Chapter 41 TaxJar Connect
This chapter describes TaxJar Connect tools and features, which are found in System toolbar and tools. (6863)
Registration is the first step. This turns on TaxJar Connect and its tools. You will receive an email with Registration Code and step-by-step instructions for setup.
Settings is the next step, entering the credentials TaxJar Connect needs. Open the Company card again and go to the Company Prefs tab and click the on the TaxJar Settings button. Enter the appropriate settings, choosing Automatic for mappings.
Mappings let you change what data gets sent, if needed. Go to the TaxJar tool on the System toolbar. Select a Mapping from the list and make needed changes. Then, click Save As... in the lower right and save your new Mapping ("MyOrderTaxes").
You can return to Settings in the Company Prefs tab of Company card to select your new Mappings. Then edit your Tax Status entries to Use TaxJar.
TaxJar Connect
TaxJar Connect automatically connects Big Business to the sales tax system, TaxJar.
This Solution provides details. (6830)
So far it works two ways:
• TaxJar Lookup puts a button on the Expanded tab of Quote, Order, and Invoice
• Use TaxJar puts a checkbox on a Tax Status to automatically perform the lookup when you save Quote, Order, or Invoice
To set up:
1. Go to Company card, Upgrade, TaxJar and enter Registration. Email to support@bigbusiness.com if you'd like a Trial code for your Data File. The Trial Code for the Demo File is 9216. Click OK to save.
2. Re-open the Company card, Company Prefs tab, and click TaxJar Setup button. Enter your API Token found in your TaxJar.com Dashboard by going to Account, SmartCalcsAPI. Choose Automatic for Quote Taxes, Order Taxes, and Invoice Taxes. Click OK to save.
3. Go to Customer Prefs and turn on Load Addresses.
Restart Clients to load the new settings and on the Expanded tab of a Quote, Order, or Invoice click the TaxJar Lookup button when ready.
TaxJar Registration
This Solution describes Registering the TaxJar Connect Add-On. (6854)
1. Go to the System toolbar, to the Company Card, and click the Upgrade button.
2. Click the TaxJar button and the Registration dialog, pictured, will open.
3. Enter your Registration code.
4. Click Continue.
5. Click OK on the Confirmation dialog.
6. Click OK to Save the Company Card.
7. Quit and restart Big Business Client.
TaxJar Setup
TaxJar Setup lets you enter your API Token, Test the connection, and choose Mappings to use for calculating Taxes on Quotes, Orders, and Invoices.
This Solution provides details. (6838)
Go to System toolbar, Company card, Company Prefs tab, and click the TaxJar button (pictured) and you find the following entries (and more).
Endpoint:
Automatically filled in with: "https://api.taxjar.com/v2/"
Sandbox ("https://api.sandbox.taxjar.com/v2/") does not work unless you purchase a Plus-level subscription.
API Token:
Go to your TaxJar.com Dashboard, to Account, SmartCalcs API.
Copy your "Live Token".
Paste or enter it here.
Test:
Click the "test" button and it will tell you to the Tax Rate for your Zip Code.
Demo File response is "Combined rate for SAN FRANCISCO is 8.5%".
Quote Taxes:
Set to "Automatic".
Order Taxes:
Set to "Automatic".
Invoice Taxes:
Set to "Automatic".
Use TaxJar
Use TaxJar is an optional setting on Tax Status to automatically look up taxes using TaxJar Connect.
This Solution provides details. (6857)
If you check the Use TaxJar checkbox, Big Business will use TaxJar Connect to automatically lookup the tax on Quotes, Orders, and Invoices that use this Tax Status, when they are being saved.
TaxJar Lookup
TaxJar Lookup is an optional button that appears on the Expanded tab of Quote, Order, or Invoice. Click to connect to TaxJar and it will fill in Tax.
This Solution provides details. (6855)
1. Go to an Employee card to the Access tab
2. Under Hide/Show click the checkbox for Show TaxJar Lookup
3. Click OK to save changes to the Employee card.
Changes take effect when the Employee signs in again.
TaxJar Error
TaxJar will respond with an Error if there are any problems with a request.
"No to zip" means the Shipping Zip Code is blank, or not a recognized two-letter code, on the current transaction. Turn on Load Addresses, and that should fix it.
This Solution provides details. (6843)
"No to zip" means the Shipping Zip Code is blank, or not a recognized two-letter code, on the current transaction. Turn on Load Addresses, and that should fix it.
If you receive an error on Invoice that a field is missing ("No to state", "No to zip") and Load Addresses is already turned On, turn it Off and turn it On again and say Yes to Update Maps.
If you are using Automatic in TaxJar Setup you can review mappings by opening the matching Template, such as Taxes for Quotes. Big Business automatically fills in "US" for Country as needed.
Tax State
Tax State is an optional Field on Tax Status which can be used to automatically select the correct Tax Status by matching the Shipping State entered on a Quote, Order, or Invoice.
This Solution provides details. (6862)
This feature may be useful if you do not use Contacts for multiple Ship-To's, which can be assigned their own Tax Status.
Tax Exempt
Tax Exempt makes it simple to override tax calculations for tax-exempt customers.
This Solution provides details. (6855)
Exempt States
Exempt States limits an Exempt customer to specific States. For example, a Wholesale customer would be marked Exempt and list their Exempt States, where they have a resale certificate or license. If you leave Exempt States blank the customer will be Exempt for all states, which might be the case for a Government customer.
This Solution provides details. (6856)
To set Exempt States on a Customer card:
1. Click the Exempt checkbox
2. Enter State abbreviations in Exempt States
3. Click OK to save changes to the Customer card
TaxJar Report
The TaxJar Sales Tax Collected (Detail) report will provide sales tax totals collected from customers. The report will contain customer, invoice #, taxable amount, and tax received along with TaxJar results including State, County, and City.
TaxJar Connect is an Add-On that automatically connects Big Business to the sales tax system, TaxJar. TaxJar Reports let you Export or Print the data you get from TaxJar--like State, County, and City results--for reconciling and reporting.
This Solution provides details for the report, TaxJar Sales Tax Collected (Detail). (6890)
Here is the source for each column:
Tax Status - Invoice Tax Status
Customer - Invoice Customer Listing
Invoice # - Invoice Number
Total - Invoice Total
Tax - Invoice Tax
State - TaxJar State
County - TaxJar County
City - TaxJar City
Taxable - TaxJar Taxable Amount
State - TaxJar State Tax
County - TaxJar County Tax
City - TaxJar City Tax
Special - TaxJar Special District Tax
Tax - TaxJar Tax
TaxJar Report, Expanded
The TaxJar Sales Tax Collected (Detail) report will provide sales tax totals collected from customers. The report will contain customer, invoice #, taxable amount, and tax received along with TaxJar results including State, County, and City.
TaxJar Connect automatically connects Big Business to the sales tax system, TaxJar. TaxJar Reports let you Export or Print the data you get from TaxJar--like State, County, and City results--for reconciling and reporting.
This Solution provides details. (6890)
Big Business 11.20 adds the Customer report, TaxJar Sales Tax Collected (Detail).
Big Business 11.29 adds the Customer report, TaxJar Sales Tax Collected (Detail), Expanded.
Here is the source for each column:
Customer - Invoice Customer Listing
+ Date - Invoice Date
Invoice # - Invoice Number
Total - Invoice Total
Taxable -
State -
County -
City -
Total -
TaxJar Fields
TaxJar Connect automatically connects Big Business to the sales tax system, TaxJar. TaxJar Fields have been added to extend processing to Line Items.
This Solution will provide details. (6891)
TaxJar Rates
TaxJar Connect automatically connects Big Business to the sales tax system, TaxJar. TaxJar Rates captures rate information for reporting.
This Solution provides details. (6892)
Big Business 11.20 adds TaxJar Rates for testing.
Smart Tax
TaxJar Connect uses Smart Tax to switch the Tax Status on Quotes, Orders, and Invoices by matching the Shipping State on the transaction to the State entry on Tax Status.
Smart Tax can also be used by custom solutions like BizApp for iPad.
This Solution provides details (6765).
In the picture the Shipping State matches the State on the Tax Status named ILLINOIS. When this Quote is saved with TaxJar enabled it will switch to this Tax Status and lookup sales tax with TaxJar.
To disable Smart Tax:
1. Go to the Company Card to the Advanced tab.
2. Click the checkbox for Disable Smart Tax.
3. Click OK to save changes.
You must restart Big Business Clients for this change to take effect.
TaxJar Fixes
Big Business 13.66 and Big Business 14.23 fix a problem with TaxJar Lookup blocking Created Date on new records.
Big Business 11.27 updates Duplicate for Quote, Order, and Invoice so they clear TaxJar results.
This solution describes TaxJar Connect fixes. (6941)
TaxJar Mappings
You can set TaxJar Connect to Automatic for tax lookup from Quotes, Orders, and Invoices. Or, you create your own Mapping by editing the automatic ones and clicking Save As in the lower right.
Big Business 11.27 and 12.6 update Automatic mappings for TaxJar to use Street and City (instead of just Zip).
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Origin States
These states were listed as origin-based (c. 2017):
Arizona (AZ), California (CA), Illinois (IL), Mississippi (MS), Missouri (MO), New Mexico (NM), Ohio (OH), Pennsylvania (PA), Tennessee (TN), Texas (TX), Utah (UT), Virginia (VA).
This list may help you understand your results from TaxJar (only). (6944)
Arizona (AZ), California (CA), Illinois (IL), Mississippi (MS), Missouri (MO), New Mexico (NM), Ohio (OH), Pennsylvania (PA), Tennessee (TN), Texas (TX), Utah (UT), Virginia (VA).
If you live in an origin-based state, you would collect sales tax based on your location, not your customer's location. CA is an exception (state, county, and city by origin; district by destination).
Destination States
These states were listed as destination-based (c. 2017):
Alabama (AL), Arkansas (AR), Colorado (CO), Connecticut (CT), District of Colombia (DC), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Hawaii (HI), Idaho (ID), Indiana (IN), Iowa (IA), Kansas (KS), Kentucky (KY), Louisiana (LA), Maine (ME), Maryland (MD), Massachusetts (MA), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Nebraska (NE), Nevada (NV), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NK), North Carolina (NC), North Dakota (ND), Oklahoma (OK), Rhode Island (RI), South Carolina (SC), South Dakota (SD), Vermont (VT), Washington (WA), West Virginia (WV), Wisconsin (WI), Wyoming (WY).
This list may help you understand your results from TaxJar (only). (6945)
Alabama (AL), Arkansas (AR), Colorado (CO), Connecticut (CT), District of Colombia (DC), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Hawaii (HI), Idaho (ID), Indiana (IN), Iowa (IA), Kansas (KS), Kentucky (KY), Louisiana (LA), Maine (ME), Maryland (MD), Massachusetts (MA), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Nebraska (NE), Nevada (NV), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NK), North Carolina (NC), North Dakota (ND), Oklahoma (OK), Rhode Island (RI), South Carolina (SC), South Dakota (SD), Vermont (VT), Washington (WA), West Virginia (WV), Wisconsin (WI), Wyoming (WY).
If you live in an destination-based state, you would collect sales tax based on your customer's location, not your location.
New States
Big Business lets you immediately use the TaxJar Connect add-on for getting taxes for New States, where you have a new need to file, without disrupting your existing Tax Statuses for your old states. Also, if you are using TaxJar Connect, you can add new New States readily.
This Solution describes using this option. (6999)
1. Go to your TaxJar Dashboard and add the New State as one where collect tax.
2. Go to Show List in the Sales Tax pulldown in Big Business to Add (+) a new entry.
3. Set the Name (California), Account Code (2300-Sales Tax Payable), Use TaxJar (X), and State (CA).
That's it. When you save a Quote, Order, or Invoice for this state (CA) it will automatcially switch to the matching Tax Status (State=CA), and the Use TaxJar (X) will trigger the lookup and automatically fill in the Tax.
TaxJar Response
Big Business uses the Response from TaxJar to record tax details and generate reporting with names of States, Counties, Cities, and Special Districts, along with Rates and Amounts.
This Solution provides details. (7126)
TaxJar Categories
TaxJar maintains a list of product categories for items that are exempt or taxed a reduced rates in some jusrisdictions. With this option, you can assign a Code and have it automatically applied. For example, Food & Grocery has the code 40030 and may be exempt from State tax in some states.
This Solution provides details. (7128)
Tax Code
Tax Code is a new field on Item card, History tab, used to assign a Code for sales tax lookup. Different systems have different code formats so this is simply a text box.
This Solution provides details. (7129)
Nexus States
Nexus States let you list the states you need to collect Sales Tax for. This works with automation to switch the Tax Status on sales, lookup taxes using TaxJar Connect, and so on.
This Solution provides details. (6922)
TaxJar Rollup
Big Business 13.35 fixes the TaxJar Rollup function, which is used in special circumstances to change the Response from TaxJar. The function of TaxJar Connect is to send Taxable Subtotal and Shipping amounts with Address information to get a real-time estimate of the tax to collect based on Nexus information you provide.