Countries and regional settings
What your company's country sets in FSMCore: currency, formats, time zone, tax rates, tax words, reverse charge and construction tax withholding. What happens when you change the country later, and what always stays yours to set.
What the country decides
Every company has one country. It is picked at signup and shown in Settings, then Company, in the section Region and formats. Owners and admins can change it.
The country gives your company its starting values: how money and dates look, your tax rates, the words on your documents, and whether construction tax withholding (RCT) is on. Every value can be changed by an owner or admin afterwards.
FSMCore serves English-speaking countries. Six of them have their own full set of values: Ireland, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Every other country on the list gets a neutral set for you to fill in. See Any other country.
The six prepared countries
Money, dates and time
| Country | Currency | Number format | Date order | Time zone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | EUR | English (Ireland) | Day first | Europe/Dublin |
| United Kingdom | GBP | English (United Kingdom) | Day first | Europe/London |
| United States | USD | English (United States) | Month first | America/New_York |
| Canada | CAD | English (Canada) | Year first | America/Toronto |
| Australia | AUD | English (Australia) | Day first | Australia/Sydney |
| New Zealand | NZD | English (New Zealand) | Day first | Pacific/Auckland |
Every country starts with the units hour, day, week, m², linear m, set, job and item. The United States also gets sq ft, lin ft and yd. Hours weeks start on Monday in every country.
Tax rates
The first rate in each row is the default for new lines.
| Country | Tax rates |
|---|---|
| Ireland | VAT 13.5%, VAT 23%, VAT 9%, VAT 0%, Reverse charge 0%, Reverse charge 13.5% notional, Reverse charge 23% notional, Exempt |
| United Kingdom | VAT 20%, VAT 5%, VAT 0%, Domestic reverse charge 20% notional, Domestic reverse charge 5% notional |
| United States | Sales tax, at 0% for you to set |
| Canada | HST 13% (ON), HST 14% (NS), HST 15% (NB, NL, PE), Federal GST 5% (other provinces), Zero-rated 0% |
| Australia | GST 10%, GST-free 0% |
| New Zealand | GST 15%, Zero-rated 0% |
More about rates: Tax rates.
Words, reverse charge and withholding
| Country | Tax word | Tax number label (on documents) | Reverse charge statement | Rate prints on reverse-charge lines | Construction tax withholding | Other words |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | VAT | VAT number (VAT) | "VAT on this supply to be accounted for by the Principal Contractor." | No: the line prints "Reverse charge" | RCT, switched on | - |
| United Kingdom | VAT | VAT number (VAT) | "Reverse charge: S55A VATA 94 applies. Customer to account to HMRC for the VAT." | Yes, with the VAT due shown under the totals, not added to the Total | None in FSMCore (CIS deductions are not part of FSMCore), RCT off | - |
| United States | Sales tax | Tax ID (Tax ID) | Empty | No | None, RCT off | Cheque is "Check" |
| Canada | GST/HST | GST/HST number (GST/HST) | Empty | No | None, RCT off | - |
| Australia | GST | ABN (ABN) | Empty | No | None, RCT off | The invoice title is "Tax invoice" |
| New Zealand | GST | GST number (GST) | Empty | No | None, RCT off | - |
An Irish company also gets the declaration printed above an employee's signature on the weekly hours sheet. See The employee version.
What was checked, and what you must set
The values of the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were checked against the tax authorities' own pages on 09/10/2026: GOV.UK and HMRC, the IRS, the Canada Revenue Agency, business.gov.au and the New Zealand Inland Revenue. The Irish reverse-charge print follows Revenue's Tax and Duty Manual. The Irish rates are the ones Irish companies have used on FSMCore from the start.
What you must still set yourself:
- Ireland: nothing, unless your business uses other rates.
- United Kingdom: nothing for most construction work. FSMCore has no CIS deductions.
- United States: your sales tax rate. Sales tax is set by states and local areas, so the rate starts at 0%. Open Tax rates and set it before you issue documents.
- Canada: the default rate of your province. HST 13% (ON) is the default; a company in another province picks its own rate as the default. Quebec sales tax (QST) is not in the list.
- Australia: a business not registered for GST must not call its invoice a tax invoice. Change Invoice title to "Invoice" in Wording.
- New Zealand: nothing, unless your business uses other rates.
Any other country
Every other country on the list starts with a neutral set. Nothing in it claims a rule of your country:
| Setting | Starting value |
|---|---|
| Currency | Your country's own currency, or USD when none is known |
| Number format | English (other countries) |
| Date order | Day first |
| Time zone | UTC, until you pick yours |
| Tax rates | One rate, "Tax 0%", for you to set |
| Tax word | Tax |
| Tax number label (on documents) | Tax number (Tax) |
| Reverse charge statement | Empty |
| Rate prints on reverse-charge lines | No |
| Construction tax withholding | None, RCT off |
Warning: set your tax rates in Tax rates and your words in Wording before you issue documents. Pick your time zone in Company settings.
Set automatically at signup
When the company is made, its country sets everything in the tables above: currency, number format, date order, time zone, tax rates and the default rate, units, reverse charge statement, whether the rate prints on reverse-charge lines, the hours sheet declaration, and the construction tax withholding (RCT) switch.
The words, such as the tax word and the invoice title, are not stored: they always follow the company's country, unless you set your own in Wording.
Changing the country later
- Open Settings, then Company.
- In Region and formats, pick the new Country.
- Click Save. A window opens: "Change the country and apply its settings?"
- It lists every change, one line each, old value then new value. For example "Currency: EUR → GBP" or "Tax rates added: VAT 20%, VAT 5%".
- Click Change country to apply all of it, or Cancel to change nothing. Your other changes on the page are not saved either until you confirm.
After the save the page says "Country changed to United Kingdom. Its settings were applied." and shows the new values.
Saving the page with the same country opens no window and changes nothing.
What follows the new country
- Currency, Number format, Date order and Time zone.
- Reverse charge statement, Show the rate on reverse-charge lines and the hours sheet declaration.
- Construction tax withholding (RCT): on for Ireland, off for every other country. When RCT goes off, your RCT data stays: payments keep their RCT deducted and sites keep their RCT SIN. They are only hidden, and show again when RCT is switched back on. The window says how many there are.
- The new country's tax rates are added when your company has no rate with the same name. The new country's default becomes the default for new lines.
- The new country's units are added when they are missing.
- The words, such as the tax word and the invoice title, for every word you have not set yourself.
What you set yourself is kept
A setting follows the new country only while it still has the old country's starting value, or is empty. If you changed it yourself, it stays, and the window lists it as "kept, you set this yourself". The same goes for a value you change on the page in the same save, and for a default tax rate you picked yourself. A word you set in Wording also stays.
What never changes
- Issued invoices, estimates and crew invoices keep their currency, their words, their statement and the tax texts they were issued with.
- Existing tax rates are never edited or deleted. Existing units stay.
- Draft documents keep their lines and rates.
- Nothing is deleted.
You can change every value again afterwards, one by one.
The change is recorded: one entry names who changed the country, from which to which, and every line that was applied.
What stays manual
These are always yours to change, whatever the country:
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Currency, Number format, Date order, Time zone | Settings, Company, Region and formats. See Company settings. |
| Tax rates and the default rate | Settings, Tax rates. See Tax rates. |
| Tax word, tax number labels, document titles, Cheque | Settings, Wording. See Wording. |
| Reverse charge statement and Show the rate on reverse-charge lines | Settings, Company, Document defaults. See Reverse charge statement. |
| Construction tax withholding (RCT) | Settings, Company, Features. See Features. |
Examples
An Irish and a UK company
Both do reverse-charge work for a main contractor.
- The Irish company's reverse-charge line prints "Reverse charge" in the VAT column, and the totals show one line "VAT Reverse charge" with no amount. The footer prints "VAT on this supply to be accounted for by the Principal Contractor." RCT is on: sites carry an RCT SIN and payments can record RCT deducted.
- The UK company's reverse-charge line prints its rate, "VAT 20%". Under the totals a grey line "Reverse charge VAT 20% (customer to account)" shows the VAT the customer accounts for; it is not added to the Total. The footer prints "Reverse charge: S55A VATA 94 applies. Customer to account to HMRC for the VAT." RCT is off and there are no CIS deductions.
An Australian and a New Zealand company
- The Australian company's invoice PDF is titled "Tax invoice" and prints "ABN" before its number and the client's. Its rates are GST 10% and GST-free 0%.
- The New Zealand company's invoice PDF is titled "Invoice" and prints "GST" before the GST number. Its rates are GST 15% and Zero-rated 0%.
Estimates are titled "Estimate" in both.