Tax rates

How to set up the tax rates your company uses on estimates, invoices and crew invoices, what each setting changes on a document, and why a rate that is on an issued document can no longer be changed.

What it is for

A tax rate is what you pick on every line of an estimate, an invoice or a crew invoice, and on a price list item. It says what percentage applies and whether tax is added to the total.

The list is under Settings, then Tax rates. A new company starts with the usual rates of its country, so most companies only come here to add a rate, to change the default, or to tidy the order.

Who can use it

Tax rates is in the menu group Settings and is shown to owners and admins only. Everyone who writes a document still picks from these rates on the lines.

Starting rates

A new company gets the rates of its country. For Ireland these are:

Other countries start with their own list. The rates are added once, when the company has none. Changing the company's country later adds nothing and changes nothing here.

Add a tax rate

1. Open Settings, then Tax rates.
2. Click New tax rate. The page Create tax rate opens.
3. Fill in Name and Rate. Both are required.
4. Pick the Treatment. It starts on Standard.
5. Switch on Reverse charge if lines on this rate carry no tax because the customer accounts for it. See Reverse charge.
6. Set Sort order to place the rate in the list and in the pickers. Lower numbers come first.
7. Click Create. Click Create & create another instead to add the next rate straight away.

After saving you are back on the list. The new rate is offered on document lines and price list items at once.

Edit a tax rate

1. In the list, click Edit on the rate's row. The page Edit tax rate opens.
2. Change what you need. See Fields.
3. Click Save changes. You are back on the list.

Name, Rate, Treatment and Reverse charge cannot be changed once the rate is on an issued document. See A rate used on issued documents.

What the Treatment changes

When you pick a rate on a line, the line copies three things from it: the percentage, the treatment and the reverse-charge switch. The totals are worked out from those copies.

So tax is added only for a line that is Standard with the Reverse charge switch off. This is the same on estimates, invoices and crew invoices.

Exempt and Zero-rated work out the same. Only the label differs, for example the badge in this list.

An Exempt or Zero-rated rate is always 0%. A percentage above 0 on one of them is refused, under the Rate field: "An Exempt or Zero-rated rate is 0%. Set the rate to 0, or choose the treatment Standard." The same holds when the AI assistant adds or changes a rate. This keeps the tax rows on the PDF, which are worked out from the Rate and the Reverse charge switch, in step with the totals.

A rate saved before this rule that is Exempt or Zero-rated with a percentage above 0 is left as it is. Its other fields can still be changed. The rule is asked again only when its Rate or Treatment is changed.

So use:

• A Standard rate: the real percentage, switch off.
• An Exempt or Zero-rated rate: 0%, switch off.
• A Reverse charge rate: switch on.

Nothing forces the Reverse charge treatment and the Reverse charge switch to match, so check both when you add such a rate.

Reverse charge

The Reverse charge switch says: "Lines on this rate carry no VAT (the recipient self-accounts) and the document shows your reverse-charge statement." The tax word in that sentence follows your company's wording.

With the switch on:

• The line adds no tax to the total, whatever the percentage is.
• On the PDF the line shows the tax word and the percentage, for example "VAT 0%" or "VAT 13.5%", not the rate's name. When the rate has a Display label, the label is printed instead. No tax is worked out for it.
• An invoice or an estimate prints your reverse-charge statement, when at least one line is on such a rate. The statement is set under Settings, Company. An issued invoice or estimate keeps the statement it was issued with. See Tax and reverse charge on the Estimates page.
• A crew invoice does not print the company's statement. Its reverse-charge wording is part of the crew invoice's own terms.

A "notional" rate, such as Reverse charge 13.5% notional, shows the percentage that would apply, and still adds no tax.

With the switch off, the line on the PDF shows the rate's Name.

Default rate

The default rate is the one already picked on a new line of an estimate or an invoice. People can pick another rate on any line.

• Switch on Is default on the rate and save. The helper text says: "Used by default on new line items. Only one rate can be default per company."
• Only one rate is the default. Saving a rate as the default switches it off on every other rate of the company.
• A new line of a crew invoice starts differently. It takes the subcontractor's own default rate when they have one. If not, it takes the company's rate with Reverse charge switched on and a rate of 0%, the first one in the list order. Only when there is no such rate does it take the company's default rate.

The default can be changed at any time, also on a rate that is on issued documents. It only affects new lines.

The list

The list shows the company's tax rates in their Order, lowest first. On a desktop it is a table. On a phone each rate is a card with the Name in bold, the Rate, the Treatment badge and the Default icon. The layout button above the list switches between table and cards.

To change the order, click Reorder records above the list, drag the rows, then click Finish reordering records. The new order is saved and is also the order in the pickers.

Columns

Search

The search box above the list looks in the name. Words can be in any order and small typing mistakes are forgiven.

Tax rates are also found by name in the search at the top of every page.

Filters

The filter applies as soon as you pick an option.

Row actions

Each row has one action, Edit. It opens the page Edit tax rate.

Bulk actions

Tick one or more rates, then open the bulk actions menu:

There is no bulk action that deletes a rate for good.

Fields

Name

Required, up to 255 characters. The name is shown in the pickers and printed on documents.

In a picker the percentage is added after the name only when the name does not already say it. A rate named "VAT" at 13.5% is offered as "VAT 13.5%". A rate named "Reverse charge 0%" stays as it is.

Rate

Required. The percentage, as a number with up to two decimals, for example 13.5. The field shows "%" after it. With the treatment Exempt or Zero-rated it must be 0. See What the Treatment changes.

Treatment

Required. Standard, Reverse charge, Exempt or Zero-rated. A new rate starts on Standard. See What the Treatment changes.

Reverse charge

On or off. See Reverse charge.

Display label

Optional, up to 255 characters. The helper text says: "Optional. Printed on PDF documents in place of the name of this rate. A document already issued keeps the label it was issued with."

When it is filled, the PDF of an estimate, an invoice and a crew invoice prints the label for this rate: in the tax column of each line and in the tax row under the subtotal. It replaces the rate's Name there, and on a reverse-charge rate the tax word and percentage. Left empty, the PDFs print what they always printed. The pickers and the lists keep showing the Name.

• A draft prints the label as it is now.
• An issued document keeps the label its lines were issued with. Setting, changing or removing the label later does not change a document that is already issued. A document issued before the rate had a label keeps printing the name.

It is also shown in the hidden Display label column of the list.

Is default

On or off. See Default rate.

Sort order

Required number. A new rate starts on 0. Rates with a lower number come first in the list and in the pickers. Dragging rows in the list changes these numbers for you.

A rate used on issued documents

An issued document must keep showing the rate it was issued with. So once a rate is on a line of an issued invoice, an issued estimate or a submitted crew invoice, four things on it cannot be changed:

• Name
• Rate
• Treatment
• Reverse charge

Saving a change to one of them is refused, with this message under the field: "This rate is used on issued documents. Add a new rate instead and delete this one."

What you can still do with such a rate:

• Change Is default, Sort order and Display label.
• Delete it. See Delete or restore.

A document counts from the moment it leaves draft, and a void one still counts. A line that was deleted from the document does not count.

A rate that is only on drafts, or on no document at all, can be changed freely. The same rule holds when the AI assistant changes a rate for you.

When the tax itself changes, for example a new percentage from a certain date, add a new rate with the new values and delete the old one. Old documents keep the old rate. New lines use the new one.

How documents keep their rate

• A line keeps its own copy of the percentage, the treatment and the reverse-charge switch.
• On a draft, the line takes the rate's current values again each time the line is saved.
• On an issued document, a line takes its rate's values again only when the line is new or when you pick another rate on it. Saving the line for any other reason leaves its tax as it was.
• A line whose rate was deleted keeps its values and prints the same tax label as before.

Delete or restore

Delete

1. Open the rate with Edit.
2. Click Delete at the top and confirm.

The rate leaves the list and is no longer offered in the pickers. Nothing changes on documents that already use it: their lines keep the percentage, the treatment and the switch, and print the same tax label as before. A deleted rate can be restored.

A rate that is on issued documents can be deleted in this way too.

Restore

1. Set the Deleted records filter to With deleted records or Only deleted records.
2. Open the deleted rate with Edit.
3. Click Restore at the top and confirm.

The rate is back in the list and in the pickers. You can also tick deleted rates in the list and use Restore deleted.

Delete for good

A deleted rate also has Force delete at the top of its edit page. It removes the rate for good.

It is refused while anything still points at the rate:

• a line of any document, drafts and deleted lines included,
• a price list item, archived ones included,
• a person's own default rate.

You then see the red message Not deleted: "This rate is used on documents or the price list and cannot be deleted for good." Nothing is deleted. The list itself has no force delete.

The AI assistant

If your company uses the AI assistant, an owner or admin can ask it to add, change or delete a tax rate. Each change waits for your approval on a card first. The same rules apply: a rate on issued documents keeps its name, rate, treatment and reverse-charge switch.

What happens after

• A new or restored rate is offered on document lines and price list items at once.
• A deleted rate leaves the pickers. Documents that use it stay as they are.
• Adding, changing, deleting and restoring a tax rate is recorded: who did it, what changed, and when.
• No email and no notification is sent.

Common mistakes

"This rate is used on issued documents. Add a new rate instead and delete this one." You tried to change the Name, Rate, Treatment or Reverse charge of a rate that is on an issued invoice, an issued estimate or a submitted crew invoice. Add a new rate with the new values, then delete the old one. See A rate used on issued documents.

"Not deleted": "This rate is used on documents or the price list and cannot be deleted for good." Force delete is refused while a document line, a price list item or a person's default rate still uses the rate. Leave the rate deleted. It is already out of the pickers.

A rate is missing from the picker on a line. The rate was deleted. Restore it, see Restore.

"An Exempt or Zero-rated rate is 0%. Set the rate to 0, or choose the treatment Standard." An Exempt or Zero-rated rate adds no tax, so it cannot carry a percentage. Type 0 in Rate, or pick Standard when tax is to be charged.

I set a Display label and an issued invoice still prints the old name. That is on purpose. An issued document keeps the label it was issued with. Drafts and new documents print the new label.

The total shows no tax on a line. The line's rate is Reverse charge, Exempt or Zero-rated, or its Reverse charge switch is on. Only a Standard rate with the switch off adds tax.

I changed a rate and an issued invoice did not change. That is on purpose. An issued document keeps the rate it was issued with.

Two rates were the default and now only one is. Only one rate can be the default. Saving a rate with Is default on switches it off on the others.

A new line starts with the wrong rate. On an estimate or invoice the default is another rate. Open the rate you want, switch on Is default and save. A crew invoice line follows its own rule, see Default rate.