should be a relatively simple fix.

[CreatureComfort]

I also need to be able to apply discounts only to Reatil items and not to services. PLEASE, please, please come up with a solution for this and not a work-around. f every employee doesn't understand or perform the work-around correctly, it creates even more headaches.

[LParker]

I really need to be able to apply a discount to items, yet still collect tax on them.  I also need to be able to track inventory.  The way it is currently is taxes are calculated off the subtotal, after the discount is taken.  It looks like this issue has been requested by several users over the past 4 years and I'm sure many could use the feature.  Has there really been no progress made here?  Is there any intention of adding this feature in the future?  If not, I will need to look elsewhere for collecting my payments 😞

[Syn]

I've turned off the auto tax and made a 'product' named tax. I figure tax my self in these situations and that way I get the correct tax. It can be time consuming, but it works for me right now.